Mattias Rickhag

Research Interests

I have a research background in experimental animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. Here, I wish to bridge molecular and system neuroscience and investigate aberrant cortico-basal ganglia (BG) circuit adaptations in models of Parkinson’s disease (PD). I will implement viral platforms and genetically-encoded biosensors in combination with lesion models and neuroimaging to capture network/neurotransmitter changes in the BG circuit. Pathway-selective manipulations of BG cell populations will be performed to assess motor restoration in rodent models of PD. In parallel, a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) expression atlas derived from BG cell populations is explored in order to identify putative novel non-dopaminergic targets for PD pharmacotherapy

Contact Details

Mattias Rickhag

Associate Professor

mattiaskr@drcmr.dk

Affiliations

Molecular Neuropharmacology Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen

Research Areas

Computational and Systems Neuroscience

Imaging of Disease & Mechanisms

Research Groups

Cortico-Basal Ganglia Interactions (Leader)

Control of Movement

Movement Disorders

See Full CV

Employments

2022 – Present	Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen
2021 – Present	Senior Researcher, DRCMR
2015 – 2021	Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen
2011 – 2015	Post-doctoral fellow (grant from the Lundbeck Foundation), Department fo Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen
2008 – 2010	Post-doctoral fellow (grant from the Danish Research Council), Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen
2003 – 2007	PhD Student, Medical Faculty, Lund University, Sweden

Education

2007	PhD in Experimental Brain Research, Medical Faculty, Lund University
2002	MSc in Biomedicine, Lund University

Publications

Fitzpatrick C, McGirr J, Petersen A, Rickhag M, Gether U and Andreasen J (2026), 'Impulsivity and attentional dysfunction in DAT-AAA knock-in mice', Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 145, doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2026.111630

Atudorei M, Del Agua Villa C, Gether U, Cenci MA, Siebner HR and Rickhag M (2024), 'Bilateral chemogenetic activation of intratelencephalic neurons in motor cortex reduces spontaneous locomotor activity in mice', Neurobiology of Disease, 204:1-14, doi:10.1016/j.nbd.2024.106755

Del Agua Villa C, Atudorei M, Siebner HR and Rickhag M (2024), 'Pharmacological targeting of dopamine D1 or D2 receptors evokes a rapid-onset parkinsonian motor phenotype in mice', European Journal of Neuroscience, 60(12):7006-7024, doi:10.1111/ejn.16622

Apuschkin M, Burm HB, Schmidt JH, Skov LJ, Andersen RC, Bowin C, Støier JF, Jensen KL, Posselt LP, Dmytriyeva O, Sørensen AT, Egerod KL, Holst B, Rickhag M, Schwartz TW and Gether U (2024), 'An atlas of GPCRs in dopamine neurons: Identification of the free fatty acid receptor 4 as a regulator of food and water intake', Cell Reports, 43(7):114509

staff.html