Nora Maria Raschle’s background is in developmental cognitive and affective neuroscience. After completing her master studies in Neuropsychology at the University of Zurich, Nora Raschle conducted her doctoral studies at the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience and Children’s Hospital in Boston (USA). She defended her PhD thesis on early risk markers of children with developmental dyslexia in 2011 at the University of Zurich and continued as a postdoctoral researcher at Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. From 2014-2019 Nora Raschle worked as a senior research scientist and neuroimaging group leader at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the Psychiatric University Hospital Basel and University of Basel in Switzerland. Since 2019, Nora Raschle has been appointed Assistant Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychology at the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. She is further a member of the Zurich neuroscience network (ZNZ), faculty member of the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course and principal investigator of the interdisciplinary Hochschulmedizin Zurich (HMZ) flagship project STRESS and the research priority program “Adaptive Brain Circuits in Development and Learning (AdaBD)” of the University of Zurich. Overall, Nora Raschle’s work to date has focused on the investigation of typical and atypical brain development, with a particular focus on the early detection and characterization of developmental and mental health disorders through the use of structural and functional neuroimaging.

The NMR Kids Lab studies typical and atypical human brain development in relation to behavioral skill acquisition, learning and cognition, social and emotional wellbeing, and intergenerational transfers. We investigate brain trajectories in dependence on the environment children grow up in and study factors that enable healthy development. By use of different methodological approaches, including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, cardiovascular responses, eye-tracking, or psychometric and clinical interviews we study children and youth from the general community or groups with developmental and neuropsychiatric diagnoses. Ultimately, our aim is to provide inter- and intra-individual knowledge about human brain structure, function and connectivity during development in order to create knowledge allowing the support of all children to reach their goals and potential. Science communication and outreach events are an integral part of our work. We aim to enhance the dialogue between communities and scientists and provide easy to understand scientific knowledge about the human brain, development or mental well-being to all.