Maike Glitsch

Maike Glitsch gained a degree in Biological Sciences in 1995 (University of Göttingen and Max Planck Institute for biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany) and a Doctorate in Biology  (University of Göttingen and Max Planck Institute for biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany; thesis on cellular neuroscience) in 1998. She then came to Oxford as a post-doctoral fellow on a Human Frontiers of Sciences Program Long Term Fellowship, and was subsequently funded by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society. She has since been appointed as University Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences and Tutorial Fellow in Medicine at St. Hilda’s College Oxford und is Vice-Director of the Centre of Integrative Neuroscience in DPAG.

Maike Glitsch’s research interests centre around communication between cells in the mammalian brain and, more recently, the involvement of proton-sensing G protein coupled receptors and TRPC ion channels in neuronal development in health and disease with a focus on the cerebellum, a part of the brain involved in motor coordination and learning.. In particular, her group is currently focussing on the role of extracellular pH and substrate stiffness on brain cell development and function. Using electrophysiology, calcium imaging and molecular biology, they are trying to understand differences in calcium signalling in brain cells (neurons, microglia, astrocytes, pericytes) under physiological and pathological conditions.