Dr. Christine Blume

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Address Current address:
Centre for Chronobiology
Wilhelm-Klein-Str. 27
4002 Basel
Switzerland
christine.blume[at]upk.ch
Web page www.christine-blume.com | www.sleepscience.at | www.chronobiology.ch
Nationality German

EDUCATION

December 2016 Paris-Lodron-University Salzburg, Austria, Doctorate in natural sciences (Dr. rer. nat.), grade “summa cum laude”.
Thesis title: “Circadian Variations in Consciousness – Insights from Healthy Sleep and Brain-Injured Patients” (Reviewers: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Manuel Schabus, Prof. Dr. Christian Cajochen).
January 2014 –
December 2016
Student of the Doctoral College “Imaging the Mind” funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (W1233-G17), University of Salzburg, Austria
October 2013 –
December 2016
PhD student at the Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Austria, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), Laboratory for „Sleep and Consciousness Research“. Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Manuel Schabus
November 2012 Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Germany, Diploma in psychology; Topic of the diploma thesis: „The „HisMine“-Paradigm: a new paradigm for the detection of self-awareness“. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. A. Kübler, PD Dr. C. Herbert.
October 2010 –
June 2011
Studies of psychology, neurobiology & pharmacology at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, UK
April 2007 –
March 2013
Studies of psychology (diploma) at the Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Germany
1997 -2006 Gymnasium in der Taus, Backnang, Germany, Abitur

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

since January 2019
Post-doctoral researcher (Erwin-Schrödinger Fellow) at the Centre for Chronobiology in Basel, Switzerland funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (J-4243).
January-June 2018
Member of the Local Organising Committee for the Salzburg Mind-Brain Annual Meeting (SAMBA) 2018
January 2017 –
December 2018
Post-doctoral researcher in the project “Consciousness research across healthy vigilance states and disorders of consciousness” funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (Y-777)

Scientific coordinator of the Doctoral College “Imaging the Mind” funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (W1233-G17), University of Salzburg, Austria

October 2015 –
July 2016
Member of the Organisation Committee for the 28th World Schools Debating Championship in Stuttgart, Germany, 19th-29th July 2016
October 2014 –
December 2016
Research associate in the project “Consciousness research across healthy vigilance states and disorders of consciousness” funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (Y-777), Salzburg, Austria
February –
September 2013
Student employee in the project group “Human Resources Development International” at Würth Industrie Service GmbH & Co. KG, Bad Mergentheim, Germany
April 2012 –
July 2013
Tutor at Department of Psychology I for Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Germany
April –
June 2011
Research student at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBU), Cambridge, UK (Supervisor: Dr. Tristan Bekinschtein)

SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS

September 2018
Giselher-Guttmann-Preis of the Austrian Society for Neuropsychology (2018) for the work on circadian rhythms in brain-injured patients

Poster Prize from the Young Austrian Neuroscience Association (ANA) at the Salzburg Neuroscience Day
June 2018
Erwin-Schrödinger Fellowship of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF; J-4243-B27) for a 2-year stay at the Centre for Chronobiology, Psychiatric University Clinic Basel, Switzerland
May 2017
Young Investigator Award of the University of Salzburg, Austria
January 2014 –
December 2016
PhD scholarship holder of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V., Germany
October 2010 –
June 2011
One-year grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
December 2007 –
November 2012
Scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes e.V.

INTERNSHIPS, SUMMER SCHOOLS, WORKSHOPS

February 2017 Coma-Recovery-Scale Revised (CRS-R) Training at Coma Science Group University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium
September 2015 Research stay at the Clinical Research Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK (Dr. Nayantara Santhi, Prof. Dr. Derk-Jan Dijk) & EEGlab workshop, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
August 2014 Radboud University Summer School on “Neural metrics”, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
July 2013 3rd International Max-Planck Research School (IMPRS) NeuroCom Summer School, Leipzig, Germany
August 2011 Summer University on „Communication with patients“ organised by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes e.V.
September 2010 Summer University on „Dementias – from molecule to person“ organised by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes e.V.
May 2009 –
July 2010
Student collaborator in a business psychology project, conceptualisation and implementation of a development centre for Würth Industrie Service GmbH & Co. KG, Bad Mergentheim, Germany
February/ March 2010
September/October 2009
Internship at the Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie, Ludwigsburg (psychiatric clinic), six weeks each, Ludwigsburg, Germany

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Academic year 2017/18 Co-supervision of one master student
Academic year 2016/17 Co-supervision of two master students (topics: circadian rhythms in disorders of consciousness patients)
Academic year 2015/16 Co-supervision of two master students (topics: cognitive processing and circadian rest-activity cycles in disorders of consciousness patients)
Academic year 2014/15 Co-supervision of one master student (title: “Effects of light stimulation on circadian rhythms in disorders of consciousness patients and cognitive processes in healthy controls”)
since 2014 Several lectures and seminars on circadian rhythms, sleep & consciousness and cognitive neuroscience for biology and psychology students

Empirical seminars on sleep, cognition and circadian rhythms involving MEG and EEG recordings for MSc students


