Dr. Gisela Helfer

Biography

Dr Gisela Helfer studied Biology and Zoology at the Universityof Salzburg, Austria. During her Master’s studies at the University ofSalzburg, she investigated the neurobiology of learning and imprintingbehaviour of Japanese quail chicks. After graduating, she moved to the MaxPlanck Institute for Ornithology in Andechs, Germany, where she initially workedon the hippocampal formation of migratory birds with Prof Ebo Gwinner and lateron circadian rhythms in vertebrates. Here, Gisela found her love for science ingeneral and chronobiology (the study of biological rhythms) in particular. FromAndechs, she started her northwards journey, first to do a PhD at theUniversity of Birmingham (UK) to work on circadian rhythms in birds and then totrain as a postdoctoral fellow at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Healthat the University of Aberdeen (UK) with Prof Peter Morgan. At the Rowett Institute,she established novel concepts in molecular mechanisms and pathways regulatingseasonal physiology. By combining in vivo studies with molecular biologyincluding neuron-targeted viral gene delivery, she characterised and identifiedfor the first-time pathways in the hypothalamus that control energy homeostasisand appetite regulation. Her work discovered a new role forVitamin A in the brain. Downstream of Vitamin A signalling she identified anovel neuroendocrine role for the adipokine chemerin in cellular remodellingand neuronal plasticity within the hypothalamus. Six years of postdocing, three moves and two childrenlater, she joined the University of Bradford, where she is now an AssociateProfessor in Physiology and Metabolism. In 2015, Gisela enjoyed sabbatical researchat the Centre of Ornithology, University of Otago (NZ) and in 20018, she visitedthe Department of Physiology, University of Ontario, Canada to work with ProfDenise Belsham. As independent research group leader at theUniversity of Bradford, she continues to work on chemerin molecular physiologyin the hypothalamus and investigates circadian rhythms in energy balanceregulation which has recently generated significant international recognition.