During his PhD, Dr. Izawa focused on memory regulation during sleep, especially hippocampal memory forgetting process in REM sleep state. After becoming a postdoc in the Brüning lab at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, he started to study neuronal control of metabolism. Currently, he is working on neuronal mechanisms that link sleep and metabolism.

• (2016)  DVM in veterinary medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan
• (2020)  PhD - Nagoya University, Japan

"I am trying to develop a new research area by combining my previous research background in sleep with metabolism. This CECAD grant provides me with the opportunity to lead a small team, which will not only help me accelerate my study, but also train me as an independent researcher."

Anne Petzold is a postdoctoral researcher in the Korotkova lab. During her MSc, Dr. Petzold focused on the role of neurotrophins for amygdala and hippocampal brain function throughout the aging process in mouse models of BDNF deficiency. In the UK, she joined the lab of Paul Bolam and developed computational routines to analyse the interaction of neuronal activity and brain-wide oscillations that drive brain state-dependent transitions between neuronal activity patterns. During her PhD, she discovered and characterised a novel protein that integrates circadian and homeostatic sleep drive in Drosophila Melanogaster.

Dr. Petzold joined the lab of Tatiana Korotkova in 2017 to uncover neuronal mechanisms that regulate innate behaviours. Last year, Dr. Petzold published in Cell Metabolism novel routes for brain-body interactions in the state-dependent adaptation of innate behavior. She particularly focuses on the multifaceted functions of leptin for the regulation of nutritional and non-nutritional behavior and its ability to counteract anxiety-induced, maldapative behavioral responses in health and disease. Currently, Dr. Petzold aims to uncover neurotrophic plasticity mechanisms in hypothalamic brain areas that enable encoding of obesogenic environments and their association with unhealthy eating habits.

• (2009)  BSc in Philosophy of Mind, Magdeburg University, Germany
• (2012)  MSc in Integrative Neuroscience, Magdeburg University, Germany
• (2017)  PhD Life Sciences, Imperial College London, UK

"The CECAD senior PostDoc grant enables me to finalize my study on the neural networks of eating habits. This work will be the basis of my own future research program and provide the starting point for future grant applications to start my own research group. In my own lab I will strive to understand how experience shapes neural networks that regulate habitual behaviors through synaptic plasticity mechanisms.“

Matthias Rübsam was selected for the project "Cytoskeletal control of epidermal differentiation and barrier function in healthy, diseased and aged skin". During his period as a PhD student and postdoctoral researcher Matthias' main research interest has been in understanding interactions between different types of living cells in the lower epidermis and how molecular mechanisms control shape and positioning of tight junctions within this tissue which ultimately leads to a barrier formation against dehydration and external challenges.

With this new project he will transfer his knowledge about cell- and tissue cooperation of lower epidermal layers to understanding the formation of the stratum corneum, the uppermost epidermal layer. While working on this grant project, Matthias will focus on the formation of this layer and interaction between still living and dead cells, called corneocytes. He will further analyze cause and consequence of alterations of the stratum corneum in diseased and aged skin. To implement this project, he received 10.000 EUR bench fee and the salary of a technical assistant for the duration of 2 years.

Gisela Slaats applied with a project called " DNA replication stress and genome instability: Mechanisms of chronic renal degeneration and ageing". During her work as PhD student in the Netherlands and postdoctoral researcher and EMBO fellow in the Nephrolab, Gisela investigated the molecular and cell biological pathomechanisms underlying renal ciliopathies. She contributed significantly to linking ciliopathy-related renal degeneration and fibrosis to DNA damage response signaling.

With this new project she continues to systematically investigate the impact of DNA replication stress and genome instability in tubular epithelial cells on the maintenance of kidney architecture and kidney function, and on renal ageing, as well as on the development of future therapeutic strategies. CECAD will support her project with a bench fee of 10.000 EUR per year for the duration of 2 years.