Highlights in psychiatric genes

Iiris Hovatta, Ph.D., is Professor of Behavioral Genetics at the University of Helsinki, Department of Psychology and Logopedics and the SleepWell Research Program. Since 2016 she is the Chair of the Doctoral Program Brain & Mind at the University of Helsinki. She received her doctorate in 1998 from the University of Helsinki, followed by postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, USA. She is the director of the Neurogenomics Laboratory at the University of Helsinki since 2007. Her lab uses mouse and human cross-species genomic approaches to identify genes and pathways involved in anxiety disorders. They recently identified myelin plasticity as one of the main brain responses to chronic psychosocial stress-induced anxiety, and are currently investigating the underlying mechanisms. She is the recipient of the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award from the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation in 2010 and the ERC Starting Investigator Grant in 2011.