Johannes Passecker

Bridging the Species Gap in Translational Psychiatry

Abstract

The talk will introduce earlier collaborative work on how prefrontal and hippocampal neuronal activity patterns support and give rise to goal-directed behaviours relevant for higher cognition. Results will further integrate cross-species approaches and computational modelling. The later talk will introduce ongoing work, specifically focusing on unraveling mechanistic symptomatology of psychotic disorders. It will also provide a perspective on how we can enhance translational psychiatry through personalized and multi-modal strategies.

Biography

His scientific journey started at the Flandern Institute of Biotechnology, Belgium and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland where he received his PhD in 2011. He then followed with postdoctoral training at the Center for Brain research (Klausberger Lab) in Vienna, Austria. In 2018 he joined as Associate Scientist the esteemed Zuckerman Mind Brain Behaviour Institute at Columbia University (Joseph Gogos Lab) in New York City, USA where he received a prestigious NARSAD Young Investigator Award. Simultaneously, he served as a Visiting Scientist at the Integrative Neuroscience Section (Joshua Gordon) at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In 2021, he returned to Austria in a tenure track capacity and build a new research group on translational systems neuroscience at the Medical University Innsbruck. The lab studies decision-making in health and disease. Among other activities, he serves as the secretary of the Austrian Neuroscience Association and is actively involved in co-founding a startup focused on digital psychiatry diagnostics.