Kelsch group

Systems neuroscience and mental health

Group Leader

Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Kelsch

Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Kelsch

Head senior physician
Head of the group "Systems neuroscience and mental health"

Specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy

Group members

Researchers

  • Mirko Articus MD
  • Sven Berberich PhD
  • Julia Lebedova PhD
  • Corentin Nelias PhD
  • Max Scheller MD
  • David Wolf MD

PhD students

  • Sarah Ghanayem
  • Laura Haenschke
  • Danae Nikolantonaki
  • Matteo Pizzinga
  • Walter Canedo Riedel
  • Eda Turgut
  • Michele Valla

Lab Manager

  • Michal Adveev

Research Group Complex Systems in Psychiatry
Group Leader

  • PD Jonathan R. Reinwald MD

DFG-Mercator-Fellow

  • Prof. Dr. Eleonora Russo PhD 

 

Main research topics

Social stress and resilience

Social stress is one of the main risk factors for depressive episodes. However, people react very differently to stressors. The underlying mechanisms that lead to individual resilience to social stress are not well understood. The social position and dynamics in society appear to play a decisive role in these processes.
These mechanisms can only be investigated in a social context and in longitudinal studies. We therefore developed a sensor-rich, non-invasive habitat to monitor individual social behavior and reinforcement learning in mouse colonies with high-dimensional measures and minimal experimenter interference, as originally proposed in the 3R principles. Causal interactions are be uncovered using computational modeling. In particular, we aim to determine the influence of genetic polymorphisms and identify possible interventions that modulate the individual resilience.

Neuronal mechanisms of social memories and social structures

We are investigating the fundamental question of how we remember others and assign positive or negative memories. We aim to reveal the mechanism by which the neurohormone oxytocin increases signal extraction in neuronal networks and thereby promotes the formation of memories of others. To answer these and related questions, we are using large-scale single-unit recordings in transgenic mice and a functional MRI during behavior to capture the dynamics of brain activity and discover new targets for the development of better therapies.

Learning to predict the environment

In order to make meaningful decisions, events in the environment must be assigned a value. The formation of such predictions and their outcome-based evaluation are impaired in severe mental disorders. We use high-dimensional network recordings, functional MRI, computational modeling, and genetics in mice to investigate how distributed but tightly interacting brain networks assign value to environmental stimuli through reinforcement learning. Using this approach, we recently identified a distributed reinforcing network loop that generates reward prediction and elucidated the underlying mechanisms. These findings feed into our general question of shaping behavior and resilience in complex social environments.

Funding

  • German Research Foundation (DFG)
  • Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Selected invited lectures

  • 2026 Cold Spring Harbor Meeting ‘Neuronal Circuits’, USA
  • 2025 Gordon Conference ‘Neuromodulation‘, Schweiz
  • 2025 DGPPN Symposium ‘Aggression‘, Berlin
  • 2024 AChemS Meeting, USA
  • 2024 Cold Spring Harbor Meeting ‘Neuronal Circuits’, USA
  • 2022 AGNP Symposium, Berlin
  • 2021 AChemS Meeting, USA
  • 2020 FENS Meeting, Glasgow
  • 2019 WCNH Meeting, Rehovot, Israel
  • 2018 ECRO Symposium, Würzburg
  • 2018 Majorana Foundation Workshop ‘Oxytocin’, Italy
  • 2018 AChemS Meeting, USA
  • 2018 The Social Brain Symposium, Tsukuba, Japan
  • 2016 Cold Spring Harbor Meeting ‘Neuronal Circuits’, USA
  • 2015 Cold Spring Harbor Meeting ‘Wiring the brain’, USA
  • 2011 Keystone Meeting ‘Adult Neurogenesis’, USA
  • 2008 Cold Spring Harbor Meeting ‘Neuronal Circuits’, USA
  • 2007 Gordon Conference ‘Inhibition in the CNS’, USA

Key publications

  • Lo H, Riedel WC, Tantirigama MLS, Schoenherr A, Moreno Velasquez L, Faiss L, Kumar A, Hakus A, Rost BR, Larkum ME, Judkewitz B, Stumpenhorst K, Rivalan M, Winter Y, Russo E, Kelsch W, Schmitz D, Johenning FW (2025) Feeding-induced olfactory cortex suppression reduces satiation. Neuron. 113:2856-2871.
  • Wolf D, Hartig R, Zhuo Y, Scheller MF, Articus M, Moor M, Grinevich V, Linster C, Russo E, Weber-Fahr W, Reinwald JR, Kelsch W (2024) Oxytocin induces the formation of distinctive cortical representations and cognitions biased toward familiar mice. Nature Communications 15:6274
  • Wolf D, Oettl LL, Winkelmeier L, Linster C, Kelsch W (2024) Anterior Olfactory Cortices Differentially Transform Bottom-Up Odor Signals to Produce Inverse Top-Down Outputs. J. of Neuroscience. 44:e0231242024.
  • Winkelmeier L, Filosa C, Hartig R, Scheller M, Sack M, Reinwald JR, Becker R, Wolf D, Gerchen MF, Sartorius A, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Weber-Fahr W, Clemm von Hohenberg C, Russo E, Kelsch W (2022) Striatal hub of dynamic and stabilized prediction coding in forebrain networks for olfactory reinforcement learning. Nature Communications. 13:3305.
  • Eltokhi A, Gonzalez-Lozano MA, Oettl LL, Rozov A, Pitzer C, Röth R, Berkel S, Hüser M, Harten A, Kelsch W, Smit AB, Rappold GA, Sprengel R (2021) Imbalanced post- and extrasynaptic SHANK2A functions during development affect social behavior in SHANK2-mediated neuropsychiatric disorders. Molecular Psychiatry. 26:6482-6504.
  • Oettl LL, Scheller M, Filosa C, Wieland S, Haag F, Loeb C, Durstewitz D, Shusterman R, Russo E, Kelsch W (2020) Phasic dopamine reinforces distinct striatal stimulus encoding in the olfactory tubercle driving dopaminergic reward prediction. Nature Communications 11:3460.
  • Oettl LL, Ravi R, Schneider M, Scheller M, Schneider P, Mitre M, Froemke RC, Chao MV, Young WS, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Grinevich V, Shusterman, Kelsch W (2016) Oxytocin enhances social recognition by modulating cortical control of early olfactory processing. Neuron 90:609-21.
  • Wieland S, Dan D, Oswald M, Parlato R, Köhr G, Kelsch W (2014) Phasic Dopaminergic activity exert fast control of cholinergic interneuron firing by sequential NMDA, D2 and D1 receptor activation. J. of Neuroscience. 34:11549-59.
  • Lin, CW, Sim S, Ainsworth A, Okada M, Kelsch W, Lois C (2010). Genetically increased cell-intrinsic excitability enhances neuronal integration into adult brain circuits. Neuron. 65, 32–39.
  • Kelsch W, Sim S, Lois C (2010) Watching Synaptogenesis in the Adult Brain. Ann Rev Neurosci 33:131-149.