Ole Kiehn

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Ole Kiehn
Danish - Swedish neuroscientist
Occupation	Professor

Ole Kiehn (born 1958 in Nakskov, Denmark) is a Danish - Swedish neuroscientist. He researches at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Karolinska Institute, Sweden. Since 2008 he has been a member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute and an elected member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine since 2014.

Early life and education

Ole Kiehn is born 1958 in Nakskov, Denmark. He earned his medical degree in 1985 and his Doctorate in Science (D.Sci.) in 1990, both from University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Career

From 1985-89 Ole Kiehn worked as a Research associate at the Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Copenhagen. He spent 1989-90 working as a Postdoc at the Section of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, USA, before returning to Denmark to become a group leader at the Institute of Neurophysiology at University of Copenhagen (1991-95). From 1995 to 2000, he was employed as a Hallas Møller Research Fellow at Department of Physiology, University of Copenhagen, and in 1997, he became an Associate professor the same place, a position that he held until 2001, when he was recruited to Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Since 2004, Ole Kiehn is a professor in neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institute. From 2003 to 2011 Ole Kiehn was deputy chair of the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute. In 2008 he became a Member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute and was elected as a member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine in 2014 (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/about/the-nobel-committee-for-physiology-or-medicine), after serving as an Adjunct member from 2011-14. He was the founding member of Strat-Neuro at Karolinska Institute and it's Co-director from 2011-2016.

Since 2017, he is also employed as a Professor in Integrative Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen.

Work

Kiehn has published over 120 originals papers and reviews and his work has been reported in scientific journals, including Nature (journal), Science (journal), Cell (journal), Nature Neuroscience, Neuron (journal), PNAS, Nature Reviews Neuroscience among others. Kiehn’s work has elucidated the functional organization of neuronal circuits controlling movement. In his initial work he showed that vertebrate motor neurons can express transmitter-modulated plateau potentials (Houndgaard et al. 1988). This work uniquely exemplifies the role of membrane properties for generating motor output. Continued work has shown an involvement of plateaux in disturbed motor symptoms seen after spinal cord injury (Bellardita et al. 2017).

Using molecular mouse genetic, electrophysiology and behavioral studies he has revealed the key cellular organization of spinal locomotor networks (Kiehn 2016; Kiehn 2006) and was able to functionally discover and link specific neuronal populations in the spinal cord to the ability to produce the alternating movements within and between limps during locomotion (Talpalar et al. 2011, 13, Butt and Kiehn 2003; Kullandet et al. 2003) and to set the rhythm of locomotion (Dougherty et al. 2013; Haeglund et al 2010; Kiehn 2016). This work revealed that recognizable neuronal populations define specific aspects of the motor output. Kiehn has also discovered specific populations of excitatory brainstem neurons that mediate the episodic control of locomotion: the start and stop of locomotion (Caggiano et al. 2018, Bouvier et al. 2015) as well as turning. These studies unravel the communication pathway between the brain and the spinal cord needed to control the expression of locomotion.

He is co-editor in chief of Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

Awards and honors

2019: Recipient of the Lundbeck Foundation’s Professorship award 2017: Recipient of the Novo Nordic Foundation’s Laureate program award 2015: Recipient of European Research Council advanced grant 2014: Elected Member of European Molecular Biology Organization 2013: Elected Member of Academia Europea 2012: Elected Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2010: Elected Member of the the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 2010: Recipient of Torsten Söderberg’s Professorship 2010: Recipient of European Research Council advanced grant advanced Grant 2010: Distinguished Professor Award, Karolinska Institute 2004: Recipient of Schellenberg Prize in spinal cord research 1995: Recipient of Hallas Møller Research Fellowship

Key Publications

1. Caggiano V, Leiras R, Goñi-Erro H, Masini D, Bellardita C, Bouvier J, Caldeira V, Fisone G, KIEHN O (2018). Midbrain circuits that set locomotor speed and gait selection. Nature 25;553(7689):455-460. 2. Bouvier J, Caggiano V, Leiras R, Caldeira V, Bellardita C, Balueva K, Fuchs A, KIEHN O (2015). Descending Command Neurons in the Brainstem that Halt Locomotion. Cell,163(5): 1191-1203. 3. Dougherty KJ, Zagoraiou Z, Satoh D, Rozani I, Doobar S, Arber S, Jessell TM, KIEHN O. (2013). Locomotor Rhythm Generation Linked to the Output of Spinal Shox2 Excitatory Interneurons.Neuron,80(4): 920-933. 4. Talpalar AE, Bouvier J, Borgius L, Fortin G, Pierani A, KIEHN O (2013). Dual-mode operation of neuronal networks involved in left–right alternation. Nature, 500: 85–88. 5. Talpalar AE, Endo T, Löw P, Borgius L, Hägglund M, Dougherty KJ, Rygg J, Hnasko TS, KIEHN O (2011). Identification of minimal neuronal networks involved in flexor-extensor alternation in the mammalian spinal cord. Neuron, 71(6):1071-84. 6. Hägglund M, Borgius L, Dougherty KJ, KIEHN O. (2010). Activation of glutamatergic neurons in the mammalian brainstem or spinal cord evoke hind-limp locomotion. Nature Neuroscience, 13(2): 246-52. 7. Butt S.J.B., KIEHN O. (2003).Functional identification of interneurons responsible for left-right coordination of hindlimbs in mammals. Neuron,38(6): 953-63. 8. Kullander K. , Butt S.J.B., Lebret J., Lundfald L., Restrepo E., Klein R., Kiehn, O. (2003). Role of EphA4 and EphrinB3 in local circuits that control walking. Science, 299: 1889-1892. 9. Hounsgaard, J., Hultborn, H., Jespersen, B. and Kiehn, O. (1988).Bistability of alpfa-motoneurones in the decerebrate cat and in the acute spinal cat after intravenous 5-hydroxytryptophan. Journal of Physiology, 405: 345-367 10. Bellardita C, Caggiano V, Leiras R, Caldeira V, Fuchs A, Bouvier J, Löw P, Kiehn O (2017). Spatiotemporal correlation of spinal network dynamics underlying spasms in chronic spinalized mice. Elife. Feb 13;6. pii: e2301

External links

Kiehn Lab at University of Copenhagen Kiehn Laboratory at the Karolinska Institute

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