Rate My Professor Beulah Leitch

Professor Beulah Leitch is a professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago's School of Biomedical Sciences. She holds a BSc (Hons) and PhD. Her research centers on cellular and molecular neuroscience, focusing on the structural and functional development of neurons and synapses, synaptic changes during aging and in brain disorders, and alterations in synaptic proteins arising from genetic mutations that cause epilepsy and comorbid behavioral and psychiatric disorders. Leitch studies mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, including the synthesis of new proteins at synapses, and how disruptions in local protein synthesis lead to synaptic dysfunction and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease. She examines cellular and molecular mechanisms of synaptic dysfunction in neural networks associated with brain disorders, utilizing high-resolution imaging techniques to detect proteins at synapses.

Leitch directed the University of Otago Neuroscience programme from February 2021 to January 2024 and chaired the Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Anatomy from 2014 to 2020. She has been an invited research scientist at the California Institute of Technology (USA), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (Japan), and Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research (Germany). Internationally recognized for her work on brain synapses, her highly cited 2019 Science paper, co-authored with Max-Planck collaborators, demonstrated local protein synthesis as a ubiquitous feature of neuronal pre- and postsynaptic compartments. Key publications include 'Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Generation of Absence Seizures: Identification of Potential Targets for Therapeutic Intervention' (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2024), 'Parvalbumin Interneuron Dysfunction in Neurological Disorders: Focus on Epilepsy and Alzheimer's Disease' (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2024), 'Chemogenetic Activation of Feed-Forward Inhibitory Parvalbumin-Expressing Interneurons in the Cortico-Thalamocortical Network During Absence Seizures' (book chapter, 2024), and 'Developmental Inhibitory Changes in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex of the Stargazer Mouse Model of Absence Epilepsy' (Biomolecules, 2023). She is a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand (since 2010), Society for Neuroscience USA (since 1995), International Brain Research Organization (since 2007), Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (since 2007), Brain Health Research Centre University of Otago (since 2007), and others.