Dr. Rezan Nehir Mavioğlu
R. Nehir Mavioğlu received her B.Sc. degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG) from Boğaziçi University, Turkey in 2015. During her bachelor studies, she worked with Dr. Aslı Tolun from MBG department and investigated the genes responsible from some rare neurological diseases. She also worked as an intern in Vrije University Amsterdam with Dr. Meike Bartels about heritability of optimism in adolescent twins, and in University of Würzburg with Dr. Klaus-Peter Lesch’s team in the effects of fear conditioning in Tph2 knockout mice.
She received her M.A. degree in Psychology with a focus on psychobiology from Boğaziçi University, in 2018. During her master studies, she focused on gene-environment interactions, and their effects on HPA-axis activity and behaviour of children and young adults.
In September 2018, she started working as a doctoral researcher in the Department of Clinical and Biological Psychology at Ulm University. Her doctoral research examined the longitudinal and intergenerational effects of childhood maltreatment on stress-related biomarkers such as telomere length. Affiliated with the International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine Ulm (IGradU), her doctoral work was completed in July 2024 and received the Clemens-Gabriel Foundation dissertation award from Ulm University.
Since July 2024, she has been the project coordinator of the ERC-funded MitO2Health project, which examines the links between oxygen homeostasis, mitochondrial bioenergetics, and the etiology and treatment of depression. Her current research focuses on ageing processes, energy production mechanisms, and their interplay in the context of stress and psychopathology.
Contact
Rezan Nehir Mavioğlu
Postdoc
✉ Nehir Mavioglu
☎ +49-(0)731/50 26596
Π 47.2.257
Consultation hours
on appointment
Projects
- “MitO2Health”: Biological mechanisms of depression and their significance for the success of therapy
- “My childhood – your childhood”: Intergenerational transmission of psychological and biological consequences of childhood maltreatment
Service
- DZPG Early Career Scientist Deputy Representative (Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm Site, since March 2025)
- Peer reviewer: Psychoneuroendocrinology, Scientific Reports, Translational Psychiatry*, Heliyon*, Epigenetics* (* Together with Prof. Kolassa)
Teaching
- WS 2018/2019 Introduction to Psychotraumatology (BSc)
- SS 2019 Biomolecular Systems in Psychiatric Disorders (MSc – Practical)
- WS 2019/2020 Biomolecular Clinical Psychology – Basics and Specifics (MSc)
- SS 2020 Biomolecular Systems in Psychiatric Disorders (MSc)
- SS 2022 Essentials of Biology for Clinical Psychologists (BSc)
- SS 2023-2024-2025 Essentials of Biology for Clinical Psychologists and Psychotherapists (BSc)
- WS2023/2024 Psychoneuroimmunology (MSc)
- WS2024/2025 Psychotraumatology (BSc)
Publications
Andreazza, A.C., Barros, L. F., Behnke, A., ..., Mavioglu, R.N., ..., Weistuch, C. (in press). Brain and body energy metabolism and potential for treatment of psychiatric disorders, Nature Mental Health.
Berretta, S., Andreazza, A.C., Ben-Shachar, D., ..., Mavioglu, N., ..., Do, K.Q. (in press). Metabolic Abnormalities in Psychiatric Disorders: a Transdiagnostic, Whole-Body Approach. In: D. Öngür & Ford, J. (Eds.). Metabolic Neuropsychiatriy. Strüngman Forum Reports. MIT Press: USA.
Mavioglu, R. N., Gumpp, A. M., Hummel, E. M., Moser, D. A., ... & Kolassa, I. T. (2025). Telomere-mitochondrial dynamics differ depending on childhood maltreatment history, catabolic postpartum state, and developmental period. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 129, 267-278.
Bisle, E., Haange, S. B., Rojas, R., ..., Mavioglu, R. N., .... & Kolassa, I.T. (2025). Serum metabolomics in women with major depressive disorder: Associations with mitochondrial function, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Psychiatry Research, 351, 116569.
Behnke, A., Rappel, M., Ramo-Fernandez, L., Mavioglu, R. N., ... & Kolassa, I. T. (2025, preprint). Mitochondrial respiratory activity and DNA damage in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in borderline personality disorder. MedRxiv. doi:10.1101/2025.01.29.25321066
Fissler, P., Vandersmissen, A., Filippi, M., Mavioglu, R. N., Scholkmann, F., Karabatsiakis, A., Kraehenmann, R. (2023). Effect of serotonergic psychedelics on mitochondria: Transdiagnostic implications for mitochondria-related pathologies. Journal of Psychopharmacology.
Karrasch, S., Mavioğlu, RN., Matits, L., Gumpp, AM., Mack, M., Behnke, A., Tumani, V., Karabatisikis, A., Bongartz, W., & Kolassa I.-T. (2023). Effects of one-session relaxation hypnosis on the bioenergetics of immune cells: A randomized controlled experiment.
Karrasch, S., Matits, L., Bongartz, W., Mavioğlu, R. N., Gumpp, A. M., Mack, M., ... & Kolassa, I. T. (2023). An exploratory study of hypnosis-induced blood count changes in chronically stressed individuals. Biological Psychology, 178, 108527.