PUBLICATIONS

accepted Blume C., Angerer M., Raml M., del Giudice R., Santhi N., Pichler G., Scarpatetti M., Kunz A. B., Trinka E., & Schabus M. (accepted). Healthier Rhythm, Healthier Brain? Integrity of Circadian Melatonin and Temperature Rhythms Relates to the Clinical State of Brain-Injured Patients. European Journal of Neurology. doi:10.1111/ene.13935
2018 Wislowska M., Blume C., Angerer M., Wielek T., & Schabus M. (2018). Approaches to Sleep in Severely Brain Damaged Patients – Further comments and replies to Kotchoubey & Pavlov. Clinical Neurophysiology. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2018.08.029
Blume C., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Heib D. P. J., & Schabus M. (2018). Standing sentinel during sleep: continued evaluation of environmental stimuli in the absence of consciousness. NeuroImage.
Schabus M., Wislowska M., Angerer M., Blume C. (in press). Sleep and Circadian Rhythms in Severely Brain-Injured Patients – A Comment. Clinical Neurophysiology, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2018.03.048.
Wielek T., Lechinger J., Wislowska M., Blume C., Ott P., Wegenkittl S., del Giudice R., Heib D. P. J., Mayer H. A., Laureys S., Pichler G., & Schabus M. (2018). Sleep in patients with disorders of consciousness characterized by means of machine learning. PLOS ONE, 13(1), e0190458. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190458
2017 Blume C., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Heib D. P. J., & Schabus M. (2017). Standing sentinel during sleep: continued evaluation of environmental stimuli in the absence of consciousness. bioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/187195
Blume C., Lechinger J., Santhi N., del Giudice R., Gnjezda M.-T., Pichler G., Scarpatetti M., Donis J., Michitsch G., & Schabus M. (2017). Significance of circadian rhythms in severely brain-injured patients: A clue to consciousness? Neurology. doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000003942
2016 del Giudice R., Blume C., Wislowska M., Lechinger J., Heib D. P. J., Pichler G., Chinchilla M., Machado C. & Schabus M. (2016). Can self-relevant stimuli help assessing patients with disorders of consciousness? Consciousness and Cognition, 44, 51-60.
del Giudice R., Blume C., Wislowska M., Wielek T., Heib D.P.J. & Schabus M. (2016). The Voice of Anger: Oscillatory EEG Responses to Emotional Prosody. PLoS One, 11(7), e0159429.
Blume C., Santhi N., & Schabus M. (2016). ‘nparACT’ package for R – A free software tool for the non-parametric analysis of actigraphy data. MethodsX.
Lechinger J., Wielek T., Blume C., Pichler G., Michitsch G., Donis J., Gruber W., Schabus, M. (2016). Event-related EEG power modulations and phase connectivity indicate the focus of attention in an auditory own name paradigm. Journal of Neurology, 1-14. doi:10.1007/s00415-016-8150-z
Blume C., del Giudice, R, Lechinger J., Wislowska M., Heib D. P. J., Hoedlmoser K., & Schabus, M. (2016). Preferential processing of emotionally and self-relevant stimuli persists in unconscious N2 sleep. Brain and Language. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2016.02.004
Herbert C., Blume C., & Northoff G. (2016). Can we distinguish an “I” and “ME” during listening?—an event-related EEG study on the processing of first and second person personal and possessive pronouns. Self and Identity, 15(2), 120-138.
2015 Blume C., Lechinger J., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Heib D. P. J., & Schabus M. (2015). EEG oscillations reflect the complexity of social interactions in a non-verbal social cognition task using animated triangles. Neuropsychologia, 57, 330-340. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.06.009
Blume C.*, del Giudice R.*, Wislowska M.*, Lechinger J., & Schabus M. (2015). Across the consciousness continuum–from unresponsive wakefulness to sleep. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 105. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00105
2014 Blume C., & Herbert C. (2014). The HisMine-Paradigm: A new paradigm to investigate self-awareness employing pronouns. Social Neuroscience, 9(3), 289-299. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2014.886616

