Christian Lüscher (neurobiologist)

Christian Lüscher (born April 13, 1963) is a Swiss neurobiologist and full professor at the Department of Basic Neurosciences of the University of Geneva.[1] He is also an attending in neurology at the Geneva University Hospital.[2] Lüscher is known for his contributions in the field addiction, particularly for establishing links of causality between the drug-evoked synaptic plasticity and adaptive behavior in mice.[3]

Christian Lüscher
BornApril 13, 1963
NationalitySwiss
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
InstitutionsUniversity of Geneva & Geneva University Hospital

Early life

Lüscher was born in Bern, Switzerland and grew up there in the lake of Constance area.

Education

Lüscher studied medicine in Lausanne and Berne and obtained his federal diploma in 1990. In his MD degree, he studied the effects of axon morphology on action potential propagation. After clinical residencies at the Inselspital in Bern and the University Hospital in Geneva, he left for a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF (Advisor Roger Nicoll). He returned to University of Geneva with a career development award of the Swiss National Science Foundation,[4] where he first became associated (2003) and then full professor (2009)[5]

Research

Lüscher studies how addictive drugs alter synaptic transmission in the reward system of the mouse brain.[6] He has proposed a mechanistic classification of addictive drugs and developed optogenetic stimulation protocols that when applied in a mouse model of addiction can erase adaptive behavior.[7] In his most recent work he explores the molecular basis of individual vulnerability to addiction and launched several translational projects. He has initiated the OptoDBS conference series,[8] seeking to emulate optogenetic innervations with deep brain stimulation.

Lüscher also studies the circuits underlying hedonic feeding. He has observed that suppression of activity of D1 receptor expression medium spiny neurons that project to the lateral hypothalamus (LH) authorizes food intake.[9] Moreover synaptic depression of GABA transmission in the LH leads to overeating.[10] the same circuits are also controlling the social transmission of a food safety signal.[11]

Among others, Lüscher has mentored the following scientists, who are now independent investigators: Camilla Bellone[12] (Associate Professor University of Geneva), Meaghan Creed (Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis),[13] Manuel Mameli[14] (Associate Professor, University of Lausanne), Tifei Yuan (Associate Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, CN)

Awards and honors

Key papers

References
  1. "Basic Neurosciences - Neurosciences fondamentales - UNIGE". Unige.ch. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  2. "L'équipe du service neurologie à Genève aux HUG". www.hug.ch. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  3. "Laboratory of Prof. Christian Lüscher - C. Lüscher Synapses, circuits and behaviour in addiction and related disorders - UNIGE". Addictionscience.unige.ch. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  4. "SNF - P3 Forschungsdatenbank - Project 54962". P3.snf.ch. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  5. "Christian Luscher - Neurosciences fondamentales - UNIGE". Unige.ch. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  6. "Mice experiments explain how addiction changes our brains". Sciencenordic.com. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  7. "Resetting the Addictive Brain - DiscoverMagazine.com". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  8. "OptoDBS". Optodbs.ch. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  9. O'Connor, EC; Kremer, Y; Lefort, S; Harada, M; Pascoli, V; Rohner, C; Lüscher, C (4 November 2015). "Accumbal D1R Neurons Projecting to Lateral Hypothalamus Authorize Feeding". Neuron. 88 (3): 553–64. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.038. PMID 26593092. S2CID 17552216.
  10. Thoeni, S; Loureiro, M; O'Connor, EC; Lüscher, C (8 July 2020). "Depression of Accumbal to Lateral Hypothalamic Synapses Gates Overeating". Neuron. 107 (1): 158–172.e4. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2020.03.029. PMID 32333845. S2CID 216095939.
  11. Loureiro, Michaël; Achargui, Ridouane; Flakowski, Jérôme; Van Zessen, Ruud; Stefanelli, Thomas; Pascoli, Vincent; Lüscher, Christian (7 June 2019). "Social transmission of food safety depends on synaptic plasticity in the prefrontal cortex". Science. 364 (6444): 991–995. Bibcode:2019Sci...364..991L. doi:10.1126/science.aaw5842. PMID 31171697. S2CID 174804861.
  12. "Camilla Bellone - Neurosciences fondamentales - UNIGE". Unige.ch. 15 February 2017.
  13. "Meaghan Creed - Washington University in St.Louis". wustl.edu.
  14. "Manuel Mameli - University of Lausanne". Unil.ch.
  15. "Winners of the Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation Award Lecture at the FENS Forum 2022". fens.org. 7 March 2022.
  16. "F-Addict ERC Advanced grant" (PDF).
  17. "2020 Otto Naegeli Prize".
  18. "2019 Schaefer Research Scholar". 2 May 2019.
  19. "Théodore Ott Prize". Samw.ch. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  20. "Former Awardees - Betty & David Koetser Foundation for Brain Research". Koetserfoundation.org. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  21. "Senate". Samw.ch. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  22. "MESSI ERC Advanced grant".
  23. "Cloëtta Prize - Max Cloëtta Stiftung". Cloetta-foundation.ch. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
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