Two New Scientific Departments at the MPI of Psychiatry
Starting August 1st 2013 there will be two new scientific Departments at the Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry (MPIP). In June 2013, the Senate of the Max Planck Society has appointed two new scientific members: Alon Chen and Elisabeth Binder. The two new directors will assume the leadership of the Institute together with Prof. Holsboer.
Elisabeth Binder will head the Translational Research Department of the MPIP. Dr. Binder has studied Medicine at the University of Vienna, Austria and Neuroscience at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, USA. Following a postdoctoral training at the Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry, she returned to Emory University as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Human Genetics. In 2007, she was appointed as research group leader at the Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry within the Minerva Program of the Max-Planck Society. Her main research interests are the identification of molecular moderators of the response to environmental stimuli, how these influence trajectories to psychiatric disease or well-being and to use this information for novel prevention and treatment strategies.
Alon Chen will head the Basic Science Department of the MPIP. Alon Chen has been awarded a Bacchelor in Science and a Master of Buisiness Management from the Ben-Gurion University, Israel. He then obtained his PhD in Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology of Reproduction from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. After postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, he returned to the Weizmann Institute of Science as a faculty member in the Department of Neurobiology, where he now serves as Professor leading the laboratory “Neurobiology of Stress”.
His main research interests are to understand of the neurobiology of stress, focusing on the genes and brain circuits, which are associated with the stress response and to gain insights into the brain mechanisms by which stress affects psychological and physiological disorders to improve our ability to design therapeutic interventions for stress-related disorders.
Professor Holsboer will head the Clinical Research Department and hospital of the MPIP.
MG