Clemens Kiecker is Deputy Dean of Education, and Professor of Neuroscience Education at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London.

As a member of the Neuroscience Education Department, Clemens teaches both science and medical students in neuroscience, anatomy and embryology. He is the assessment sub-board Chair of Undergraduate Neuroscience and the Course Lead of the MSc in Neuroscience. 

Clemens' main research interest is how brain anatomy is built during vertebrate embryogenesis. The brain is arguably the most complex of all organs, but it is generated from a single cell – the fertilised egg – through cell multiplication and cell type diversification. He is particularly interested in the formation of the circumventricular organs, sensory and neurosecretory structures that are located around the third and fourth ventricle of the brain and that lack a tight blood-brain barrier.

Find out more about my research

Transcriptional control of forebrain regionalisation

Key collaborators

• Professor  Anthony Graham, King's College London

• Professor Corinne Houart, King's College London

Key publications

• Kiecker et al., 2001. A morphogen gradient of Wnt/b-catenin signalling regulates anteroposterior neural patterning in Xenopus. Development.

• Kiecker et al., 2004. Hedgehog signalling from the ZLI regulates diencephalic regional identity. Nature Neuroscience.

• Robertshaw et al., 2013. Irx3 and Pax6 establish differential competence for Shh-mediated induction of GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons of the thalamus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.