Dr. Alexander Behnke

Alexander Behnke studied psychology with a minor in industrial engineering at the TU Dresden (2008–2015) as well as Italian at Ca’Foscari Università Venezia (Italy, 2014–2015). He was awarded a university studies scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation, 2009–2015). Since 2010, he worked as a student research associate at the Personality & Individual Differences Dept. (Prof. Alexander Strobel), TU Dresden, and completed a research internship at the Institute for Work and Health (IAG) of the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV, 2012–2013).

From 2015, Alexander Behnke was a research associate at the Personality & Individual Differences Dept. (Prof. Alexander Strobel), TU Dresden, and since 2016 he worked as a doctoral research fellow at the Clinical & Biological Psychology Dept. (Prof. Iris-Tatjana Kolassa) of Ulm University. Supported by a PhD scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, he dedicated his PhD studies to the occupational traumatization of Emergency Medical Services personnel. In May 2021, Alexander Behnke received his doctorate (summa cum laude) and his thesis was distinguished with the Dissertation Award of the Clemens Gabriel Foundation.

Dr. Behnke’s current projects investigate the impact of traumatic stress on immune cell metabolism and activity and the role of immunometabolic and humoral alterations in the etiology of psychiatric disorders. He has received seed funding and is PI of an interdisciplinary Early Career Incubator project on the crosstalk of endocrine stress signaling and immunometabolism in major depressive disorder using an ex vivo stress model. In 2024, Dr. Behnke will be a visiting postdoctoral fellow in the Mitochondrial Psychobiology Laboratory of Martin Picard at Columbia University, New York, to investigate cell-free circulating mitochondrial DNA as an innovative humoral biomarker of stress in the etiology of psychiatric disorders. The stay at Columbia University is supported by fellowships from the U.S. Fulbright Commission and the G.A.-Lienert Foundation.

 

Contact

Alexander Behnke
Postdoc

Alexander Behnke
☎ +49-(0)731/50 35799
℻ +49-(0)731/50 26599
 

Consultation hours
on appointment

Research Interests

  • Pathomechanisms of stress/trauma-associated disorders such as major depression and PTSD
  • Cellular, immunological, and endocrine alterations in stress and psychiatric disorders
  • Occupational traumatization in frontline personnel (e.g., Emergency Medical Services)

Professional Funding, Awards, and Scholarships

2024

Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship (U.S. Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board) to visit Martin Picard’s Mitochondrial Psychobiology Laboratory, Columbia University, New York City

2024

G.A.-Lienert Foundation Research Fellowship (German Biopsychological Society) to visit Martin Picard’s Mitochondrial Psychobiology Laboratory, Columbia University, New York City
2023-24 Early Career Incubator Funding (Ulm University Graduate & Professional Training Centre ProTrainU, €87,945) to investigate the crosstalk of endocrine stress signaling and immunometabolism in major depressive disorder using an ex vivo stress model (PI: A. Behnke; Co-PIs: M. Mack, M. Vujić Spasić)
2023-24 Start-up Funding (Ulm University Graduate & Professional Training Centre ProTrainU, €36,000) to investigate the transcriptomic regulation of the immune cell metabolism in PTSD and its relevance for psychotherapy response using RNA-seq
2022 Start-up Funding (Ulm University Graduate & Professional Training Centre ProTrainU, €10,000) to investigate mitochondrial bioenergetics in PTSD and its association with psychotherapy response
2022 Clemens Gabriel Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Award (€1,000)
2020 German Society for Psychotraumatology (DeGPT) Annual Meeting Travel Award
2017–2020 PhD scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation)
2009–2015 University studies scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation)

Publications

Find me on Google Scholar

Teaching

Winter 23/24 Etiology and therapy of traumatic stress-related mental disorders (B.Sc. Psychology)
Summer 2023 Lifetime consequences of chronic and traumatic stress (B.Sc. Psychology)
Aug-Sept 2022 Psychology meets systems biology: How stress and trauma influence body and mind (Kolassa, I.-T., Behnke, A., & von Bergen, M., Graduate and post-graduate course at the summer school of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, St. Johann im Ahrntal, Südtirol, Italy)
Winter 22/23 Etiology and therapy of traumatic stress-related mental disorders (B.Sc. Psychology)
Summer 2022 Traumatic stress and coping in the Emergency Medical Services and fire brigades (Research project seminar, M.Sc. Psychology)
Winter 21/22 Lifetime consequences of chronic and traumatic stress (B.Sc. Psychology)
Summer 2021 Biomolecular clinical psychology (B.Sc. Psychology)

Academic service

Assistant reviewer for Biological Psychology posters for the 2021 APS Virtual Convention (2021, May 26–27).
Assistant reviewer for Biological Psychology posters for the 32nd APS Annual Convention (2020, May 21–24, cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Chicago, IL, USA.
Chair of the symposium “Intervention approaches and risk factors among members of the armed forces, combatants and emergency service personnel” at the 22. German Society for Psychotraumatology (DeGPT) Annual Meeting (2020, February 13–15), Berlin, Germany.
Ad-hoc reviewer: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity; Psychological Medicine; Psychoneuroendocrinology; Journal of Psychiatric Research; Cognitive Therapy and Research; Mental Health and Prevention; BMC Psychiatry