prof. dr. M. (Marian) Joëls

Research subjects

The research of my group focuses on the effects of stress in the brain, in health and disease. For this we involve human subjects, i.e. both healthy volunteers and specific patient groups. We also use animal models, to carry out in-depth cellular and molecular studies; or for those question that require control over genetic background and/or environmental conditions. By combining such approaches, we gain insight in neuronal effects of stress from the molecular level to the level of populations.

In recent years we particularly investigated the life-long consequences of postnatal stress and the possibilities to normalize these consequences by interventions during puberty.

Marian Joëls obtained her PhD degree in Utrecht (1984) with David de Wied. She carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla California. Between 1991 and 2009 she was appointed at the University of Amsterdam, first as associate professor and subsequently as full professor in neurobiology. In 2009 she was appointed as (full) professor of neuroscience in Utrecht and scientific director of Brain Center Rudolf Magnus. Between September 2016 and November 2023, she was Dean / Board member of the UMCG.

Marian Joëls was elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and of the Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen in 2016. She served as President of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies between 2012 and 2014.

Selection of prizes, key lectures, distinctions (selection of recent years)

* Member of Academia Europaea (2023)
* Merit in the Order of the Dutch Lion (2022)
* Thomassen à Thuessink medal UMCG (2022)
* Fellow of the IUPS Academy  (2021)
* ALBA-FKNE Diversity Prize (2021)
* Mary Pickford Lecture, U Edinburgh, September (2019)
* ISPNE Lifetime Achievement Award, August (2019)
* European Medal, British Endocrine Society (2017)
* Annual FEPS lecturer, Vienna (2017)
* Jacques Benoit Lecture, French Society for Neuroendocrinology (2015)

Overall publication record according to ISI / Google Scholar 

~375/470 publications; >29,500/>47,500 citations; h-factor 82/105; ISI Highly-cited author (2018).

5 key publications (past decade)

1.    V. Bonapersona, H. Schuler, R. Damsteegt, Y. Adolfs, R.J. Pasterkamp, M.P. van den Heuvel, M. Joëls*, R.A. Sarabdjitsingh*. The mouse brain after foot shock in four dimensions: Temporal dynamics at a single-cell resolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Feb 22;119(8):e2114002119.

2.    L. Schwabe, E.J. Hermans, M. Joëls, B. Roozendaal. Mechanisms of memory under stress. Neuron 2022 Mar 15:S0896-6273(22)00198-2.

3.    V.. Bonapserona, H. Hoijtink, RELACS Consortium, R.A. Sarabdjitsingh*, M. Joëls*, Increasing the statistical power of animal experiments with historical control data. Nature Neurosci., 24: 470-477, 2021.

4.    J.S. van Campen, F.E. Jansen, M.A. Pet, W.M. Otte, M.H.J. Hillegers, M. Joëls*, K.P.J. Braun*, Relation between stress-precipitated seizures and the stress response in childhood epilepsy, Brain, 138, 2234-2248, 2015.

5.    R.A. Sarabdjitsingh, J. Jezequel, N. Pasricha, L. Mikasova, A. Kerkhofs, H. Karst, L. Groc*, M. Joëls*, Ultradian corticosterone pulses balance glutamatergic transmission and synaptic plasticity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111, 14265-70, 2014.

 [* Shared senior authorship]