It was great being part of a female mental health symposium at the @dpk-kongress.bsky.social! I presented my preliminary results on how changes in oral contraceptives status can affect acute and daily stress responses 🧠

Women’s mental health across the reproductive years@irtg2804.bsky.social · 2mo ago

In a symposium focusing on the interplay between mental health and female reproductive processes, Madeleine Kärdel (@mkoerdel.bsky.social) presented her work on stress reactivity during hormonal contraceptive transitions.

Btw: If you want to learn more about how glucose affects not only how we react to relaxation, but also how we react to stress, I may refer you to this meta-analysis featuring @mkoerdel.bsky.social @akuehnel.bsky.social and @nbkroemer.bsky.social

Metabolic state shapes cortisol reactivity to acute stress: A systematic review and meta-analysis of metabolic and hormonal modulators

Individual variability in cortisol stress responses is shaped by multiple physiological factors. Yet the interaction with metabolic and hormonal state…

sciencedirect.com

It was such an inspiring International Women’s Day event! Grateful to have been part of this important exchange 🙌🏻

Women’s mental health across the reproductive years@irtg2804.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Today, on 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲, we were proud to co-organise the event “𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘳?! 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩” together with the City of Tübingen.

We had a fantastic time presenting our work at the Early Career Scientist Congress of the Germany Center for Mental Health (DZPG-ECS) in Berlin 🧠 It was an inspiring meeting with ECRs, full of exciting talks, great networking, and lots of fun!

🧠🇮🇹 Greetings from sunny Torino and the 13th International Meeting on Steroids and the Nervous System! We truly enjoyed the translational exchange, engaging discussions, and reconnecting with long-standing as well as new colleagues in the field – and of course, the amazing Italian food 🍕

On the second day of our Welcome Event, both PhD cohorts came together for the 𝗣𝗵𝗗‑𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 🏆, a series of fun challenges inspired by the ups and downs of PhD life.

We were very happy to welcome the second cohort of PhD candidates at our recent 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁! ✨

📣 Happy to share that our paper with Johan Vegelius is published! Title: “Developmental differences in reward-learning and its connection to resting-state functional connectivity modeled using a hierarchical Bayesian model” Find the full paper here: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41478440/

Developmental differences in reward-learning and its connection to resting-state functional connectivity modeled using a hierarchical Bayesian model - PubMed

Adolescence is a period of heightened sensation-seeking, risk-taking, and reward sensitivity, characterized by structural and functional changes in the brain. Developmental changes in functional connectivity between cortical and subcortical regions may refine communication within reward-related circ …

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

We closed the year with a cozy Christmas get-together🎄🎁 Good conversations, lots of laughter, and a moment to appreciate the progress, challenges, and shared efforts that shaped 2025 ✨ Thank you to everyone who has supported our work in women’s mental health this year!

📣I’m excited to share our new preprint on how our body’s energy supply shapes everyday stress experiences: 📄𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Higher glucose levels buffer against everyday stress load

Adaptive stress responses are dependent on the availability of energy and the body's effectiveness in metabolizing glucose as fuel. However, it is not well understood if glucose levels contribute to t...

biorxiv.org

Hot from the @nbkroemer.bsky.social lab 👇🏻

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Higher glucose levels buffer against everyday stress load https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.08.692911v1

Last night's dinner and today’s talk from our external speaker, Vibe Frøkjær, from Denmark 🇩🇰 We had a wonderful evening discussing research, ideas, and collaborations ahead of today's colloquium!

We’re the International Research Training Group 2804 (IRTG 2804), an interdisciplinary community researching women’s mental health across hormonal transition phases — from puberty to pregnancy to menopause 👩🏼‍🔬

It was great to present my research at #WASAD2025 in Munich and contribute to the discussions on stress, hormones, and mental health!

📣 Excited to share that my first paper is now published! 📄"Metabolic state shapes cortisol reactivity to acute stress: A systematic review and meta-analysis of metabolic and hormonal modulators" You can find the full paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.yn...

So glad to have been part of the #ECNP2025 conference! It was a great opportunity to present my poster on how different oral contraceptive states affect physiological and neural stress reactivity, and discuss new perspectives on mental health and well-being 🧠

📣Call for applications We are recruiting the 2nd cohort of PhD students for the international research training group on women's mental health. If you care about translational pharmacoimaging work integrating hormonal states, please apply #neurojobs jobs.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/Job/6598/PhD...

🔬 New Preprint Alert!
I'm excited to share that my first manuscript is now available as a preprint: 📄 Metabolic State Shapes Cortisol Reactivity to Acute Stress: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Metabolic and Hormonal Modulators 
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Metabolic state shapes cortisol reactivity to acute stress: A systematic review and meta-analysis of metabolic and hormonal modulators

Individual variability in cortisol stress responses is shaped by multiple physiological factors. Yet the interaction with metabolic and hormonal states remains poorly understood. Therefore, we conduct...

biorxiv.org