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Daniela Pollak
Univ.Prof. Daniela Pollak

Center for Physiology and Pharmacology (Division of Neurophysiology and Neuropharmacology)
Position: Professor

T +43 1 40160-31270
daniela.pollak@meduniwien.ac.at

Further Information

Keywords

Amygdala; Animal models; Behavior, Animal; Depression; Hippocampus; Mood Disorders; Neurobiology

Research group(s)

Research interests

My laboratory is interested in studying the neurobiological mechanism underlying psychiatric disorder from the systemic to the molecular level in the mouse model. We are specifically interested in examining the impact of the early life period on brain development and the repercussions for behavioral phenotypes later in life and exploring the cellular and molecular processes in the brain driving social and emotional behaviors.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

We are using fully-automated, state of the art equipment for behavioral analysis of mice, including specific tests for social, emotional and cognitive behaviours in wild type and genetically modified lines, often followed up by neural activity mapping. We employ all standard molecular biological and biochemical as well as histological methods and conduct viral tracing and chemogenetic approaches.

Grants

  • Brain Resilience (2024)
    Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), Emerging Fields
    Principal Investigator
  • Maternal brain imaging (2023)
    Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), Stand-alone
    Principal Investigator
  • Neurobiological underpinnings of depression in acute intermittent porphyria (2017)
    Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), Stand-alone project
    Principal Investigator
  • STAT3-dependent regulation of serotonin transporter (SERT) function (2015)
    Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), Stand-Alone Projects
    Principal Investigator
  • Long-term effects of prenatal immune activation on depression-like behaviour in the mouse (2014)
    Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), Stand-Alone Projects
    Principal Investigator
  • Neurotransmitter transporter in animal models of mood disorders (2010)
    Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), Stand-Alone Projects
    Principal Investigator

Selected publications

  1. Glat, M. et al. (2022) ‘An accessory prefrontal cortex–thalamus circuit sculpts maternal behavior in virgin female mice’, The EMBO Journal, 41(24). Available at: https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2022111648.
  2. Zambon, A. et al. (2022) ‘Gestational immune activation disrupts hypothalamic neurocircuits of maternal care behavior’, Molecular Psychiatry, 29(4), pp. 859–873. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01602-x.
  3. Sideromenos, S. et al. (2022) ‘Uncoupling Protein-1 Modulates Anxiety-Like Behavior in a Temperature-Dependent Manner’, The Journal of Neuroscience, 42(40), pp. 7659–7672. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.2509-21.2022.
  4. Monje, F.J. et al., 2011. Constant Darkness Induces IL-6-Dependent Depression-Like Behavior through the NF-'
  5. Pollak, D.D. et al., 2008. An Animal Model of a Behavioral Intervention for Depression. Neuron, 60(1), pp.149-161. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2008.07.041.