Dr Giselle Cheung

Giselle is a Lecturer in Neuroscience (E&R) within the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences. She is interested in the intricate interactions between neurons and glial cells (microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes) throughout brain development, and how these interactions are perturbed in neurodevelopmental disorders. 

During her PhD at the Max-Delbrück Center (Helmut Kettenmann lab, Berlin, Germany), she explored the diverse properties of astrocytes and microglia under various conditions ranging from development to disease. She later worked on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of synaptic vesicle recycling at the University of Edinburgh (Mike Cousin lab, Edinburgh, UK) and subsequently identified the dynamic roles of astrocytes in modulating neuronal synaptic transmission at the Collège de France (Nathalie Rouach lab, Paris France).

More recently, at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (Simon Hippenmeyer lab, Klosterneuburg, Austria), Giselle uncovered the developmental programs governing the generation of neuronal and glial cell-type diversity within the developing midbrain responsible for multisensory integration. Her research has relevance to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). 

Her current research focuses on the development of sensory processing in the dorsal midbrain using a combination of methods such as electrophysiology, live-imaging, advanced mouse genetics, and single-cell RNA sequencing techniques.