2023 Honorary Member Marco Celio, MD

Prof. emeritus, Université de Fribourg

The SSN awarded honorary membership in recognition of

his important contributions in studying calcium-binding proteins as markers of nerve cells

and his leadership in the academic development of neuroscience

 

 

Short CV of Prof. Celio

After completing my medical studies in Zurich, I became a collaborator at the Institute of Anatomy. During this period, I moved with my family to San Diego, for a postdoc at the Salk Institute in La Jolla (USA). From Zurich we then emigrated to Kiel in Germany, where I taught anatomy for three years. In 1989 we returned to Switzerland, where I took over the teaching of histology and embryology at the University of Fribourg. I have held this position until 2021, spending sabbaticals in Neuroscience at Harvard in Boston and Singapore.

Influenced by the saying “the gains in brain are mainly in the stain” I have exploited antibodies to calcium binding proteins as markers of nerve cells and as detector of yet unknown brain centres. Parvalbumin was found as the most reliable and robust marker of the cortical inhibitory, GABA-neurons. The development of Pvalb:Cre mice opened the possibility to study and influence specifically the function of inhibitory interneurons, by tagging them with fluorescent dyes or infecting them with chemo or optogenetic tools. Parv is not only a marker, but also a surrogate of GABA for state-of-the-art molecular research on inhibitory interneurons. Recent publications, in collaboration with other groups, demonstrated that a cluster of brainstem neurons positive for calbindin D-28k (Nucleus Papilio) affects eye movement during REM-sleep. Another cluster of parv neurons in the lateral hypothalamus (Parvafox) contributes to the expression of emotions. In parallel with my research, I taught medical and biomedical students, contributed to the administration of the medical department and the Faculty of Science, introduced different types of online teaching (e.g., www.embryology.ch) and founded Swant (Swiss antibodies).

 

  2022 Kevan A.C. Martin

The SSN awarded honorary membership in recognition of him bringing

computational theory and emulation of cortical circuits to Swiss Neuroscience,

and for leading a research institute that tells us “what all these wires are for

 2019 - Eric Rouiller 

 

Eric Roullier  2018 - Marie-Claude Hepp-Reymond

 

 2017 - Martin Schwab

 

Egbert Welker  2016 - Egbert Welker

 

Mario Wiesendanger  2015 - Mario Wiesendanger

Hans-Rudolf Lüscher  2014 - Hans-Rudolf Lüscher

 

Christian Hess  2013 - Christian Hess

 

Theodor Landis  2012 - Theodor Landis

 

Beat Gähwiler  2011 - Beat Gähwiler

 

Alexander Borbély  2010 - Alexander Borbély

 

Ann Kato  2009 - Ann Kato

 

Jean-Jacques Dreifuss  2007 - Jean-Jacques Dreifuss

 

Michel Cuénod  2007- Michel Cuénod

 

Konrad Akert  2006 - Konrad Akert