Brigitte Kieffer

Brigitte Kieffer
Dr. Kieffer during an interview at UCLA
Born	(1958-02-26)February 26, 1958 (Age 57)
Nationality	French
Citizenship	France
Alma mater	University of Strasbourg
Known for	Discovery of delta-opioid receptor linked to pain and addiction
Awards	2004 Richard Lounsberry Prize, 2012 Lamonica Prize for Neurology, 2014 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award
Scientific career
Fields	Molecular Psychiatry, Addiction, Mood Disorders, Pain, and Developmental disorders
Institutions	University of Strasbourg, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM), Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (IGBMC), McGill University

Dr. Brigitte Kieffer (born February 26th, 1958) is a French molecular neurobiologist known for her research of opiate receptors. Her areas of expertise include: molecular psychiatry, addiction, mood disorders, pain, and developmental disorders. Dr. Kieffer has international reputation in the field of opiate receptors, and has paved the way for better understanding of brain mechanisms involved in pain, mental illness, and drug addiction. She continues to pursue research and directs a team of over 300 people. Her discoveries have enabled us to comprehend how substances like morphine or heroine can kill pain, and foster addiction.

Life

Dr. Brigitte Kieffer graduated from the University of Strasbourg, in Strasbourg, France, where she later became a professor. She went on to become Research Director of the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM) in France. Her main research was later developed at the Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (IGBMC) in Strasbourg in 2001. She directed IGBMC from 2012 to 2013. In January 2014 she became the new Scientific Director of the Research Centre as well as Professor of Psychiatry and the Monique H. Bourgeois Chair in Pervasive Developmental Disorders at the faculty of medicine of McGill University.

Research

In 1992, Dr. Brigitte Kieffer succeeded in cloning and isolating the gene for an opioid receptor in the brain that plays a key role in alleviating pain. Her findings and continued research have laid the foundations for new treatments for pain, addiction, and depression. The gene she isolated encoded for an opioid receptor that can reduce pain, generate pleasure, and help cope with stress. The receptors can be activated by drugs, which can cause addictions. Better knowledge of the way that these receptors function can help scientists understand addictions, mood disorders, and mental illness. Her research discoveries have led to development of new analgesic medicines and new treatments for addiction. Opioid system disorders are involved in emotional problems such as anxiety and severe depression. Her research involves many studies regarding opiate addiction. In mice she has researched how the affects of heroine withdrawal can yield depressive behaviors. Her research has shown that after periods of heroine exposure, once mice become abstinent they exhibit depressive-like behaviors that persist weeks after heroine exposure was halted. This information helps explain the severity and chronicity of addiction in certain individuals. Dr. Kieffer's research also deals with how her data can be translated to humans. Study of brain opioid receptors that deal with depression and happiness are often a focus of her research. In many post-mortem studies of suicide victims it was discovered that mu opioid receptors (MOR) are present in higher density of the frontal and temporal cortex of the human brain when compared with controls of post-mortem studies of patients with no history of psychiatric disorder. This suggests that depression and suicide may be associated with higher MOR density. She tested this theory of MOR association with depressive mood and the results were the same concluding that MOR and depressive behavior are related to one another.

Awards

• Brigitte Kiefer PhD - Scientific Director, Douglas Institute Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University Chair, Monique H. Bourgeois in Pervasive Developmental Disorders.

Between 2001 and 2002 she received three major awards from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the French Académie des sciences. She was also named a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour by the President of the French Republic. In 2004 she won the Richard Lounsberry Prize from the Institut de France de l'Académie des Sciences. In 2012 Dr. Kieffer won the Lamonica Prize for Neurology from the French Académie des sciences. In December 2013, she was elected Membre of the French Académie des sciences. On March 19th, 2014 she received the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award in Paris. The award is bestowed by the L'Oréal Foundation and UNESCO recognizes exceptional career paths and contributions of women scientists worldwide. Brigitte Kieffer was selected as the winner for Europe for her work completed at IGBMC in Strasbourg, France.

Selected Publications

• The Δ-opioid Receptor: Isolation of a Cdna by Expression Cloning and Pharmacological Characterization”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 89.24 (1992): 12048–12052. Web
• Ayranci, G., et al. "Dissociation of heroin-induced emotional dysfunction from psychomotor activation and physical dependence among inbred mouse strains." Psychopharmacology 232.11 (2015): 1957-1971.
• Lutz, Pierre-Eric, and Brigitte L. Kieffer. "Opioid receptors: distinct roles in mood disorders." Trends in neurosciences 36.3 (2013): 195-206.

Quotes

• - “I chose science because that’s where the excitement seemed to be.”
• - “Mental illnesses are biological illnesses. The brain is an organ, certainly a highly complex and fascinating one, but like every other organ in the human body, it can be treated.”
• - “Women can do at least as well as men in science, if not better. The only problem is that, until recently, no one’s ever told them so!”