Nikita van der Vinne

A strong interest in neurosciences

Nikita van der Vinne, MSc

Senior researcher, in cooperation with Synaeda

Where did you study?
I graduated as a clinical neuropsychologist from the University of Groningen in 2013.
During my bachelor and master studies I mainly focused on practicing neuropsychological knowledge in clinical practice, but I always enjoyed carrying out research as well. My first extended research experience came from working as a research assistant in a social psychological study in Ethiopia, after that I got acquainted with the EEG as a research method on which I wrote my master thesis.
This knowledge came in handy during my work as a neuropsychologist at Stichting Epilepsie Instellingen Nederland in Zwolle (an epilepsy institute). There, my already strong interest in neurosciences grew even more, and after that I started working as junior researcher and PhD candidate at Synaeda Psycho Medisch Centrum in Leeuwarden.

What do you do?
I received my PhD at Twente University after carrying out EEG research with a focus on personalized medicine under the guidance of Martijn Arns. The iSPOT-D study showed the possible value of certain QEEG biomarkers, which seem to predict treatment success with antidepressants. We hoped to find these results again through a replication study and we could apply this in the treatment of depression. Did we succeed? The answer to that question, and many more, can be found in my thesis, EEG Biomarkers in Depression, which can be downloaded here.