Dennis Kätzel

Prof. Dennis Kätzel is a Professor at the University of Ulm's Faculty of Medicine, leading the Kätzel Lab within the Department of Applied Physiology. His research focuses on unraveling the neural circuit mechanisms underlying schizophrenia, with particular emphasis on treatment-resistant cognitive and negative symptoms. The lab employs cutting-edge techniques including optogenetic/chemogenetic circuit manipulation, in vivo electrophysiology, miniscope imaging, and machine learning-based analysis of neural data.

His primary research interests span neural circuit dysfunction in schizophrenia, aberrant salience attribution, cognitive deficits (working memory, attention, cognitive flexibility), and translational drug discovery. Key methodologies include multi-site LFP recordings during behavioral tasks, transgenic schizophrenia models, and behavioral pharmacology. The lab has pioneered open-source neuroscience tools such as the Open-MAC commutator and 5-choice operant box systems.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2021-2024) reveals a concentrated focus on anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampal circuit mechanisms in schizophrenia-related behaviors. His work consistently bridges molecular interventions (e.g., G-protein signaling modulation) with circuit-level electrophysiological outcomes and behavioral phenotypes, establishing causal links between specific neural mechanisms and symptom domains. A distinctive trend is the development and application of open-source hardware/software solutions to advance preclinical neuroscience methodology.

Prof. Kätzel mentors PhD students including Sampath Kapanaiah, Lukas Bühner, and Sophie Lammerich, who contribute to projects involving neural circuit analysis, behavioral testing, and tool development. His lab actively provides public scientific resources through GitHub and Labmaker, including MATLAB scripts for connectivity analysis, hardware design files, and experimental protocols.

The Kätzel Lab operates as a translational neuroscience hub within Ulm's Institute of Applied Physiology, maintaining strong collaborations with psychiatric clinicians and pharmacologists. Current work focuses on identifying circuit-level drug targets and developing biomarkers for predicting clinical efficacy of novel schizophrenia therapeutics, with particular attention to cognitive symptom domains lacking effective treatments.