Carsten K Nielsen , Ph.D.
Schizophrenia
About Me:
I am originally from: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Today, I live in: San Francisco, California
My Undergraduate Degree was in: Pharmacy from: The University of Queensland, Australia
My Graduate Degree was in: Pharmacy from: The University of Queensland, Australia
My Other degrees are: Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours: Class I) from: The University of Queensland, Australia
I currently work at: Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, University of California San Francisco
About My Work:
My field of study is: Schizophrenia - more specifically: Preclinical development of potential new compounds for the treatment of schizophrenia
I enjoy this because: It is exciting to do an experiment and discover something that no one else has ever found before. I also find it very rewarding when my studies lead to helping patients.
I am currently working on: My current studies are investigating potential new treatments for the symptoms of schizophrenia. Sensorimotor gating, a process through which the brain sorts incoming messages and filters out irrelevant information, is often disrupted in people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenic patients also have negative and cognitive symptoms, including social isolation and withdrawal, which current antipsychotic medications fail to treat effectively. Therefore, there remains a critical need for the development of pharmacotherapies that address these symptoms while minimizing side effects. This may require looking beyond the traditional targets of antipsychotic medications. Opioid receptors are traditionally associated with modulating pain, although there is increasing evidence they are involved in many physiological processes in the CNS. The delta opioid receptor subtype has been shown to play a role in affective states and cognition; therefore, my studies are aimed at investigating this receptor as a therapeutic target for the treatment of schizophrenia. Using animal models of the symptoms of schizophrenia, my studies utilize both mice which are genetically engineered to have a deletion of the delta opioid receptor and drugs that modulate delta opioid receptor function to identify potential new therapies for the symptoms of schizophrenia.
| More About Me:Right Handed or Left Handed: Right handed What is your favorite word? Hyggelig What place in the world would you most like to visit? The Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize to go snorkeling and Scuba diving Do you have any nicknames? Carsty! What was the last song that played on your iPod? I prefer to play my vinyl records; the last one I played was ‘Heathen Child’ by Grinderman Favorite TV show: The Young Ones Desk: messy or organized? An organized mess How many languages can you speak and what are they? English and also some Danish and German Do you play any instruments? Yes - Bass guitar. I played bass in bands in Australia called Wormwood, The Wild Mushroom Pickers, Hygate and Samsara Your Perfect Pizza: Bellissimo Pizza on Sutter Street in San Francisco If I was not doing what I am doing today, I might be working as: A Musician Here is what I'd like to share with the world: “Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.” Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt (1937 Nobel Prize Laureate for Physiology or Medicine) |
Support our research!
Click here to meet some other Young Investigators
Get The Word Out