Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Research Biography
Arne graduated in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland, in 2006 and received his PhD from ETH Zurich in 2010 for work on signal transduction by protein kinases. Arne is a Senior Research Fellow (Assistant Professor) within the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Arne did his post-doc at the University of Sydney, Australia, within the Brain and Mind Research Institute from 2011 to 2013. In 2013, he continued his post-doctoral work at University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), where he started his own research team on signal transduction and phosphorylation events in neurons in 2017. Arne was a post-doctoral fellow with the Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Research Foundation in 2016. Arne’s team is currently supported by ARC, NHMRC, Dementia Australia Research Foundation and Flinders Foundation. Arne is a NHMRC Emerging Leadership (EL2) fellow.
Research Interests
The Tau protein is a central factor in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease and correlates strongly with memory loss. However, Tau is a normal constituent of brain cells. Dr Ittner's research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying memory formation, with a particular emphasis on the role of the Tau protein in the engram - the physical substrate of memory in the brain. Recent work shows that site-specific Tau phosphorylation during learning organises and stabilises engram cell ensembles, enabling the persistence of long-term (remote) memories.
This establishes a direct physiological function for Tau in memory and provides a mechanistic link between Tau dysfunction and memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Building on these discoveries, Dr Ittner's research applies engram-level insights to develop new ways of understanding how memory is disrupted in disease, aiming to redefine mechanisms of cognitive decline at the level of specific memory traces.
Current research directions include:
- Molecular regulation of engram formation and long-term memory
- Functional roles of Tau phosphorylation in health and dementia
- Cellular mechanisms linking Tau dysfunction to memory loss
- Development of tools to study and manipulate engram-specific processes
Selected publications
(1) Kosonen R, Stefanoska K, Lin Y, Edwards S, Prikas E, Bertz J, Poljak A, Ittner LM, Ittner A. Tau T205 phosphorylation modulates engram cell recruitment and remote memory in mice. Nature Communications. 2026 May 17. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-73207-9. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42143024.
(2) Ittner A, Chua SW, Bertz J, Volkerling A, van der Hoven J, Gladbach A, Przybyla M, Bi M, van Hummel A, Stevens CH, Ippati S, Suh LS, Macmillan A, Sutherland G, Kril JJ, Silva AP, Mackay JP, Poljak A, Delerue F, Ke YD, Ittner LM. Site-specific phosphorylation of tau inhibits amyloid-β toxicity in Alzheimer's mice. Science. 2016 Nov 18;354(6314):904-908. doi: 10.1126/science.aah6205. PMID: 27856911.
(3) Stefanoska K, Gajwani M, Tan ARP, Ahel HI, Asih PR, Volkerling A, Poljak A, Ittner A. Alzheimer's disease: Ablating single master site abolishes tau hyperphosphorylation. Science Advances. 2022 Jul 8;8(27):eabl8809. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abl8809. Epub 2022 Jul 6. PMID: 35857446; PMCID: PMC9258953.
(4) Prikas E, Paric E, Asih PR, Stefanoska K, Stefen H, Fath T, Poljak A, Ittner A. Tau target identification reveals NSF-dependent effects on AMPA receptor trafficking and memory formation. EMBO Journal. 2022 Sep 15;41(18):e10242. doi: 10.15252/embj.2021110242. Epub 2022 Aug 22. PMID: 35993331; PMCID: PMC9475529.
(5) Ittner A, Asih PR, Tan ARP, Prikas E, Bertz J, Stefanoska K, Lin Y, Volkerling AM, Ke YD, Delerue F, Ittner LM. Reduction of advanced tau-mediated memory deficits by the MAP kinase p38γ. Acta Neuropathologica. 2020 Sep;140(3):279-294. doi: 10.1007/s00401-020-02191-1. Epub 2020 Jul 29. PMID: 32725265.
(6) Prikas E, Poljak A, Ittner A. Mapping p38α mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling by proximity-dependent labeling. Protein Science. 2020 May;29(5):1196-1210. doi: 10.1002/pro.3854. Epub 2020 Apr 7. PMID: 32189389; PMCID: PMC7184780.
(7) Ittner A, Ittner LM. Dendritic Tau in Alzheimer's Disease. Neuron. 2018 Jul 11;99(1):13-27. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.06.003. PMID: 30001506.
(8) Ittner A, Block H, Reichel CA, Varjosalo M, Gehart H, Sumara G, Gstaiger M, Krombach F, Zarbock A, Ricci R. Regulation of PTEN activity by p38δ-PKD1 signaling in neutrophils confers inflammatory responses in the lung. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2012 Nov 19;209(12):2229-46. doi: 10.1084/jem.20120677. Epub 2012 Nov 5. PMID: 23129748; PMCID: PMC3501357.
Supervision
- Registered
Research Areas
- Medical biosciences
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
-
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics where Arne Ittner is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
-
The mood stabilizer lithium alters behaviour and physiology via the gut brain axis.
Thorpe, D. W., Ootsuka, Y., Peterson, R. A., Jones, L. A., Humenick, A., Martin, A. M., Zivkovic, J., Sakaguchi, J., McArdle, J., Ittner, A., Brookes, S. J., Habib, A., Sirimaharaj, R., Tawodros, Y., Roach, M., Edwards, R., Clevers, H., Beumer, J., Puschof, J. & Wei, L. & 9 others, , 27 Jan 2026, (Submitted) bioRxiv, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, p. 2026.01.26.701868, 36 p.Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Preprint
File16 Downloads (Pure) -
Tau controls NMDA receptor trafficking during homeostatic synaptic plasticity
Yong, H., Stefanoska, K., Kwan, W. C., Irons, I., Padmanabhan, P., Samokhina, E., Kneynsberg, A., Dehorter, N., Ittner, A., Götz, J. & Anggono, V., 31 Jul 2025, (Submitted) bioRxiv, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 29 p.Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Preprint
File15 Downloads (Pure) -
Remote memory engrams are controlled by encoding-specific tau phosphorylation
Stefanoska, K., Prikas, E., Lin, Y., Kosonen, R. & Ittner, A., 3 Dec 2023, (Submitted) bioRxiv, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 36 p.Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Preprint
File10 Downloads (Pure) -
Alzheimer's disease: Ablating single master site abolishes tau hyperphosphorylation
Stefanoska, K., Gajwani, M., Tan, A. R. P., Ahel, H. I., Asih, P. R., Volkerling, A., Poljak, A. & Ittner, A., 6 Jul 2022, In: Science Advances. 8, 27, 15 p., abl8809.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile95 Citations (Scopus)93 Downloads (Pure) -
High Level Forebrain Expression of Active Tau Kinase p38γ Exacerbates Cognitive Dysfunction in Aged APP-transgenic Alzheimer's Mice
Asih, P. R., Stefanoska, K., Prikas, E. & Ittner, A., 21 Feb 2022, In: Neuroscience. 484, p. 53-65 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
4 Citations (Scopus)