Benedikt Zott

Short CV

Benedikt Zott is a clinician scientist at the Department of Neuroradiology and the Institute of Neuroscience at TUM. He obtained his medical degree from TUM in 2016. Starting in 2013, he pursued a PhD in neuroscience at TUM, which he finished in 2019. In the same year, he joined the Department of Neuroradiology at the Rechts der Isar Hospital to start his clinical training as a radiologist. In parallel to his clinical duties, he continues his research as a clinician scientist.


Selected Awards

  • 2021 Trainee Professional Development Award, Society for Neuroscience

Research Interests

Benedikt Zott is interested in the organization of brain circuits and their breakdown in neuropsychiatric diseases, especially Alzheimer’s disease. Also, Benedikt is studying the effect of brain circuit dysfunctions on neurovascular coupling mechanisms, which can be measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In his PhD work, he discovered a mechanism of neuronal hyperactivity caused by the accumulation of β-amyloid in the brain. He is now using these mechanistic insights to identify and investigate promising treatment strategies.


Selected Publications

  • Unger F, Konnerth A, Zott B. Population imaging of synaptically-released glutamate in mouse hippocampal slices Star Protocols. 2021 (in press).
  • Biechele, G., Blume, T., Deussing, M., Zott, B., Shi, Y., Xiang, X., Franzmeier, N., Kleinberger, G., Peters, F., Ochs, K., Focke, C., Sacher, C., Wind, K., Schmidt, C., Lindner, S., Gildehaus, FJ., Eckenweber, F., Beyer, L., von Ungern-Sternberg, B., Bartenstein, P., Baumann, K., Dorostkar, M., Rominger, A., Cumming, P., Willem, M., Adelsberger, H., Herms, J., Brendel, M. (2021). Pre-therapeutic microglia activation and sex determine therapy effects of chronic immunomodulation. Theranostics, 11(18), 8964-8976. doi:10.7150/thno.64022.
  • Zott B, Simon MM, Hong W, Unger F, Chen-Engerer HJ, Frosch MP, Sakmann B, Walsh DM, Konnerth A. A vicious cycle of β amyloid-dependent neuronal hyperactivation. Science. 2019 Aug 9;365(6453):559-565. doi: 10.1126/science.aay0198.
  • Focke C*, Blume T*, Zott B*, Shi Y*, Deussing M, Peters F, Schmidt C, Kleinberger G, Lindner S, Gildehaus FJ, Beyer L, von Ungern-Sternberg B, Bartenstein P, Ozmen L, Baumann K, Dorostkar MM, Haass C, Adelsberger H, Herms J, Rominger A, Brendel M. Early and Longitudinal Microglial Activation but Not Amyloid Accumulation Predicts Cognitive Outcome in PS2APP Mice. J Nucl Med. 2019 Apr;60(4):548-554. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.118.217703; *contributed equally.
  • Zott B, Busche MA, Sperling RA, Konnerth A. What Happens with the Circuit in Alzheimer's Disease in Mice and Humans? Annu Rev Neurosci. 2018 Jul 8;41:277-297. doi: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-080317-061725.
  • Qin H, Fu L, Hu B, Liao X, Lu J, He W, Liang S, Zhang K, Li R, Yao J, Yan J, Chen H, Jia H, Zott B, Konnerth A, Chen X. A Visual-Cue-Dependent Memory Circuit for Place Navigation. Neuron. 2018 Jul 11;99(1):47-55.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.05.021.
  • Keskin AD, Kekuš M, Adelsberger H, Neumann U, Shimshek DR, Song B, Zott B, Peng T, Förstl H, Staufenbiel M, Nelken I, Sakmann B, Konnerth A, Busche MA. BACE inhibition-dependent repair of Alzheimer's pathophysiology. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Aug 8;114(32):8631-8636. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1708106114.