On Thursday (22.01) we will host Dr. Sandra Siegert (Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)). Her lecture will be entitled: "Microglia as modulator of brain network activity: How ketamine and sex impact microglia action". The lecture will take place at 3 p.m. in the CN lecture hall and it will be followed by a get together.

Abstract:

Brain dysfunction has a detrimental effect on our daily lives. Yet, surprisingly little is known about how microglia, traditionally classified as immune-responsive cells embedded within the neuronal network, maintain brain function and how deviations from their tasks may have severe effects.

In my talk, I will focus on microglia in the healthy adult mouse brain and show how ketamine anesthesia enables microglia to adapt the perineuronal nets, a defined extracellular space that locks neurons in a functional state. Through repeated exposure, we reinstate juvenile-like plasticity. Interestingly, acute ketamine exposure results in a sex-specific response, which we mechanistically identify to be dependent on the stress hormone corticosterone from the body periphery. Our observations identify potential sex-specific therapeutic differences, which warrant further investigations.

About the speaker: 

Dr. Sandra Siegert is a trained biologist, having obtained her PhD in Neurobiology at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, CH, and performed her postdoctoral work at MIT. In 2015, joined the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) as an independent Assistant Professor with an ERC starting grant focusing on the interaction of microglia with neurons. She received tenure in 2023, and from July 2025 onwards will oversee the ISTA Life Science Faculty as Area Chair. Dr. Siegert combines various techniques to study the interplay between neurons and microglia. Throughout her career, she has been involved in innovative technology development, resulting in patent applications. Her most recent discovery of 60-Hz reducing perineuronal nets, which lock the brain in a functional state, opens the possibility of a noninvasive light therapy treatment for mental health challenges. As an ERC PoC awardee, she co-founded the start-up Syntropic Medical GmbH in 2022.