Esther Becker

My academic research career has been driven by my longstanding interest in the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern brain development and disease.

I graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 2000 with a MSc degree in Medical Biology.  Subsequently, I performed my doctorate research with Prof. Azad Bonni at Harvard Medical School, focussing on the signalling mechanisms that regulate apoptosis in the nervous system, primarily in the developing cerebellum.  For these studies, I was awarded a PhD Fellowship from the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds and an Albert J. Ryan Foundation Fellowship.  After completion of my PhD in 2006, I joined Prof. Kay Davies’ group in the department funded by a long-term fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program to investigate the genetic and molecular underpinnings of cerebellar ataxia in mice and men.  From 2009 to 2010, I have been an OXION training fellow and pursued my interest in the pathogenesis of cerebellar ataxia by taking both a genetic as well as an autoimmune approach.

I have recently been awarded a Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship from the Royal Society to establish my own research programme in the department.  I intend to continue my previous studies with the goal to obtain deeper insights into the fundamental principles that link neurodevelopment and disease in the cerebellum.

Further information can be found at Becker Research