Dr Vibeke Catts is a postdoctoral Research Officer in the Schizophrenia Research Laboratory. Her doctoral work focused on the role of cell death and cell proliferation in mental disorders.
Her publications include a review and meta-analysis of lower cancer incidence rates in schizophrenia testing the biological mechanism of this observation guides her laboratory work focus.
This includes a current study exploring the potential role of a cell death pathway in the atrophy of neurons of patients with schizophrenia, funded by a Stanley Foundation Research Award.
The key goal of her work is to make a contribution to the understanding of serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, by application of her skills as a molecular biologist.
Dr Catts's dedication to the field of schizophrenia research arises from her desire to see people living with a mental disorder, often socially marginalized because of or by their disease, survive and thrive to a similar extent as those individuals with physical disorders who currently benefit from decades of research.
Outside of the laboratory, Dr Catts was a co-editor of the first editions of HeadLines, the newsletter for the Schizophrenia Research Institute (then Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders, NISAD).
She is currently Treasurer of the Queensland Schizophrenia Research Foundation. She has over a dozen articles and has presented her work nationally and internationally.
