Ole Kiehn

Kort præsentation

Short research description

A monumental challenge in neuroscience is to understand the operation of neuronal networks that are linked to execution of specific behaviors. Our lab is meeting this challenge by addressing the organization of neuronal networks that produce movements, the origin of all behaviors.

We study the molecular, cellular, and network diversification of locomotor circuitries in mammals with the goal of providing a unified understanding of the functional organization of neuronal circuits that execute movements. To this end, we apply new physiological and molecular genetic approaches, including optogenetics, RNA-seq, molecular tracing, advanced imaging, and electrophysiology.

We have deciphered the functional organization of spinal circuitries necessary for producing changes in timing and coordination of locomotion, and delineated brainstem circuits involved in gating or context-dependent selection of motor behaviors.

The lab also investigates plasticity in spinal networks and motor neurons following lesions of the spinal cord, with the goal of devising manipulations that may alleviate motor dysfunction following spinal cord injury.

In recent efforts, we also address the role of spinal interneurons in development and progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Our work bridges the gap between neuronal circuit organization and behaviour, and has strong translational potential in development of therapies for movement disorders caused by trauma or disease.

CV

Born: September 30 1958. Citizenship: Danish/Swedish.

A. Education

1985: MD from University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
1990: D.Sci. from University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
2002: Docent, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

B. Current Position

2004-: Professor in Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Sweden.
2017- Professor in Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen.

C. Previous positions

2001-2004: Group-leader - via international ‘Elite-recruitment’ program at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
1997-2001: Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Copenhagen.
1995-00: Hallas Møller Research Fellow Department of Physiology, Copenhagen.
1991-95: Group Leader Institute of Neurophysiology, Copenhagen.
1989-90: Postdoc, Sect. of Neurobiol. and Behavior Cornell University, USA.
1988-89: Senior Research Associate, Institute of Neurophysiology, Copenhagen.
1985-88: Junior Research Associate; Institute of Neurophysiology, Copenhagen.
1983-85: Research Assistant Institute of Neurophysiology, Copenhagen, Denmark.

D. Awards and honors

2017-: Novo Nordic Foundation Laureate program.
2016-: European Research Council advanced grant (second award).
2015-: Adjunct Professor University of Copenhagen.
2014: Member of EMBO.
2013: Member of Academia Europea.
2012: Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 
2010: Member of the The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
2011-2016: Research Professorship: Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg’s Professorship from the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.
2011-2016: European Research Council advanced grant.
2010-2015: 5 Year Distinguished Professor Award Karolinska Institutet.
2004: Recipient of international Schellenberg Prize in spinal cord research.
2001-2006: 5 year recruitment via ‘Elite-recruitment’ program at KI.
1999-2001: PI for Human Frontier Science Program grant
2001-2010: PI on R01 NIH grant to Kiehn lab
1995: Recipient of Hallas Møller Research Fellowship (5 year salary award from Novo Foundation – one/year in biomedicine)
1990: Recipient of Weimann Research Fellowship (5 year salary award).

E. Commissions of trust

2017: Member of Steering Committee Department of Neuroscience UCPH
2017: SAB Dandrite
2016: Vice Chair Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine
2014-2019: Elected member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine.
2011-13: Affiliated member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine.
2008-2028: Elected Member of Nobel Assembly at Karolinska.
2013: Evaluation panel consolidator ERC grant.
2012: Evaluation panel Söderberg’s foundation.
2010: Member of the Scientific Evaluation Committee for ETN in Zurich.
2008/2014: Scientific Evaluation Committee for Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany.
2006-2010: Member of the steering board of Stockholm Brain Institute.
2011-2015, 2015-: Co-director for StratNeuro at Karolinska Institutet.
2003-2011: Deputy Chair at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute.
2011-12: Chair of Program Committee for Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).
2011-2013: Member of Executive committee for FENS
2007-2009: Member of program committee for Society for Neuroscience USA 
2009: Member of Program Committee for FENS.

F. Supervision

PhD-students: 
1992-96: Ole Kjärulff at University of Copenhagen. Now Associate professor at University of Copenhagen.
2002-06: Ulla Vig-Nissen, University of Copenhagen, Now Postdoc Department of Rehabilitation, Rigshospitalet Copenhagen.
2002-10: Ernesto Restrepo, Columbia.
2003-09: Jesper Ryge, Denmark, Now postdoc in Professor Henry Markrams Lab.
2003-08: Line Lundfald, Denmark. Now at the Nanoscience Center in Lund, Sweden.
2008-13: Martin Hägglund, Sweden. Now with Moser’s in Trondheim, Norway. >
2011-16: Vanessa Valderia, Brasil. 18-: Maite Marcantoni.
2018-: Haizea Goni-Erro.

Postdocs: 
1994-98: Morten Raastad, MD, dr.med., from Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Oslo, Norway. Now Associate Professor in Oslo.
1994-95: Monica Gorassini, Ph.D., Department of Physiology, University of Alberta, Canada. Now Associate Professor in Alberta.
1996-98: Manuel Denton, from Mexico City. Professor UME.
1996-98: Ole Kjaerulff, Copenhagen, Denmark. Now Associate Professor in Copenhagen.
1998-2000:Matthew Tresch from MIT, Boston, USA. Now Associate professor at NorthWestern, US.
2000-04: Simon Butt, from St. Andrews, Scotland. Now Lecture Oxford.
2003-04: Hiroshi Nishimaru, from Tsukuba University, Japan. Now Group Leader at University of Tsukuba, Japan.
2003-05: Marie Wintzer, from SISSA, Italy. Now Researcher Riken, Japan.
2005-07: Kathy Quinlan from USA. Now Assistant Professor, US.
2005-: Lotta Borgius, From Ludwig Institutet, Sweden.
2006-: Adolfo Talapar, from the Weisman Institute, Israel.
2005-08: Toshiaki Endo, from University of Okazaki, Japan. Now Associate Professor at University of Nagoya, Japan.
2006-14: Kimberly Dougthery, From Emory University, USA. Now assistant professor Drexel University.
2010-11: Gayane Margaryan, SISSA, Italy. Now in clinic.
2012-: Carmelo Belardita, Italy.
2012-15: Julien Bouvier, Paris France. Group Leader CNRS, France.
2014-16: Vittorio Caggiano, From MIT. Research Position IBM, US.
2014-: Roberto Leiras: Spain.
2016-: Li-Ju Hsu.
2017-: Jared Cregg, US.

