LIN is delighted to announce that Hanna Zwaka has received one of the prestigious Leibniz Best Minds grants for junior research group leaders. This is the third time that this award has been given to a young scientist at the LIN, which is further proof of the institute's scientific strength.
The grant includes the opportunity for Hanna Zwaka to continue her research at the LIN for another five years and to establish her own research group. This includes automatic admission to the tenure track programme, which offers outstanding postdoctoral researchers the prospect of a permanent academic position after successful evaluation. She will also participate in the Leibniz Leadership Programme, which is an academy designed to develop leadership skills in the scientific community. It provides targeted support and networking opportunities for future research group leaders.
What is Hanna Zwaka researching, and what does she want to find out?
Why do we feel so exhausted, unfocused and emotionally vulnerable after just one night without sleep? Despite decades of research, the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain, behaviour and body are not fully understood.
These questions lie at the heart of Hanna Zwaka's new research group. She is using zebrafish larvae to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on brain activity, behaviour, and heart function. The transparency of the larvae enables the observation of neural signals, hormone release and heartbeats in real time, allowing these to be linked to the animals' behaviour.
The aim of the research is to reveal which biological processes are disrupted by sleep deprivation and how this ultimately affects thinking, feeling and health.
Stefan Remy, Scientific Manager at LIN, congratulates Hanna Zwaka: “We are extremely pleased about the funding for her. She combines excellent research with exceptional commitment to teaching, mentoring, and developing the scientific working environment. The fact that LIN has now been awarded the Leibniz Best Minds grant for the third time shows that we can offer an inspiring environment for outstanding young researchers.”
About the person: From bee research to the neural mechanisms of sleep
Hanna Zwaka's academic background is in biology, which she studied at Freie Universität Berlin. It was here that she earned her doctorate under Prof. Randolf Menzel, with a thesis entitled 'Behavioral and neural analysis of learning and memory in the honeybee Apis mellifera'.
Following this, she worked as a research assistant at LIN, before conducting postdoctoral research in systems neuroscience at Harvard University from 2016 to 2023. She is also strongly committed to science communication and actively promotes diversity and inclusion within the scientific community.
>>> With heart and mind: During the Long Night of Science, Hanna Zwaka vividly explains to young visitors how the brain works, and she also researches with her research group how sleep deprivation affects processes in the brain.