Anna Beroun, PhD was conferred the PhD degree by the University in Göttingen in 2012, and then completed her post-doctoral internship at the Necki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She has received research grants from the National Science Centre and the Foundation for Polish Science, and her publications have appeared in prestigious journals including Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, EMBO J and Biological Psychiatry. She has also received several awards, e.g. the Jerzy Konorski Award, granted in recognition for outstanding scientific works in the field of neurobiology in Poland.

THE SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

PhD Beroun’s research focuses on the synaptic plasticity of neurons related to the learning process. The underlying research objective is to identify how synaptic modifications in the reward system in the brain contribute to the formation of appetitive memory (remembering positive events) and what processes are responsible for the development of addictions – a persistently permanent memory. In her research, Dr. Beroun uses such techniques as electrophysiology and optogenetics.