Caren Norden

Caren Norden is a German cell and developmental biologist who is a Principal Investigator at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine, in Portugal. Formerly, she was Deputy Director for Science at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and worked as a group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. Her research considers the cell biology of tissue morphogenesis.

Early life and education Norden was an undergraduate student in biochemistry at the University of Hanover. She worked in the laboratory of Bettina Winckler in the Mount Sinai Health System. In 2006, Norden earned her doctorate from ETH Zurich. She was elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2020.

Norden's research considers the neural processes that underpin the formation of the vertebrate eye, retinal neurogenesis and lamination. Nodren makes use of zebrafish as a model organism. She uncovered the importance of the positions of cell nuclei in the correct formation of a retina.

Selected publications