Silvia Arber facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Silvia Arber
MAE
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Silvia Arber in 2019
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| Born | 1968 (age 56–57) |
| Alma mater | University of Basel |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neurobiology |
| Institutions | Columbia University Friedrich Miescher Institute Biozentrum University of Basel |
| Thesis | Activity-sensitive signaling at the neuromuscular junction (1995) |
Silvia Arber (born in 1968 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a famous Swiss scientist. She is a neurobiologist, which means she studies the brain and how nerves work. Silvia Arber teaches and does research at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland.
Contents
Silvia Arber's Education
Silvia Arber studied biology at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. She finished her advanced studies and earned her doctorate degree in 1995. She completed this important work at the Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI) in Basel.
Career and Discoveries
After finishing her studies, Silvia Arber worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York City. This means she continued her research after getting her doctorate. In 2000, she came back to Basel. There, she became a professor of Neurobiology and Cell Biology. She continued her research and teaching at both the Biozentrum and the FMI.
How Our Bodies Move
Silvia Arber's research focuses on how our bodies move. She studies the tiny "wires" in our brain and spinal cord, called neuronal circuits, that control movement. She has discovered how different groups of nerve cells, called interneurons, work together. These cells are found in the spinal cord and help send messages for movement. She found that these groups of cells are different depending on when they formed as a person developed.
Brain and Movement Control
Since 2014, Silvia Arber has been studying the brain stem. This part of the brain sends instructions for different body movements to the spinal cord. Her work has shown that specific nerve cells connect to form special "modules" that control different types of movements. For example, the tiny movements of your arm and hand are controlled by different brain networks than walking or standing straight.
Silvia Arber is also part of the Editorial Board for Cell, which is a very important science magazine.
Awards and Recognitions
Silvia Arber has received many awards for her amazing work. Some of these include:
- 1998: Pfizer Forschungspreis
- 2003: National Latsis Prize
- 2005: She became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
- 2005: Schellenberg Prize
- 2008: Friedrich Miescher Award
- 2009: She received an European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigators Grant.
- 2014: Otto Naegeli Prize
- 2014: She was elected a member of the Academia Europaea (MAE).
- 2017: Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
- 2018: W. Alden Spencer Award
- 2018: Pradel Research Award
- 2019: Physiological Society Annual Review Prize Lecture
- 2020: She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
- 2022: The Brain Prize
Family Life
Silvia Arber's father is Werner Arber. He is also a famous Swiss scientist. In 1978, he won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