Mavioglu, R. N., Ramo-Fernandez, L., Gumpp, A. M., Kolassa, I. T., & Karabatsiakis, A. (2022). A history of childhood maltreatment is associated with altered DNA methylation levels of DNA methyltransferase 1 in maternal but not neonatal mononuclear immune cells. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13.
Fissler, P., Mavioglu, R.N., Wenzel, M., Filippi, M., Stoewer, S., Wolff, W., Karabatsiakis, A., Pruessner, J. C., Kolassa, I.-T., & Kraehenmann, R. (2022, preprint). The link between mitochondria, psychopathology, and intelligence: A bioenergetic model of cerebral function. PsyArXiv. doi:10.31234/osf.io/b3qf5.
Varadarajan, S., Behnke, A., Gumpp, A. M., Mavioglu, R. N., Fissler, P., & Kolassa, I.-T. (2022). An integrative view on the biopsychology of stress and posttraumatic stress disorder. In U. Schnyder & M. Cloitre (Eds.), Evidence Based Treatments for Trauma-Related Psychological Disorders (2nd ed.). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Mavioglu, R. N.*, Mack, M.*, Behnke, A., & Kolassa, I. T. (2021, preprint). Oxygen-Mitochondrial fuel as a missing link in depressive pathophysiology. PsyArXiv. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/m5t3h. *Equal contribution
Ramo-Fernández, L., Karabatsiakis, A., Boeck, C., Bach, A. M., Gumpp, A. M., Mavioglu, R. N., Ammerpohl, O., & Kolassa, I. T. (2021). Characterization of the effects of age and childhood maltreatment on ELOVL2 DNA methylation. Development and psychopathology, 1-11.
Mavioğlu, R. N., Kara, B., Akansel, G., Nalbant, G., & Tolun, A. (2019). FAM160B1 deficit associated with microcephaly, severe intellectual disability, ataxia, behavioral abnormalities and speech problems. Clinical genetics, 96(5), 456-460.
Kim, M., Sandford, E., Gatica, D. Qiu, Y., Schulman, B.A., Xu, J., Semple, I., Ro, S.H., Mavioğlu, R.N., Tolun, A., Jipa, A., Takats, S., Karpati, M., Li, J., Yapici, Z., Juhasz, G., Lee, J.H., Klionsky, D.J., Burmeister, M. (2016). Mutation in ATG5 reduces autophagy and leads to ataxia with developmental delay. eLife, e12245.
Mavioğlu, R. N., Boomsma, D. I., & Bartels, M. (2015). Causes of individual differences in adolescent optimism: a study in Dutch twins and their siblings. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 24(11), 1381-1388.
Conference presentations
Mavioglu, R. N. The longitudinal and intergenerational effects of childhood maltreatment on telomere length and its regulation: A study in mother-newborn dyads. Oral Presentation on March 18th 2025 in ZIHub Colloquium (DZPG Event)
Mavioglu, R. N., Gumpp, A., Hummel, E., Moser, D., Mack, M., & Kolassa, I. T. Childhood maltreatment impacts telomere – mitochondria dynamics in postpartum women and their newborns. Poster Presentation on April 27-29 in SOBP 2023, San Diego.
Mavioglu, R. N., Behnke, A., Matits, L., Mack, M., & Kolassa, I. T. Longitudinal and intergenerational effects of childhood maltreatment on leukocyte telomere length of mother-newborn dyads. Oral Presentation on March 30-April 1 2022 in GEBIN (online).
Mavioglu, R. N., Ramo-Fernández, L., Koenig, A., Gumpp, A., Kolassa, I. T., & Karabatsiakis, A. The effect of childhood maltreatment on the promoter methylation of DNTM1 in immune cells of mother-infant dyads. Poster Presentation on August 29-31 2019 in ISPNE 2019, Milan.
Mavioğlu, R. N., Eroğlu, F., Dedeoğlu, G., Corapci, F., & Duman, E. A. Effect of Socioeconomic Status on Preschoolers’ Social Competence: Moderation by Serotonin Transporter Genotype and Sex. Poster Presentation on April 6-8, 2017 in SRCD 2017, Austin TX.
Mavioğlu, R.N. & Duman, E.A. (2016). Changes in HPA-axis Reactivity by Subjective Well-Being: Impact of Loneliness, Gender and Serotonin Transporter Genotype. Poster presentation in the 46th International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology Conference, September 8-11, 2016, Miami, USA.
Kursuncu, S*., Mavioğlu, R.N*., & Duman, E.A. (2015). Relationship Between Subjective Well-Being and Cortisol Awakening Response: Moderation by Serotonin Transporter Genotype. Poster presentation on Sept 12-15, 2015 in EBBS 2015, Verona. * Equal contribution.
Mavioğlu, R.N., Kara, B., & Tolun, A. (2015). Searching for a gene responsible from cerebellar ataxia and mild intellectual disability. Poster presentation on June 6-9, 2015 in ESHG 2015, Glasgow.