Guest professors 
(Harris-Warrick/Bruce Johnson, Cornell University; Goulding, Salk Institute; Glover, Oslo University; Del Negro William and Mary, US).

G. Membership Editorial Boards and review jobs

Member of editorial boards: Current Opinion of Neurobiology (2008-), Neural Development (2007-), Brain Research Bulletin (2000-), Faculty of 1000 (2004-2009). Journal of Neurophysiology (1996-2012).
Reviewing editor: E-Life (2012-), EJN (2015-).
Associate Editor: Frontiers in Neuroscience (2011-2016).
Section Editor Current Opinion of Neurobiology, Motor, 2004 and 2015.
Add hoc reviewer for Nature, PNAS, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Medicine, Nature Protocol, Neuron, Current Biology, and a large number of specialized Neuroscience Journals. Expert reviewer for NIH, Welcome Trust, Scandinavian, French, Swizz and Israelian Research councils.

H. Selected list of invited talks (last 10 years)

Kiehn gives talks at 5-6 international meetings every year. These include talks at many specialized motor conferences (not named here), and at general neuroscience meetings like at the Society for Neuroscience (2006), Physiological Society UK (2005), Gordon Conference (2005), Congress of Physiological Sciences (2005), Federation of European Physiological Society (2006), Federation of European Neuroscience (2007), Ascona conference (2007), Japanese Society for Neuroscience (2009), Cold Spring Harbor, Fransic Crick Neuroscience Symposium Asia (2010/2013). EMBO meeting (2012), Cold Spring Harbor systems neuroscience (2012), Biannual Brain Conference FENS (2013), Cologne Spring meeting (2013), Neural rhythms and their modulation, Berlin 2015. Asia Cold Spring Harbor Meeting, 2017.

Plenary lectures/Distinguished lectures: Gail Memorial Talk, Miami Project to Cure Paralysis International, Miami, USA (2005). Plenary lecture German Zoological Society, Bayreuth, Germany (2005); Plenary Lecture Scandinavian Physiological Society (2007); Plenary Lecture, Physiological Society Meeting, St Andrews (2010). Talk a Fridtjov Nansen 150 year birthday symposium – Norwegian Academy of Sciences (2011). Distinguished lecture, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology Copenhagen (2012); Plenary Lecture Neuroethology Meeting Baltimore (2012); Plenary lecture – motor conference Salk (2013); Distinguished Lecture, Max Planck Munich (2013), Distinguished Lecture, EPFL Luzanne (2013); Plenary Lecture Winter Conference in Neural Systems (2014); Kavli Lecture, Trondheim (2014); Oxford University, Department of Anatomy and Phsyiology (2014). Distinguished Lecture Toronto University – the Tater and Turnbull Lecture (2014). Discovery Lecture Karolinska Institutet (2014)/2018. Riken, Outstanding Research Lecture (2015). Nichelson Lecture, Rockefeller USA (2016), Plenary Lecture Nordic Neuroscience Meeting, Stockholm 2017. Society for Neuroscience, Special Lecture 2017.

I. Grants last 10 years

1. 2006-2010/11: NIH grant (5R01NS040795)(this was an extension of pervious NIH grant to Kiehn – I did not reply in 2011). 1.125M US dollars – Kiehn PI.
2. 2010-2015: 5 year distinguished professorship from Karolinska Institutet. 3.5 MSEK – Kiehn PI.
3. 2011-2016: Torsten and Ragnar Söderbergs endowed professorship. 10 MSEK- Kiehn PI.
4. 2011-2013: Schellenberg foundation (Switzerland).0.5 MSwiss Franc. Kiehn PI – collaborative grant with Hans Hultborn and Cecilia Lundberg.
5. 2011-2016: European Research Council – advanced research grantNeuronsInMotion). 2.5 M€ - Kiehn PI
6. 2011-2013: Postdoc salary from StratNeuro to Kiehn lab. 1.4 MSEK.
7. 2014 (September)-2019 (august): NIH R01 NS090919-01. 2.7 MUS dollars (direct cost). Collaborative group grant between Ilya Rybak (Drexel University), Kiehn and Martyn Goulding (Salk). Kiehn’s share is about 1 M US dollars.
8. 2014-2016: Hjärnfonden (The Swedish Brian Foundation) 1 MSEK – Kiehn PI
9. 2009-2011: The Swedish Medical Research Council 5.05 MSEK (top grant) – Kiehn PI
10. 2011-2014: The Swedish Medical Research Council6.00 MSEK (top grant) – Kiehn PI
11. 2015-2018: The Swedish Medical Research Council6.00 MSEK (top grant – max amount on all top grants were 1.5 MSEK/year- 25% less than the preceding years) – Kiehn PI
12. 2017-2023: Novo Nordic Foundation Laureate Program. 40MDK. Kiehn.
13. 2016-2021: European Research Council – advanced research grant Integrating Locomotion). 2.5 M€ - Kiehn PI