INVITED TALKS & WORKSHOPS

July 2018
Blume C. (2018). Sleep & Circadian Rhythms in Severely Brain-Injured Patients. Talk at the “Neuroreha” Symposium at the Asklepios Stadtklinik Bad Tölz, Bad Tölz, Germany, July 18th 2018.
June 2018
Blume C., Angerer M., Raml M., del Giudice R., Santhi N., Pichler G., Kunz A.B., Trinka E., Schabus M. (2018). Body Rhythms in Concert? Integrity of Circadian Rhythms is Related to the State of Brain-Injured Patients. Talk at the 22nd Conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. Krakow, Poland, May 26th-29th 2018.
May 2018
Blume C. & Herbert C. Talk & symposium chair at “Psychologie & Gehirn 2018“, session title “Emotion and Self-Processing in the Brain Across the Sleep-Wake Cycle”. Gießen, Germany, May 31st-June 2nd 2018.
May 2018
Blume C., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Heib D.P.J., Schabus M. (2018). (No) Need to Wake up? Inhibitory Function of Sleep Spindles is Tuned to Stimulus Salience. Talk at the 3rd International Conference on Sleep Spindling, Budapest, Hungary, May 24th-26th 2018.
March 2018
Blume, C. “Circadian Rhythms in Severely Brain-Injured Patients”. Invited talk at the symposium “10 Years of Consciousness Research at the Albert-Schweitzer Clinic Graz”, Graz, Austria, March 14th 2018.
August/September 2017 Blume, C. & Santhi, N. Invited lecturers at a Summer Academy of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes e.V., Title of the course: “Rhythms of the Body and Mind: Circadian and Sleep-Wake-Dependent Regulation of Physiology and Cognition”, Krakow, Poland, August 28th-September 7th 2017.
March 2017 Blume, C. (2017). A clue to consciousness? Significance of circadian rhythms in severely brain-injured patients. Talk at the 12th World Congress of the International Brain Injury Association (IBIA), New Orleans, UAS, March 29th-April 1st 2017.
June 2016 Blume, C. & Schabus M. (2016). Diurnal variations in consciousness – insights from rhythm research. Symposium talk at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC), Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 14th-18th 2016.
November 2015 Blume C., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Lechinger J., Heib D. P. J., Koerner D., Hoedlmoser K., Schabus M. (2015). Emotion matters! Effects of emotional prosody on stimulus processing across consciousness states. Talk at the 7th Congress of the World Sleep Federation, Istanbul, Turkey, October 29th – November 3rd 2015.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

April 2018
Blume C., Angerer M., Raml M., del Giudice R., Santhi N., Pichler G., Kunz A.B., Trinka E. & Schabus M. (2018).
Body Rhythms in Concert? Integrity of Circadian Rhythms is Related to the State of Brain-Injured Patients.
Poster presented at the Meeting of the Austrian Sleep Research Association (ASRA), Fuschl am See, Austria, April 6th-7th 2018.

Wislowska M., Blume C. & Schabus M. (2018). Processing of relevant auditory stimuli during sleep. Poster presented at 27th Annual meeting of the Austrian Sleep Research Association (ASRA), Fuschl am See, Austria, April 6th – 7th 2018.
August 2017
Blume C., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Heib D. P. J., & Schabus M. (2017). Continued Evaluation of Stimulus Familiarity during Naturally Occurring Unconsciousness. Poster presented at the 13th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 5th-9th 2017.

Wielek, T., Blume C., Ott, P., Wislowska, M., Heib, D., & Schabus, M. (2017). Decoding brain responses to own names uttered by familiar and unfamiliar voices. Poster presented at the 13th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON), Amsterdam, The Netherlands August 5th-9th 2017.
September 2016
Blume C., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Heib D. P. J., Hoedlmoser K. & Schabus M. (2016). Privileged processing of emotional & self-relevant stimuli persists in unconscious N2 sleep. Paper presented at the 23rd Congress of the European Sleep Research Society, Bologna, Italy, September 13th-16th 2016.
July 2015 Blume C., del Giudice R., Wislowska M., Lechinger J., Heib D. P. J., Koerner D., Hoedlmoser K., Schabus M. (2015). Emotion matters! Effects of emotional prosody on stimulus processing across consciousness states. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC), Paris, France, July 7th-10th 2015.
Schabus M., del Giudice R., Blume C., Lechinger J., Wislowska M., Gnjezda M.-T. & Hoedlmoser K. (2015). The voice of anger: Emotional prosody across the consciousness continuum. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC), Paris, France, July 7th-10th 2015.
del Giuidce R., Blume C., Lechinger J., Kovacs A., Pletzer J.M., Siebert S., Calvet C., & Schabus M. (2015). Prenatal auditory stimulation and its neurophysiological correlates in newborns. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC), Paris, France, July 7th – 10th 2015.
June 2014 Blume C., Lechinger J., del Giudice R., Wislowska M. & Schabus M. (2014). Are you mocking me?! EEG responses during an animated “Theory of Mind” paradigm. Paper presented at the 20th Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), Hamburg, Germany, June 2014
Körner D., Wislowska M., Lechinger J., del Giudice R., Blume C. & Schabus M. (2014). Exploration of a motor imagery task for BCI systems and detection of awareness in DOC patients. Paper presented at the 20th Meeting of the Organisation for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), Hamburg, Germany, 2014.

SOFTWARE SKILLS

General

 

Microsoft Office (Expert)
Matlab (Advanced)
Photoshop CS6 (Advanced)
Statistics R (Expert)
SPSS (Expert)
EEG acquisition Brainvision Recorder (Expert)
Netstation (Electrical Geodesics, EGI) (Advanced)
EEG data processing Brainvision Analyzer (Expert)
EEGlab (Advanced)
Fieldtrip (Advanced)
Netstation (Electrical Geodesics, EGI) (Advanced)
Experimental control Presentation (Beginner)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Cognitive processes across vigilance stages (healthy wakefulness and sleep, disorders of consciousness)

Circadian rhythms in disorders of consciousness