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Elena Eliseeva

BA MSc


DPhil student

I completed a BA in Experimental Psychology here at the University of Oxford, where I conducted behavioural research comparing GluA1 knockout and wild-type mice on an operant conditioning task involving lever pressing. This work has implications for schizophrenia research since GluA1 knockout mice serve as models for abnormal glutamatergic signalling seen in the disorder.

My growing interest in neuropsychopharmacology led me to pursue an MSc in Pharmacology, with both my Master’s project and subsequent gap year research taking place in the Minichiello lab.

Building on this work, my current research focuses on understanding the function of BDNF–TrkB signalling in cerebellar granule cells. Through the conditional deletion of Trkb from a subset of these cells, I have demonstrated that the dysfunction of this signalling pathway is sufficient to trigger ataxia symptoms in mice, suggesting a potential mechanism contributing to motor incoordination in ataxia disorders like spinocerebellar ataxia 6.