News in 2025
2025-24-12
Season's greetings.
We wish you all a merry and peaceful Christmas. Here are a few glimpses from Torino, where our doctoral student Lorenz is currently completing his practical year. And a snapshot from Leipzig: This is how Christmas tree recycling works 😉 We look forward to seeing you all again in the new year, healthy and motivated!
2025-18-12
Team Christmas event: Four seasons, one evening.
End-of-year thoughts, Leipzig edition: a night of light in the Friedenskirche (Gohlis) that felt like a fast-forward through the four seasons. And then Glühwein at the Gohliser Schlösschen to slow time down again. A small recap before the cycle starts over...
2025-27-10
Today's findings.
Our wall just got an update: Autumn v2025! Preliminary findings: highly successful.
2025-15-10
Congress time
Last week, Anja, Ben, and Ricarda attended the joint congress of the German Society for Obesity (DAG) and the German Society for Eating Disorders (DGESS) in Stuttgart, where they met dear colleagues and gained new inspiration for their research. We presented the latest developments in the revision of the national guidelines for binge eating disorder and ARFID, as well as neurophysiological predictors for the success of neurofeedback in binge eating disorder and the role of increased eating disorder psychopathology in ARFID. Ricarda also gave a workshop on ARFID to interested clinicians and therapists.
Anja also attended the 38th European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) annual congress in Amsterdam and gave a talk on Taking control - personalised neurofeedback for treating binge-eating disorder.
2025-09-10
A Visit from Harvard: Understanding ARFID in GI Disorders
This week, we were pleased to welcome Dr. Helen Burton Murray from Harvard Medical School to Leipzig. In her talk, “When is avoidant/restrictive eating pathologic in gastrointestinal disorders?”, she shared valuable insights into the overlap between gastrointestinal conditions and avoidant/restrictive eating behaviors. We thank Dr. Burton Murray for an engaging and thought-provoking discussion and look forward to future exchanges.
2025-08-10
Our team event to Leipzig City Harbor
Our team event on September 30, 2025 took us to Leipzig's city harbor. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time paddling together in a relaxed atmosphere. Afterwards, we sat together over drinks and chatted. Now we're already looking forward to the Christmas party!
2025-17-09
Ben’s bytes on bites: AI in eating disorder research!
Yesterday, Ben gave us an exciting glimpse into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) in eating disorder research. He introduced us to some of the latest tools that use AI for research and discussed recent findings by Linardon et al. (2025) - a paper co-authored by Anja. Thank you, Ben 🙂
2025-12-09
Magna Moments: Celebrating Two Doctoral Successes!
This week, we are delighted to congratulate two of our MD students who successfully defended their theses magna cum laude. Luise focused on age effects in ARFID during childhood and adolescence, while Simon investigated weight bias internalization among pre-bariatric patients.
Their excellent results reflect years of dedication and curiosity. We are proud of their achievements and wish them every success in their future careers.
2025-11-09
Paper news
Our paper “Mechanisms of change in cognitive-behavioral therapy for adults with binge-eating disorder: A dynamic structural equation modeling approach” has just been published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders 🎉
The study shows that reducing overvaluation of shape and weight is a central mechanism in CBT for adults with binge-eating disorder and precedes improvements in binge eating. Enjoy reading!
2025-27-08
We're back on top!
After the summer break, our research group met in the highest room of Leipzig University for a morning of thoughtful presentations and strategic discussions. A constructive meeting with a touch of altitude!
We wrapped up the day with a cheerful lunch at Hans im Glück - a great start into the new season together.
2025-22-07
Paper news: Anne-Kathrin's first paper published!
Our doctoral student Anne-Kathrin just published her paper on “Psychopathology in Adults with Co-occurring Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and Higher Weight”, now online ahead of print in Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics . This paper is the first deep dive into how ARFID presents in adults across the weight spectrum, showing that participants with higher body weight face pronounced psychosocial challenges and metabolic comorbidities, without the weight-loss hallmarks people often expect with restrictive eating disorders.
Huge congratulations to Anne-Kathrin and the whole team for pushing the field forward! Check out the open-access article via DOI 10.1159/000547450!
2025-02-07
Cake, Coffee, and Cheers for Anja’s Years!
A sweet surprise! Even though Anja’s birthday was a few weeks ago, she surprised us with cake and coffee during our team meeting. We raised our cups to her once more and enjoyed a lovely break together. Thanks, Anja, and once again, happy birthday!
