Position Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Johanna Krueger is a postdoctoral research fellow with a keen interest in gaining knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of epilepsy and using these insights to develop and improve personalized treatment, especially for intractable epilepsies.
During her PhD at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (University of Tuebingen, Germany), she searched for novel genes and variants causing genetic generalized epilepsies. Her findings helped to understand the genotype-phenotype relationships in epilepsy and broadened the phenotype spectrum for multiple genes. Furthermore, Johanna was able to link loss-of-function variants in KCNQ5 to the development of genetic generalized epilepsy and uncovered the molecular mechanism for one of these variants. She showed how this variant influences neuronal firing and utilized this knowledge to test channel-specific drugs for their efficacy, leading to the discovery of a potential treatment. During her time at the University of Washington as a postdoctoral fellow, Johanna aided in understanding the binding of bupivacaine to Nav1.5 and how it affects the channel.
As a member of the Olson group and as an IPN research fellow, Johanna will work on projects regarding the acute and chronic effects of psychedelic drugs on neurophysiology and neuropathology in the context of epilepsy.
- University of Tuebingen/Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research - Ph.D., Neurobiology – Cellular and Molecular (2023)
- University of Muenster- Master of Science in Molecular Biomedicine (2018)
- University of Tuebingen- Bachelor of Science in Biology (2015)
- Faces in Biomedical Research’ Interview, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
- Paper of the Quarter IV/2022 for Krüger et al. 2022, Research for Rare Network
- Epileptogenesis
- Development of Personalized Medicine
- Kv7 channels
- Channelopathies
- Krüger J and Lerche H. Retigabine and gabapentin restore channel function and neuronal firing of an epilepsy-associated dominant-negative KCNQ5 variant. 2024. Neuropharmacology, 109892. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.109892
- Krüger J, Schubert J, Kegele J, Labalme A, Mao M, Heighway J, Seebohm G, Yan P, Koko M, Aslan-Kara K, Caglayan H, Steinhoff BJ, Weber YG, Keo-Kosal P, Berkovic SF, Hildebrand MS, Petrou S, Krause R, May P, Lesca G, Maljevic S, Lerche H. Loss-of-function variants in the KCNQ5 gene are implicated in genetic generalized epilepsies. 2022. EBioMedicine, 84, 104244. DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104244
- Johannesen KM, Liu Y, Gjerulfsen CE, Koko M, Sonnenberg L, Schubert J, Fenger CD, Eltokhi A, Rannap M, Koch NA, Lauxmann S, Krüger J, Kegele J, Canafoglia L, …, Benda J, Gardella E, Lerche H, Møller RS. Genotype-phenotype correlations in SCN8A-related disorders reveal prognostic and therapeutic implications. 2022. Brain, 145(9), 2991-3009. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awab321
- Kegele J, Krüger J, Koko M, Lange L, Marco Hernandez AV, Martinez F, Munchau A, Lerche H, Lauxmann S. Genetics of Paroxysmal Dyskinesia: Novel Variants Corroborate the Role of KCNA1 in Paroxysmal Dyskinesia and Highlight the Diverse Phenotypic Spectrum of KCNA1- and SLC2A1-Related Disorders. 2021. Frontiers in Neurology, 1036. DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2021.701351
- Mesgari M, Krüger J, Riemer CT, Ghadiri MK, Kovac S, Gorji A. Gabapentin prevents cortical spreading depolarization-induced disinhibition. 2017. Neuroscience, 361, 1-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.08.009
- Society for Neuroscience (SfN)