Dr. Ole Kiehn Honored as a Brain Prize 2022 Winner
TSE Systems is sending huge congratulations to Ole Kiehn who was one of the 3 researchers to receive the prestigious Brain Prize from The Lundbeck Foundation. The prize is worth €1.3 million and is the world’s largest neuroscience research award.
Dr. Kiehn received the award for his studies on neuronal cell types and circuits underlying movement. The key findings from his work have identified major elements of spinal circuitries which are crucial for generating changes in coordination & timing of locomotion. His lab is also responsible for precisely outlining the diversification of brainstem circuits involved in episodic expression or context-dependent selection of locomotor behaviour. This ground-breaking research helps in the development of treatments for spinal cord injuries, ALS & Parkinson’s disease.
When interviewed for The Lundbeck Foundation Dr. Kiehn speaks on the importance of the spinal cord as his scientific base along with motor control being his research focus. He states that “movement is so important because it is through the execution of movement that we express and sense most of our existence”. Dr. Kiehn’s work has broken down complex mechanisms to reveal the fundamental workings of the nervous system. Therefore, providing the foundation for the development of therapies for movement disorders in the diseased brain.
Moreover, Dr. Kiehn’s strong focus on neuroscience brings hope that the scientific community will soon be able to use motor pathways to a greater extent to comprehend higher brain functions. More specifically, those that use movement as a form of expression and how neuro-breakthroughs may improve treatments for brain diseases or trauma.
One of Dr. Kiehn’s tools to understand midbrain circuits was TSE’s MotoRater. This system helped to investigate rodent models through the use of kinematic analysis. Take a look at the paper linked below to learn more about his findings!
Midbrain circuits that set locomotor speed and gait selection
More about Ole Kiehn
Dr. Kiehn is currently a professor in Integrative Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen as well as a professor in Neurophysiology at the Department of Neuroscience in Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
More about the MotoRater
The MotoRater is an innovative automated tool for standardized quantitative and objective evaluation of fine motor function & kinematic analysis in small laboratory animals. This allows for the objective phenotyping of various disease models with traits of impaired locomotor ability.
Learn more about the Brain Prize Winners of 2022
The Lundbeck Foundation Brain Prize