Dr. Robbert Havekes is Associate Professor in the Neuroscience expertise group at the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences institute of the University of Groningen. His passion is to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of memory and defining how societal challenges such as sleep loss as well as central nervous system disorders perturb these processes. His lab studies behaviour in mice and uses state-of-the-art optogenetic approaches, viral strategies, and pharmacology to modulate signalling pathways, structural plasticity, and memory engrams in the brain.