Jackie Schiller

Neuroscientist Jackie Schiller, a professor at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, has been collaborating since early 2022 as an Einstein Visiting Fellow with the team led by Professor Sarah Shoichet and Professor Dietmar Schmitz (both from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) to explore the complexities of autism spectrum disorders.

The project initially focused on the effects of changes in the protein Caspr2 on autism. During this work, the team made a surprising discovery, which they will now explore in the new funding phase. Together, they aim to investigate how learning complex rules leaves an epigenetic “fingerprint” that is passed to subsequent generations via non-coding RNA, influencing neuronal excitability and complex learned abilities. 

The goal is to systematically analyze these physiological markers of learning and their relevance for autism-related learning and behavioral traits, providing new insights into the cellular and molecular foundations of learning and inheritance with potential implications for future therapies and interventions.