Unravelling the causal mechanisms of body-brain interactions impacting on mental health.

Dr Linda Katona 

Linda Katona studied Computer Engineering at the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (BEng MEng). She then transitioned into Neuroscience with an MSc degree at the University of Oxford and a DPhil (PhD) in the MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit at the University of Oxford testing the hypothesis that differences in connectivity and molecular composition across different hippocampal GABAergic interneuron types reflect the specialisation in their functions. She discovered that inhibition is periodic in space and time during behaviour. As a postdoc in the Department of Pharmacology and a Nicholas Kurti Junior Research Fellow in Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, she investigated how theta oscillations generated in subcortical brain areas are implemented in the cortex by identifying the contribution of distinct long-range projecting hippocampal GABAergic cell types to regulating network activity in vivo. Subsequently, she used combinatorial viral labelling strategies with optogenetics/chemogenetics and multi-unit electrophysiology to define how distinct medial septal GABAergic neurons regulate the rhythmic disinhibition of hippocampal neurons during memory-guided behaviour. In 2022, Linda has obtained four prestigious research awards from Science Foundation Ireland, the EU, the Health Research Board, and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation enabling her to set up her independent research group at UCC. Linda became lecturer in Pharmacology in 2024. She is a funded Principal Investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland and an Academic Visitor at the University of Oxford's Department of Pharmacology.

Research interests: Linda Katona’s research group investigates how the gut microbiome influences brain function via vagus and GABAergic pathways, with particular focus on identifying microbial‑responsive brain biomarkers of cognitive impairments and disrupted social behaviours relevant to schizophrenia. Using rodent and other translational models, multi-site neuronal recording, optogenetics, viral tracing, and behavioural analysis in freely-moving mammals her goal is to uncover gut microbiome-responsive brain biomarkers linked to cognitive and social deficits in schizophrenia‑relevant conditions and map how vagal and GABAergic signalling pathways modulate synaptic, cellular, and network-level brain function, especially in regions linked to memory, rhythm generation, and cognition. These projects bridge fundamental neuroscience with applied translational targets for mental health innovation in schizophrenia and related brain disorders.

Publications:

• Katona L, Hartwich K, Tomioka R, Somogyi J, Roberts, JDB, Wagner K, Joshi A, Klausberger T, Rockland KS, Somogyi P (2020) Synaptic organisation and behaviour-dependent activity of mGluR8a-innervated GABAergic trilaminar cells projecting from the hippocampus to the subiculum, Brain Structure and Function 225 (2), 705-734
• M Salib, A Joshi, L Katona, M Howarth, BR Micklem, P Somogyi, TJ Viney (2019) GABAergic medial septal neurons with low-rhythmic firing innervating the dentate gyrus and hippocampal area CA3, Journal of Neuroscience 39 (23), 4527-4549
• KD Harris, H Hochgerner, NG Skene, L Magno, L Katona, CB Gonzales, Somogyi P, Kessaris N, Linnarsson S, Hjerling-Leffler J (2018) Classes and continua of hippocampal CA1 inhibitory neurons revealed by single-cell transcriptomics, PLoS biology 16 (6), e2006387
• L Katona, D Lapray, TJ Viney, A Oulhaj, Z Borhegyi, BR Micklem, T Klausberger, P Somogyi (2014) Sleep and movement differentiates actions of two types of somatostatin-expressing GABAergic interneuron in rat hippocampus, Neuron 82 (4), 872-886David

I welcome enquires from students interested in discussing MSc or PhD opportunities and post-doctoral researchers wishing to join the research group. If you have ideas for collaborations on existing work or would like to discuss your own research interests then there are a number of PhD studentships, Postdoctoral fellowships and other funding schemes available which I am more than happy to discuss this with you in the first instance by email lkatona@ucc.ie