Sonja Catherine Vernes is a neuroscientist who is, as of 2022, the head of the Neurogenetics of Vocal Communication Research Group at the University of St Andrews.[1][4] She holds a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) future leaders fellowship. Her research investigates vocal communication between mammals.[5] She was a laureate for the 2022 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.
Sonja Vernes | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sonja Catherine Vernes |
| Other names | Bat Boffin[3] |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neurogenetics[1] |
| Institutions | Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics University of St Andrews |
| Thesis | Investigation of the role of FOXP transcription factors in neurodevelopment (2007) |
| Doctoral advisor | Kay Davies Simon Fisher[2] |
| Website | risweb |
Education
editVernes became interested in human speech and language during her doctoral research at the University of Oxford, where she studied the biological origins of speech and language disorders, supervised by Kay Davies and Simon Fisher.[2] She showed that the FOXP2 team altered neurodevelopment in human and mouse models. Vernes also showed the relationship between CNTNAP2 and FOXP2, indicating that the pair can cause various language-related issues.[6]
Research and career
editVernes held a short Wellcome Trust fellowship before joining the F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging as a research fellow.[citation needed] She was awarded a Max Planck Society and Human Frontier Science Program grant to establish her own research group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. She made use of bats to study speech and language traits. Her research investigates vocal communications in mammals.[6] Vernes was the first to make use of bats as a tractable mammalian model of vocal learning.[7] She is particularly interested in the biological mechanisms that underpin human speech. She achieves this by studying how bats learn vocalisations, and the genetic pathways that contribute to language learning and recognition.[6]
Vernes was awarded a European Research Council consolidator grant in 2020, for the BATSPEAK project.[citation needed] BATSPEAK looks to understand the genomic markers and neural mechanisms that underpin vocal learning.[8] That year she relocated to the University of St Andrews, where she was awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship in the School of Biology.[5] At St Andrews, she has pioneered omics-based approaches to identifying the genes associated with vocal learning in animal models.[5] Vernes is founding co-director of the international research consortium Bat1K.[citation needed]
Awards and honours
edit- 2018 FENS-KAVLI Network of Excellence Scholar[9]
- 2020 European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant[10]
- 2022 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists UK Finalist[11]
Selected publications
edit- A functional genetic link between distinct developmental language disorders[12]
- Identification of FOXP2 truncation as a novel cause of developmental speech and language deficits[13]
- Identification of the transcriptional targets of FOXP2, a gene linked to speech and language, in developing human brain[14]
References
edit- ^ a b Sonja Vernes publications indexed by Google Scholar
- ^ a b Vernes, Sonja (2007). Investigation of the role of FOXP transcription factors in neurodevelopment. ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC 317354555. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.497468.
- ^ Sonja Vernes on Twitter
- ^ Sonja Vernes publications from Europe PubMed Central
- ^ a b c risweb
.st-andrews .ac .uk /portal /en /persons /sonja-vernes(9bc1f00f-6cfd-4be2-8de0-4d90d99c1108) .html - ^ a b c "Sonja Vernes". mpi.nl. Max Planck Institute. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Members – Bat1K". bat1k.com. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Revealing the biological bases of speech and language by studying bat vocal learning". europa.eu.
- ^ "Alumni FKNE". fenskavlinetwork.org. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "ERC Consolidator Grant for Sonja Vernes". mpi.nl. Max Planck Institute. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK Award £480,000 to Nine UK-based Scientists | Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists". blavatnikawards.org. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ Sonja C Vernes; Dianne F Newbury; Brett S Abrahams; et al. (27 November 2008). "A functional genetic link between distinct developmental language disorders". The New England Journal of Medicine. 359 (22): 2337–45. doi:10.1056/NEJMOA0802828. ISSN 0028-4793. PMC 2756409. PMID 18987363. Wikidata Q24312638.
- ^ Kay D MacDermot; Elena Bonora; Nuala Sykes; et al. (June 2005). "Identification of FOXP2 truncation as a novel cause of developmental speech and language deficits". American Journal of Human Genetics. 76 (6): 1074–80. doi:10.1086/430841. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 1196445. PMID 15877281. Wikidata Q24530823.
- ^ Elizabeth Spiteri; Genevieve Konopka; Giovanni Coppola; et al. (December 2007). "Identification of the transcriptional targets of FOXP2, a gene linked to speech and language, in developing human brain". American Journal of Human Genetics. 81 (6): 1144–57. doi:10.1086/522237. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 2276350. PMID 17999357. Wikidata Q24648621.