Project (Hannelore Ehrenreich)

Highly qualified candidates with a clear commitment to basic and interdisciplinary genetic research on brain diseases are invited to apply. The successful applicant will work from bench to bedside in a multidisciplinary and international team and receive support by technical personnel. Applicants should hold a master/diploma in genetics, bioinformatics or related disciplines. They should be fluent in English, have a strong interest in promoting their scientific career in genetics of neuropsychiatric diseases. We are seeking highly enthusiastic and ambitious individuals with particular interest in translational and clinical neuroscience. Specifically, the applicant would utilize the presently worldwide largest phenotypical database (GRAS data collection) on schizophrenia, autism, affective disorders and multiple sclerosis for novel approaches to phenotype-based genetic association studies (PGAS). Dependent on the outcome of these approaches, i.e. the identified genotype-phenotype constellations, further work may involve expression analyses (e.g. single cell / single nuclei RNA-seq, qPCR, proteomics, immunohistochemistry, sophisticated FACS), translational mouse behavior analyses, or clinical follow-up studies (e.g. neuropsychology, MRI).

• Fernandez Garcia-Agudo L, Steixner-Kumar AA, Curto Y, Barnkothe N, Hassouna I, Jähne S, Butt UJ, Grewe K, Weber MS, Green K, Rizzoli S, Nacher J, Nave KA, Ehrenreich H. Brain erythropoietin fine-tunes a counterbalance between neurodifferentiation and microglia in the adult hippocampus. Cell Reports 2021 Aug 24;36(8):109548. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109548. PMID: 34433021.
  
  
• Wilke JBH, Hindermann M, Berghoff SA, Zihsler S, Arinrad S, Ronnenberg A, Barnkothe N, Steixner-Kumar AA, Röglin S, Stöcker W, Hollmann M, Nave KA, Lühder F, Ehrenreich H (2021) Autoantibodies against NMDA receptor 1 modify rather than cause encephalitis. Mol Psychiatry, doi: 10.1038/s41380-021-01238-3.
  
  
• Steixner-Kumar AA, Daguano Gastaldi V, Seidel J, Rosenberger A, Begemann M, Ehrenreich H (2021) Preadult polytoxicomania – strong environmental underpinnings and first genetic hints. Mol Psychiatry, doi: 10.1038/s41380-021-01069-2.
  
  
• Wakhloo D, Scharkowski F, Curto Y, Butt UJ, Bansal V, Steixner-Kumar AA, Wüstefeld L, Rajput A, Arinrad S, Zillmann MR, Seelbach A, Hassouna I, Schneider K, Ibrahim AQ, Werner HB, Martens H, Miskowiak K, Wojcik SM, Bonn S, Nacher J, Nave KA, Ehrenreich H (2020) Functional hypoxia drives neuroplasticity and neurogenesis via brain erythropoietin. Nature Communications 11(1):1313, doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15041-1.
  
  
• Butt UJ, Steixner-Kumar AA, Depp C, Sun T, Hassouna I, Wüstefeld L, Arinrad S, Z illmann MR, Schopf N, Fernandez Garcia-Agudo L, Mohrmann L, Bode U, Ronnenberg A, Hindermann M, Goebbels S, Bonn S, Katschinski DM, Miskowiak KW, Nave KA, Ehrenreich H (2020) Hippocampal neurons respond to brain activity with functional hypoxia, Mol Psychiatry, doi: 10.1038/s41380-020-00988-w.
  
  
• Pan H, Oliveira B, Saher G, Dere E, Tapken D, Mitjans M, Seidel J, Wesolowski J, Wakhloo D, Klein-Schmidt C, Ronnenberg A, Schwabe K, Trippe R, Mätz-Rensing K, Berghoff S, Al-Krinawe Y, Martens H, Begemann M, Stöcker W, Kaup FJ, Mischke R, Boretius S, Nave KA, Krauss JK, Hollmann M, Lühder F, Ehrenreich H (2019) Uncoupling the widespread occurrence of anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies from neuropsychiatric disease in a novel autoimmune model; Mol Psychiatry, doi: 10.1038/s41380-017-0011-3.
  
  
• Janova H, Arinrad S, Balmuth E, Mitjans M, Hertel J, Habes M, Bittner RA, Pan H, Goebbels S, Begemann M, Gerwig UC, Langner S, Werner HB, Kittel-Schneider S, Homuth G, Davatzikos C, Völzke H, West BL, Reif A, Grabe HJ, Boretius S, Ehrenreich H*, Nave KA (2018) Microglia ablation alleviates myelin-associated catatonic signs in mice, J Clin Invest, 128(2):734-745. doi: 10.1172/JCI 97032. *shared last authorship
  
  
• Mitjans M, Seidel J, Begemann M, Bockhop F, Moya-Higueras J, Bansal V, Wesolowski J, Seelbach A, Ibáñez MI, Kovacevic F, Duvar O, Fañanás L, Wolf HU, Ortet G, Zwanzger P, Klein V, Lange I, Tänzer A, Dudeck M, Penke L, van Elst LT, Bittner RA, Schmidmeier R, Freese R, Müller-Isberner R, Wiltfang J, Bliesener T, Bonn S, Poustka L, Müller JL, Arias B, Ehrenreich H. (2018) Violent aggression predicted by multiple pre-adult environmental hits. Mol Psychiatry doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0043-3
  
  
• Bansal V, Mitjans M, Burik CAP, Linnér RK, Okbay A, Rietveld CA, Begemann M, Bonn S, Ripke S, de Vlaming R, Nivard MG, Ehrenreich H*, Koellinger PD (2018) Genome-wide association study results for educational attainment aid in identifying genetic heterogeneity of schizophrenia. Nature Communications 9(1):3078 doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-05510-z. *shared last authorship
  
  
• Ehrenreich H, Mitjans M, Van der Auwera S, Centeno TP, Begemann M, Grabe HJ, Bonn S, Nave KA (2018) OTTO: A new strategy to extract mental disease-relevant combinations of GWAS hits from individuals; Mol Psychiatry, doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.208.