Brigitte Kieffer
Brigitte Kieffer | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 26, 1958 |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation(s) | Molecular neurobiologist, professor, research director |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Known for | Research on opiate receptors, addiction, mood disorders, pain, developmental disorders |
Dr. Brigitte Kieffer (born 26 February 1958) is a distinguished French molecular neurobiologist whose research focuses on opiate receptors. Her specialization encompasses molecular psychiatry, addiction, mood disorders, pain, and developmental disorders. Kieffer is internationally recognized for her contributions to elucidating the neural processes underlying pain perception, psychiatric conditions, and substance dependence. She currently heads a research group comprising more than 300 scientists. Her investigations have shed light on how drugs such as morphine and heroin provide analgesic effects while also fostering addictive behaviors.
Life
Kieffer began her academic career as a professor at the University of Strasbourg, where she had previously studied. She later took on the role of Research Director at France’s Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM). In 2001, she returned to Strasbourg to continue her scientific endeavors at the Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (IGBMC), leading the institute until 2013. In January 2014, she was appointed to the Monique H. Bourgeois Chair in Pervasive Developmental Disorder and became a Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal. Concurrently, she assumed the position of Scientific Director at the Research Centre of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.
Research
In 1992, Kieffer achieved a landmark breakthrough by successfully cloning and isolating the gene encoding an opioid receptor in the brain, overcoming a challenge that had stymied researchers for fifteen years. This achievement opened new avenues for developing treatments aimed at pain relief, addiction management, and depression therapy. The identified gene produces an opioid receptor that plays a critical role in modulating analgesia, reward pathways, and stress responses. Insights into these receptors have been instrumental in tackling addiction, mood disorders, and psychiatric illnesses.
Her research has paved the way for innovative analgesic medications and addiction therapies. Dysfunctions within the opioid system are associated with emotional disorders such as anxiety and severe depression. Kieffer’s investigations into opiate addiction include studies on heroin withdrawal in rodent models, revealing that depressive-like symptoms can endure for weeks post-abstinence—providing valuable understanding of addiction’s prolonged impact. Her findings extend to human studies; post-mortem analyses demonstrated elevated mu (μ) opioid receptor (MOR) densities in the frontal and temporal cortex regions of individuals who died by suicide compared to controls without psychiatric diagnoses. This evidence suggests a connection between MOR expression levels and depression or suicidal behavior, a relationship further supported by her experimental mouse data.
Awards
Dr. Kieffer has been honored with several prestigious awards throughout her career. In 2004, she received the Richard Lounsberry Prize from the Institut de France de l'Académie des Sciences. She was awarded the Lamonica Prize for Neurology by the French Académie des sciences in 2012. By late 2013, she was inducted as a member of the French Academy of Sciences. On 19 March 2014, she earned the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award in Paris in recognition of her groundbreaking research into brain mechanisms related to pain, psychiatric disorders, and addiction. This distinguished accolade, presented jointly by the L'Oréal Foundation and UNESCO, celebrates outstanding achievements by women scientists worldwide. Kieffer was honored as the European laureate for her work conducted at IGBMC in Strasbourg.
Selected publications
- "Isolation of a Cdna for the Δ-opioid Receptor via Expression Cloning and Its Pharmacological Analysis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 89.24 (1992): 12048–12052.
- Ayranci, G., and colleagues. "Separating heroin-induced emotional impairments from psychomotor stimulation and physical dependence in inbred mouse strains." Psychopharmacology 232.11 (2015): 1957-1971.
- Lutz, Pierre-Eric, and Brigitte L. Kieffer. "Distinct functions of opioid receptors in mood disorder mechanisms." Trends in Neurosciences 36.3 (2013): 195-206.