Este Leidmaa

EDUCATION

College / University

University of Tartu

Highest Degree

Bachelor of Science

Major Subjects

Psychology, Biomedicine

Country

Estonia

Lab Experience

Behavioural phenotyping methods in mice (motility box test, rota-rod, dynamo-meter test, social interaction test, tube test), PCR genotyping and RT-PCR, Primer designing, RNA extraction and quantification.

Projects / Research

Sep 08 - Sep 09: Further characterization of Lsamp deficient mice using RNA expression analysis and tests estimating social behaviour
Jan 07 - May 08: Characterization of Lsamp deficient mice in motor activity and social behaviour tests

Scholarships / Awards

2009 – 2010:	Stipend by the International Max Planck Research School
2008 – 2009:	Scholarship from the University of Tartu for laboratory work with Lsamp deficient mouse
2006 – 2009:	Scholarship from the University of Tartu for excellent academic results

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS AND GOALS

It would be fascinating as well as necessary to know the cellular mechanisms underlying mental disorders. Treatment for these conditions is relatively ineffective and a new approach is needed. It would be interesting to study neurobiological mechanisms of placebo responses, which can maybe give new perspectives to the subject. An exciting field concerning the regulation of emotional behaviour is epigenetics, how for example RNAi and DNA methylation are used in behavioural regulation and hence how they could be used.