معرفی
Stephanie Küppers is a Researcher at the Central Institute for Mental Health (ZI) in Mannheim, Germany, affiliated with the Department of Neuropeptide Research in Psychiatry. She works under the supervision of Valery Grinevich, focusing on the neurobiological mechanisms of oxytocin signaling in pain perception, social behaviors, and psychiatric conditions.
Her research explores the interplay between oxytocin, pain perception, and emotional valence, particularly in the context of social interactions and reward processing. She previously investigated oxytocin's role in the insular cortex during her Master's thesis and is now continuing this work in her PhD studies.
Stephanie has contributed to research on oxytocin's analgesic pathways in rats, social grooming circuits in rodents, and oxytocin system dysregulation in Prader-Willi syndrome and alcohol dependence. Her work spans neurobiology, behavioral neuroscience, and neuroendocrinology, with a strong emphasis on methodological innovation in neural imaging and optogenetics.
She has been involved in the development of optogenetic tools for studying oxytocin neurons in socially interacting and anesthetized rat models, contributing to advancements in neurotechnology and electrophysiology. Her publications reflect interdisciplinary collaboration across neuroendocrinology, psychiatric genetics, and behavioral neuroscience.
