Marian Joëls
Dutch neuroscientist and academic
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Joëls obtained her PhD in 1984 from Utrecht University under the supervision of David de Wied and Ivan Urban. She subsequently moved to the University of Texas Medical Branch, where she worked with Joel Gallagher and Patricia Shinnick-Gallagher. She later joined the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Floyd E. Bloom and George R. Siggins.
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Career
In 1991, she was appointed associate professor at the University of Amsterdam, where she was promoted to full professor in zoology in 1996. In 2009, she moved to Utrecht University, where she served as the director of the Rudolf Magnus Institute (RMI). In 2016, she was appointed dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Groningen and board member of the UMCG, a position she held until the end of 2022, focusing on the integration of research and clinical practice.
Joëls has trained many PhD students and postdoctoral fellows who currently hold leading academic positions, including Paul J. Lucassen, Harmen Krugers, Vivi Heine, Marloes Henckens, and Milou Sep.
Research
Joëls' research has been instrumental in bridging the gap between cellular neuroendocrinology and systems neuroscience. Her work focuses on how stress affects the rodent and human brain function:
- Cellular mechanisms of stress: She was among the first to describe how mineralocorticoid (MR) and glucocorticoid (GR) receptors modulate the electrical activity of neurons. Her work showed that stress hormones shift the "gain" of neuronal signaling, influencing how the brain processes information.
- The Temporal Domain: Joëls and Karst proposed that the effects of corticosteroids are highly time-dependent, involving rapid non-genomic effects followed by slower, long-lasting genomic changes that reprogram neuronal excitability.
- Synaptic plasticity: Marian Joëls and Harmen Krugers demonstrated that directly after acute stress, synaptic plasticity (learning) is enhanced, which precludes further synaptic potentiation and preserves stress-related information. Chronic or mistimed stress hampers the plasticity window, potentially explaining memory deficits in stress-related disorders.
- Resilience and Vulnerability: In close collaboration with Edo Ronald de Kloet, she has explored how early-life experiences interact with genetic predispositions to determine an individual's resilience to mental health disorders later in life.
Honors and awards
Joëls has received recognition for her scientific and institutional leadership, including:
- Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2002).
- Emil Kraepelin Guest Professorship, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (2007)
- Bruce McEwen Lifetime Achievement Award, International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE) (2019).
- Diversity Prize, FENS-ALBA Network and the FENS-Kavli Scholars (2021).
- Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (2022).
- Pioneer Award (shared with Edo Ronald de Kloet), Global Stress & Resilience Network (2024).
- Julius Axelrod Prize, Society for Neuroscience (2024).
Notable positions
- President, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) (2012–2014).
- Director, Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Utrecht (2009-2016)
- Dean, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen/UMCG (2016-2022)
Books
She wrote several books in Dutch about the brain and about the position of leading women in society, published by Prometheus Publishers.