Education

10/2016 - 01/2019

PhD in Computational Systems Neuroscience

Computational Systems Neuroscience, University of Cologne

Thesis: Circuit motifs for sensory integration, learning, and the initiation of adaptive behavior in Drosophila, with distinction (0.7)

Advisor: Martin Nawrot, Examiners: Martin Nawrot, Kei Ito

10/2016 - 01/2019

M. Sc. Neuroscience

University of Cologne

Thesis: Learning induced plasticity in a spiking network model inspired by the Drosophila olfactory system

09/2012 - 07/2016

Bc. Sc. Psychology

University of Mannheim

Thesis: The contribution of automatic and controlled cognitive processes in forming memory of valent stimuli and their context

Research Experience

06/2025 - present

Research Associate

Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (Marta Zlatic & Albert Cardona), University of Cambridge

04/2025 - present

Research Associate

Computational Neuroscience Laboratory (Claudia Clopath), Bioengineering, Imperial College London

11/2023 - 02/2025

Postdoctoral Researcher

Computational Systems Neuroscience (Martin Nawrot), Zoology, University of Cologne

09/2019 - 11/2023

Doctoral Student

Computational Systems Neuroscience (Martin Nawrot), Zoology, University of Cologne

10/2017 - 11/2017

Research Internship

Computational Systems Neuroscience (Martin Nawrot), Zoology, University of Cologne

07/2016 - 10/2016

Research Assistant

Systems Neuroscience (Christian Büchel), University Hospital Hamburg (UKE)

02/2016 - 07/2016

Research Internship

Clinical Psychology (Tania Lincoln), University of Hamburg

08/2015 - 12/2015

Research Internship

Cognitive Sciences (Sverker Sikström), Lund University

03/2013 - 07/2015

Research Assistant

Cognitive Psychology and Statistics (Thorsten Meiser), University of Mannheim

Publications

Journal Articles

2025

Panagiotis Sakagiannis, Anna-Maria Jürgensen, and Martin P. Nawrot

A behavioral architecture for realistic simulations of drosophila larva locomotion and foraging

eLife, page 14:RP104262

2025

El Yazid Rachad, Stephan Hubertus Deimel, Lisa Epple, Yogesh Vasant Gadgil, Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Magdalena Springer, Chen-Han Lin, Martin Paul Nawrot, Suewei Lin, and André Fiala

Functional dissection of a neuronal brain circuit mediating higher-order associative learning

Cell Reports, volume 44, page 115593

2024

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Felix Johannes Schmitt, and Martin P. Nawrot

Minimal circuit motifs for second-order conditioning in the insect mushroom body

Frontiers in Physiology, volume 14, page 1326307

2024

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Panagiotis Sakagiannis, Michael Schleyer, Bertram Gerber, and Martin P. Nawrot

Prediction error drives associative olfactory learning and conditioned behavior in a spiking model of drosophila larva

iScience, volume 27, page 108640

2021

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Afshin Khalili, Elisabetta Chicca, Giacomo Indiveri, and Martin P. Nawrot

A neuromorphic model of olfactory processing and sparse coding in the drosophila larva brain

Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering, volume 1, page 024008

2016

Sverker Sikström, Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Maryam Haghighi, Daniel Månsson, David Smidelik, and Thomas Habekost

Self-rated attentiveness interacts with transcranial direct current stimulation and noise stimulation in reaction time in a go/no-go task

Neural plasticity, volume 2016

Conference Poster

NWG 2025

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Denise Weber, Thum Andreas, and Martin P. Nawrot

Distributed reinforcement signals among drosophila larva dopaminergic neurons guide learning in individual mushroom body compartments

FENS 2024

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Panagiotis Sakagiannis, Felix J. Schmitt, Michael Schleyer, Bertram Gerber, and Martin P. Nawrot

Circuit motifs for learning with reinforcement prediction in the drosophila mushroom body

BonnBrain 2024

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Panagiotis Sakagiannis, Felix J. Schmitt, Michael Schleyer, Bertram Gerber, and Martin P. Nawrot

Circuit motifs for sensory integration, learning, and the initiation of adaptive behavior in larval drosophila

Champalimaud Neuroscience Symposium 2023

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Felix J. Schmitt, and Martin P. Nawrot

Minimal circuit motifs for second order conditioning in the insect mushroom body

Bernstein Conference 2022

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Panagiotis Sakagiannis, Michael Schleyer, Bertram Gerber, and Martin P. Nawrot

Prediction error drives associative olfactory learning and conditioned behavior in a spiking model of drosophila larva

Areadne Conference 2022

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Panagiotis Sakagiannis, Michael Schleyer, Bertram Gerber, and Martin P. Nawrot

Modeling continous learning and adaptive behavior in drosophila larva

NWG 2019

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Michael Schleyer, Bertram Gerber, and Martin P. Nawrot

Olfactory learning in drosophila larva can be accounted for by plasticity of the synapses between Kenyon cells and mushroom body output neurons

CNS 2019

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Afshin Khalili, and Martin P. Nawrot

Reinforcement-mediated plasticity in a spiking model of the drosophila larva olfactory system

Bernstein Conference 2019

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Michael Schleyer, Bertram Gerber, and Martin P. Nawrot

Reinforcement-mediated plasticity in a spiking model of the drosophila larva olfactory system

Symposium Neurowissenschaften Köln 2018

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Hannes Rapp, Rinaldo Betkiewicz, and Martin P. Nawrot

From dense to sparse coding in a spiking model of the drosophila larva olfactory system

Bernstein Conference 2018

Anna-Maria Jürgensen, Hannes Rapp, Rinaldo Betkiewicz, and Martin P. Nawrot

From dense to sparse coding in a spiking model of the drosophila larva olfactory system

Invited Talks

2023

Using circuit models to explore prediction error in insect learning

Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation

2022

A spiking model of drosophila larva olfactory learning

Arthropod Neuroscience Network, University of Cologne

Awards & Funding

2025 - 2027

Postdoctoral Fellowship - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Union

2025

Postdoctoral Fellowship - Walter Benjamin, DFG (declined)

2025

Postdoctoral Fellowship - Newton international fellowship, Royal Society (shortlisted)

2019 - 2023

RTG associated, Graduate school Neural circuit analysis on the cellular and subcellular level, University of Cologne

2022

Cornelia Harte Mentoring PRO, University of Cologne

2015

Erasmus+, European Union