The lab: Hörnberg group
The lab is part of the Molecular Processes and Therapies research topic at MDC. We are a small international team dedicated to a supportive, collaborative and creative environment. Through NeuroCure we have collaborations with several clinical researchers and participate in a student- organized journal club that includes researchers from 5 diverse topics, including a clinical lab. Furthermore, the group leader has long-standing experience collaborating with clinical research consortiums and biotech companies for drug discovery and development.
The position
The lab is mainly focused on two projects with strong clinical ties: (1) development automated clinically-relevant social biomarker detection in rodent models of autism, and (2) identification of mechanism-based therapeutic interventions for social symptoms. 1. Development automated clinically-relevant social biomarker detection in rodent models: To improve the translational value of rodents in preclinical research, the development of experimental paradigms that can be used in both animals and humans is needed. Automatic quantification of social interactions in standardized settings are currently being tested in patients for more accurate and cost- effective diagnosis and biomarker detection of social interaction difficulties in autism and related conditions. Our research aims to back-translate these types of tests to rodent models by employing multiple-animal tracking in a naturalistic group-housed setting for investigation of self-selected social behavior in freely moving mice. We further employ neural circuit manipulations to provide a direct circuit link to distinct behavioral phenotypes. These experiments would combine behavioral neuroscience with automated video tracking and machine learning as well as chemogenetic manipulations of neural circuits, towards identification of clinically-relevant social biomarkers. 2. Identification of mechanism-based therapeutic interventions for social symptoms. Understanding the neurobiological underpinning of social symptoms is a crucial step towards better diagnostic and treatment approaches. We use proteomic and phosphoproteomics methods in cell- and circuit specific brain tissue of deeply phenotyped mice to identify behaviorally-linked molecular markers in multiple models, and examine how these markers change throughout development and predict behavioral and treatment outcome. By focusing druggable targets linked to distinct behavioral subgroups, we will validate the targets in patient samples towards mechanism-based stratification for a precision medicine approach to disorders with social symptoms.
Other positions
IDIBAPS#4 – Mechanisms involved in strenuous exercise-induced atrial myocardial fibrosis
IC#4 – The role polyglutamylation in tauopathic neurodegeneration
IC#3 – Evaluation of the efficiency of immunotherapy by tracing ctDNA in metastatic NSCLC and triple-negative breast cancer patients
IC#2 – New targetable vulnerabilities for the treatment of chemoresistant breast and ovarian BRCA1/2-mutated tumors
IDIBAPS#3 – Mechanisms involved in vascular inflammation/remodeling in systemic vasculitis
IDIBAPS#2 – Mechanisms and therapies for Myeloma, amyloidosis, macroglobulinemia and other gammapathies
IDIBAPS#1 – Developing and investigating computing, machine learning and physiological modelling for understanding each individual heart towards personalised medicine
BRIC#6 – Tumour evolution, heterogeneity, and understanding of the mutational processes leading to aggressive disease
IC#1 – The role of RNASE1 in lung metastatic niche establishment by breast cancer cells
MDC#3 – Neuromuscular and Cardiovascular Cell Biology
MDC#2 – Molecular and cellular basis of behavior
MDC#1 – Host-microbiome factors in cardiovascular disease
NKI#1 – Epigenetic regulation in hormone-driven cancers and therapy resistance
VIB#8 – Mechanisms of inflammation and associated tissue damage in musculoskeletal diseases
VIB#7 – Endothelial immunosuppressive mystery genes for alternative immunotherapy: artificial intelligence-driven target discovery and validation
VIB#6 – Cellular metabolism and metabolic regulation in cancer metastasis
VIB#5 – Unraveling the molecular mechanisms of neuronal degeneration in motor neuron diseases
VIB#4 – Identification of universal biomarkers of metastatic melanoma in CTCs
VIB#3 – Basic mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegeneration
VIB#2 – Integrative genomics to underpinning somatic evolution, tumour heterogeneity, and treatment resistance
VIB#1 – Medical biotechnology to improve hepatocellular carcinoma diagnostics
BRIC#5 – The impact of severe maternal respiratory tract infections on fetal brain development and offspring behavior
