Antoine R. Adamantidis

Who is Antoine R. Adamantidis?

Antoine Adamantidis received his bachelor's degree in Biology and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Liege, Belgium in 1997. He then started a postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Luis de Lecea at Stanford University, USA, where he studied the role of the hypothalamic Hypocretin/Orexin system in arousal. They found that selective optical stimulation of Hypocretin neurons using in vivo optogenetics increased the probability of sleep-to-wake transitions. The goal of the current proposal is directed towards elucidating the dynamics of hypothalamic circuits, including the Hypocretin and the Melanin-Concentrating Hormone (MCH) systems, in the modulation of anxiety and depression behaviors using optognetics.