Ole Kiehn

Ole Kiehn (born 1958) is a Danish-Swedish neuroscientist. He is Professor of Integrative Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and professor of neurophysiology at Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Early life and education Kiehn was born 1958 in Nakskov, Denmark. He earned his medical degree in 1985 and his Doctorate in Science (D.Sci.) in 1990, both from the University of Copenhagen. From 2024 - 2026 Ole Kiehn serves as President of Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).

Since 2017, Ole Kiehn is also employed as professor in Integrative Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen. Since 2019, Kiehn is co-editor in chief of Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

Work Kiehn has published over 120 original papers and reviews and his work has been reported in scientific journals, including Nature (journal), Science (journal), Cell (journal), Nature Neuroscience, Neuron (journal), PNAS, Nature Reviews Neuroscience among others. Kiehn's work has elucidated the functional organization of neuronal circuits controlling movement. In his initial work he showed that vertebrate motor neurons can express transmitter-modulated plateau potentials. His continued work has shown an involvement of plateaux in disturbed motor symptoms seen after spinal cord injury. Using molecular mouse genetic, electrophysiology and behavioral studies he has revealed the key cellular organization of spinal locomotor networks and was able to functionally discover and link specific neuronal populations in the spinal cord to the ability to produce the alternating movements between limbs during locomotion and to set the rhythm of locomotion. Kiehn has also discovered specific populations of excitatory brainstem neurons that mediate the episodic control of locomotion: the start and stop of locomotion as well as turning. These studies unravel the communication pathway between the brain and the spinal cord needed to control the expression of locomotion.

Awards and honors 2024: Novo Nordic Foundation's Laureate program award 2022: The Brain Prize 2021: Kirsten and Freddy Johansen's preclinical prize (KFJ prize) 2019: Lundbeck Foundation's Professorship award 2017: Novo Nordic Foundation's Laureate program award 2015: European Research Council Advanced Grant 2014: Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) 2013: Member of Academia Europaea 2012: Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2010: Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 2010: Torsten Söderberg's Professorship 2010: European Research Council Advanced Grant 2010: Distinguished Professor Award at Karolinska Institute 1995: Hallas Møller Research Fellowship