PI: Peter Holzer
Focus: Signaling pathways between the gut microbiome and brain relevant to brain function and behavioral disturbances including (1) microbial agonists of pattern recognition receptors, (2) microbial metabolites, (3) neurobiological manifestations of colitis, (4) gut hormones governed by the gut microbiome (5) immune mediators (cytokines), (6) microglia, (7) neuropeptides and neurotransmitters. Methodical focus: behavioral phenotyping, gene knockout models, CRISPR / Cas9 and zebrafish models, stereotactic brain injections, chemogenetic activation of neurons by DREADD, gene and protein expression, immunohistochemistry
Network: Ongoing national and international collaborations exist with the following research groups: Gregor Gorkiewicz, Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology; Eva Reininghaus, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine; Frank Madeo and Tobias Eisenberg, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, University of Graz; Barbara Kofler, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of the Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg; Herbert Herzog, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia; William Norton, Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavior, University of Leicester, UK
