(Vienna, 05 June 2023) Vered Kellner has begun a §99-(5) Assistant Professorship in Developmental Neurobiology under the tenure-track model at the Medical University of Vienna. The neuroscientist comes to MedUni Vienna's Department of Neurophysiology and Neuropharmacology from the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.
"My broad research interest is in understanding how astrocytes are involved in the development of neuronal circuits and the role they play in the information processing of sensory stimuli," explains Vered Kellner.
The main goal of Vered Kellner's work at the Medical University of Vienna is to understand how neuronal circuits develop in the healthy brain and in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. To this end, Vered Kellner and her team at the Centre for Physiology and Pharmacology are studying an often overlooked cell type in the brain - astrocytes. Using advanced microscopy techniques and genetically modified mice, the researchers are able to detect coordinated signalling between astrocytes and neurons in the intact, developing brain. Vered Kellner's lab will investigate the role this coordination plays in brain development and in specific neural circuits, such as inhibitory circuits.
Vered Kellner is also investigating coordination between astrocytes and neurons in models of autism and schizophrenia.
About the person
Vered Kellner studied psychology and biology with a focus on neuroscience and completed her PhD studies at the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Center at Bar Ilan University in Israel. Post-doctoral fellowships have taken her to the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.
Researcher Details