prof. dr. Nael Nadif Kasri PhD

Over Nael Nadif Kasri

I studied biochemistry at the KU Leuven (Belgium), followed by a PhD (2000-2004) in molecular biology at the KU Leuven with Prof. Dr. Humbert de Smedt. During my PhD thesis, I studied the role of Ca2+ and calmodulin in the regulation of IP3Rs. After my PhD I worked as a postdoctoral researcher (2005-2010) in the lab of Prof. Dr. Linda van Aelst at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, for which I received a Human Frontiers postdoctoral fellowship. I studied the role of RhoGTPase signaling in excitatory synapses in the hippocampus. In 2010 I moved to the Radboudumc to start my independent research group. In 2011 I received the Hypatia Fellowship and Marie Curie reintegration grant. The focus of my research is to understand the synaptic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders using in vitro human models and in vivo mouse models.

I’m currently professor Medical Neuroscience for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and I head the lab of Molecular Neurophysiology consisting of 3 technicians, 9 Ph.D. students and 3 postdocs. The key goal is to reveal novel neurobiological concepts by resolving the genetic and epigenetic networks, which are found disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and epilepsy. My team uses a multi‐level strategy combining functional genomics and molecular & cellular neurobiological approaches, such as generating and characterizing in vitro (primary neurons and iPSC-derived human neural cells) and mouse models. We aim to integrate fundamental neurobiological research with clinical applications and personalized medicine. In particular, our expertise in the generation of patients-derived neural lineages and their neurophysiological analysis at single-cell and network level is setting the stage in this novel research field. 

Opleiding

• Bachelor Chemistry
• Master Biochemistry
• PhD medical biology
• Postdoctoral training in neurobiology

Onder­scheidingen

• ZonMw: Cannabidiol in refractory childhood epilepsy, a personalized high-quality approach
• Program coordinator of the Brain-on-a-chip programme hDMT
• Project leader ZonMw PSIDER grant BRAINmodel
• ZonMw PSIDER grant: Tailored
• Simons Foundation SFARI
• NWO ENW-M2
• Radboudumc Hypatia fellow
• Human Frontiers Postdoctoral Fellowship

Expertise

• Neurobiology
• stem cell biology
• disease modelling
• Electrophysiology