The Becker group aims to understand the genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases of the cerebellum with the ultimate aim of developing better treatments for these disorders.
Esther graduated from the University of Amsterdamcum laude with a MSc degree in Medical Biology in 2000. She then joined the Biomedical and Biological Sciences program at Harvard University, where she performed her PhD training with Azad Bonni. Her work as a graduate student has made significant contributions to our understanding of the specific signaling mechanisms that regulate cell death in the nervous system, particularly in the developing cerebellum. For her graduate studies, Esther was awarded a PhD Fellowship from the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds and an Albert J. Ryan Foundation Fellowship.
After completing her PhD in 2006, Esther joined Kay Davies’ group in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, having been awarded a Human Frontier Science Program Fellowship and later an OXION Training Fellowship. In 2010, Esther was awarded a prestigious Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship from the Royal Society to establish her own research programme, focussing on the genetic and molecular underpinnings of cerebellar ataxia in mice and humans. Esther joined the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences in 2020. She is also Co-Director of the Oxford Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and Vice President and Official Fellow (Cellular Life) at Reuben College.
