Translational Anatomy and Cell Biology of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Prof. Michael J. Schmeisser, MD PhDMichael Schmeisser was born in 1983, went to medical school in Ulm, Boston, Glasgow and Basel and obtained both his MD and PhD degrees from Ulm University. He further specialized in anatomy and molecular neuroscience and was appointed full professor of Neuroanatomy at the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg in 2017. Prof. Schmeisser’s translational research is related to molecular pathomechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders. He is especially interested in understanding the impact of rare genetic disorders affecting the developing nervous system and the molecular interrelation between autism and intellectual disability. Prof. Tobias M. Boeckers, MDTobias Boeckers was born in 1964, went to medical school in Münster, Wellington and Seattle and obtained his MD degree from Münster University. He further specialized in anatomy and molecular neurobiology and was appointed full professor and director of the Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology at Ulm University in 2003. During his postdoctoral time at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Madgeburg in the 90s, he discovered the SHANKs, a family of synaptic scaffolding proteins whose genetic disruptions later became most relevant for the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder.  Prof. Boeckers has a broad research focus on basic and translational neuroscience that includes the role of SHANK in both health and disease, molecular pathomechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders and the neurobiology of trauma.

• Anatomy and cell biology of autism spectrum disorder: Lessons from human genetics.- Neuroanatomy and neuropathology of autism spectrum disorder in humans.- Modelling autistic neurons with induced pluripotent stem cells.- Modelling autistic features in mice using quantitative genetic approaches.- Behavioural phenotypes and neural circuit dysfunctions in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder.- Cerebellar and striatal pathologies in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder.- The role of neurotrophic factors in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder: focus on Bdnf and Igf-1.- The role of the oxytocin/arginine vasopressin system in animal models of autism spectrum disorder.- Extracerebral dysfunction in animal models of autism spectrum disorder.- Genetic and pharmacological reversibility of phenotypes in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder.