Team
Ludovic Mure completed his MS in Neuroscience at the University of Lyon, France, and his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Howard Cooper at the SRBI (INSERM) where he investigated the recently discovered melanopsin, a photopigment expressed by a subset of retinal ganglion cells and rendering them intrinsically photosensitive (ipRGCs).
He pursued in this very exciting and fast-moving field by joining the lab of Satchin Panda (The Salk Institute, San Diego, US). As a postdoc, he explored the non-visual responses to light in particular the relationship between the circadian clock and light. He found that melanopsin unique properties relied on both its structure and its binding partners. Then, in an exceptional collaborative project between INSERM, the Salk Institute, and the Institute of Primate Research (Kenya), he established the first rhythmic transcriptome of a diurnal primate. This study unveiled the unique features of primate rhythmic gene expression and unveiled the importance of the natural light-dark cycles for gene expression. Recently, together with F. Vinberg (U. of Utah) and A. Hanneken (Scripps Institute), he developed a human retina preparation that preserves the function of each photoreceptive system for several hours after the death of the donors and was able to record for the first time human ipRGCs and to characterize their responses, sensitivity, spectra, and functional diversity.
Finally, in 2021, to transition to an independent research position in Europe, he joined the labs of Profs. Kleinlogel (U. of Bern) and Adamantidis (Department for Neurology, Inselspital) as a Velux Stiftung fellow to dissect ipRGCs circuits in the retina and the brain, in health and disease. In 2023, he joined the Department of Ophthalmology of the Inselspital in Bern (Switzerland) as a group leader.
Marie-Angela Wulf studied medicine in Zurich and obtained an MD PhD from the University of Zurich studying the physiological role of cellular prion protein in the hippocampal CA1 neurons in the Lab of Prof. Adriano Aguzzi. In 2020, she started a residency at the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital of Berne. Her main interest lies in neurodegenerative diseases leading to dementia and the mechanisms underlying the observed phenotypes on cellular and network levels. Currently, she is working in collaboration with Prof. Adamantidis Lab on a project investigating ipRGCs' postsynaptic neurons in mouse models of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Yixin Tong completed his bachelor's degree in Preventive Medicine at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and pursued his master's in Neuroscience at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. During his master's program, he conducted research at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neurosciences under supervision of Prof. Clifford Kentros, where he investigated object-in-place memory in the anterior cingulate cortex. Following his master's, Yixin received one year of training at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Subsequently, he joined the Laboratory of Stereotaxy and Interventional Neuroscience (lab of SIN) at the University of Freiburg - Medical Center, Germany, first as a PhD candidate and later as a Postdoc under the guidance of Profs. Volker A Coenen and Mate Döbrössy. His doctoral research focused on understanding the impact of electrical and optogenetic stimulation at the medial forebrain bundle in rodent models of depression. In 2023, Yixin commenced his Postdoctoral work at the Physiology of Light Perception Lab at Inselspital in Bern.
Arianna Cella obtained her bachelor's degree in Biology at Urbino University. She then moved to Trieste, where she graduated in Neuroscience in 2023 with a thesis on time perception entitled "Duration perception encoding mechanisms in the auditory and tactile modalities". There she obtained a scholarship at SISSA, where she worked with prof. Matthew Diamond in the Tactile Perception and Learning Lab. She is now a PhD student at the University of Bern, working under the supervision of prof. Mure's supervision.