2025-20-06
Hannah and Caroline published their first paper!
We are very proud to announce that our medical doctoral students Hannah and Caroline published their research in the field of child and adolescent eating disorders. Congratulations on this great achievement and milestone in your doctoral studies!
Don't miss these papers on parental psychopathology and expressed emotion in ARFID and the validation of the parent version of the ChEDE-Q questionnaire, the Ch-EDE-QP (open access)!
2025-18-06
Paper news!
This week, our smartphone-supported cognitive behavioral therapy (smartCBT) study for adults with binge-eating disorder (BED) was pubslihed! This single-center, assessor-blinded, parallel feasibility study evaluated the effects of smartCBT versus standard CBT in 25 adults with BED providing evidence for the feasibility of app-supported CBT for BED. With few procedural refinements, the protocol can be used in a confirmatory randomized-controlled trial with long-term follow-up to evaluate efficacy and determine treatment mechanisms. Congratulation to Anja and the smartCBT team!
2025-28-05
Lisa in Ladenburg!
Last Friday, Lisa attended the Ladenburg Roundtable on “Emotional eating – universality and limits of the concept” – an exciting meeting with great international colleagues. Thank you for letting us be part of it!
2025-20-05
Next degree: PD!
The time has finally come: Ricarda has completed her Habitation. The Habilitation is a postdoctoral qualification in the German academic system that demonstrates the ability to conduct independent research and university-level teaching. Congratulation 🙂
2025-16-04
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter everyone! Anja surprised us today with a chocolate Easter bunny. This brings back great childhood memories. Thank you so much!
2025-09-04
Ben on stage!
Yesterday, Ben presented one of his doctoral studies at the German Psychotherapy Congress in Berlin. Soon you will be able to read his results on neurophysiological predictors and rapid response in the treatment of binge-eating disorder using neurofeedback in a scientific journal! Stay tuned!
2025-19-03
Our new INSTA(R)!
Check out our new video introducing our NOBEAD study. Lisa gives you a brief introduction to the study. For more information, have a look at our study flyer.
2025-13-03
Congress News!
Our two doctoral students Anne and Elisabeth gained their first congress experience and presented their studies at the joint congress of the German Society for Psychosomatic Medicine and Medical Psychotherapy (DGPM) and the German College of Psychosomatic Medicine (DKPM) in Berlin. Anne even received a congress fellowship! We are very proud of both of them.
2025-10-03
Paper News!
Congratulations to Nicolas Pardey for his paper on "Economic evaluation of cognitive-behavioral therapy for adolescents with binge-eating disorder in Germany", which was published today (open access) in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Although cost-effectiveness analyses are mostly rare, they play an important role for the healthcare system. Thank you for such a great collaboration.
2025-04-03
World Obesity Day!
Today, we would like to take the opportunity to raise awareness and increase knowledge about obesity. On our website you will find all important information about obesity and its stigma as well as approaches to stigma reduction an important step on the way to a more tolerant society.
2025-25-02
Spring in the air! (at least we dream of it)
We're slowly getting into the spring mood - can you spot it?!
2025-05-02
Happy Chinese New Year!
Our doctoral student Wenlu spent the Chinese New Year holiday at home. See what great impressions she captured for us! Let's have a peaceful and happy new year together!
2025-30-01
Festival season has started!
Ben attended the first festival of the year – the Research Festival – and presented his study on neurophysiological predictors of EEG and fNIRS neurofeedback in adults with binge eating disorder!
2025-22-01
Coffee is always a good idea
Nice to have coffee breaks together again - especially with such a beautiful view.
2025-15-01
Breaking news: 1000 participants!
In our PRAC study, we reached our recruitment target of 1000 patients who have received bariatric surgery! How exciting! To everyone involved, and of course the participants, thank you for your great support. This is a major milestone!
2025-06-01
From arts to carts!
At the end of last year we spent a wonderful evening at the Kunstkraftwerk and admired the video installations of Dali's works in the digital art center. This powerful performance still resonates. Afterwards we toasted to a great team year at the Christmas market at the Felsenkeller - thank you all for being here and for Anja for inviting us.
2025-01-01
Happy 2025!
We hope you had a few relaxing days at the end of the year and welcomed 2025 in style. We are starting the new year with full momentum and look forward to constructive teamwork and exciting projects!