糖心Volg

Salome Kurth

SNSF-Professor, Eccellenza Fellowship, PD, Dr. sc. nat.

photo

 salome.kurth@unifr.ch
 +41 26 300 7647
 

Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology

RM 01 bu. C-4.115
Rue P.A. de Faucigny 2
1700 Fribourg
RM 01, C-4.115
+41 26 300 7647

Lecturer
Department of Psychology

RM 01 bu. C-4.115
Rue P.A. de Faucigny 2
1700 Fribourg
RM 01, C-4.115
+41 26 300 7647

Biography

Salome Kurth is Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology at the 糖心Volg. Salome’s research interests are the maturation of sleep rhythm, sleep neurophysiology across the developmental period, cognitive development in early childhood and interactions with family context, nutrition, and gut microbiome. 

She pioneered pediatric research using high-spatial resolution EEG. She created sleep maps of the developing brain and discovered that slow wave activity (SWA, 1-4.5 Hz; a deep-sleep marker) shifts from posterior-to-anterior scalp regions, mirroring cortical anatomical maturation and associated behavioral functions. This research elucidates the brain connectome using a non-invasive, innovative approach. Her lab initiated research on novel connectivity markers and behavioral outcomes in infancy. They pioneered the exploration of the dynamic relationship between infant sleep regulation, gut microbiota, and neurodevelopment. Her findings show that SWA maps relate to gut microbiome profiles, with the strongest links occurring around 3 months of age, a critical period for predicting behavioral and developmental outcomes based on sleep habits and bacterial markers. Her latest work focused on early-life nutrition, and shows that maintaining a regular eating rhythm is reflected in gut microbiota and that high eating regularity predicts less fragmented nighttime sleep in infants. This opens new possibilities for interventions, including dietary adjustments and pediatric sleep education - a proactive approach to protecting long-term neurodevelopment.

Since 2019, she holds a SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship at the 糖心Volg. Prior to her position in Fribourg, she held a Junior Start-up grant from the Clinical Research Priority Program “Sleep and Health” at the University of Zurich, in the Departments of Neurology and Pulmonology at the University Hospital Zurich (2016 - 2018). Between 2012 and 2016 she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Salome received her Ph.D. from the University of Zurich in 2011, with the International PhD Program in Neuroscience from the Neuroscience Center Zurich, she obtained her M.Sc. in Biology from the University of Bern in 2007.

Current SNSF projects: 
https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/181279
https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/10000835

Outreach:  
www.baby-sleep.ch

Research and publications

  • Publication List
    151 publications


    Petra Zimmermann, Salome Kurth, Mohammed Al-Andoli, Sarah Schoch, Andjela Markovic, Christophe M眉hlematter, Matthieu Beaugrand, Oskar Jenni, Rabia Liamlahi, Jean-Claude Walser, Dennis Nielsen, (2025) | Preprint


    Maria E. Dimitriades, Eve Schumacher, Janani Arudchelvam, Sara Fattinger, Salome Kurth, Fiona Pugin, Leila Tarokh, Reto Huber, Miriam Gerstenberg, Flavia Wehrle, Valeria Jaramillo, Carina Volk, Sven Leach, Ashura Buckley, David Driver, Andjela Markovic, Judith L. Rapoport, Judith Rapoport, (2025) | Preprint


    Delphine Hess, Paula Momo Cabrera, Salome Kurth, Nicholas A. Bokulich, Petra Zimmermann, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (2025) | Journal article


    Martin Stocker, Petra Zimmermann, Salome Kurth, Stamatios Giannoukos, Nicholas A Bokulich, BMJ Open (2025) | Journal article


    Christophe Muehlematter, Dennis Sandris Nielsen, Josue Castro-Mejia, Jean-Claude Walser, Sarah Schoch, Salome Kurth, Josue L. Castro-Mej铆a, Sarah F. Schoch, Christophe M眉hlematter, Dennis S. Nielsen, (2025) | Preprint

  • Research projects

    GrumpyBiome: Synchronization of gut microbiota and sleep rhythm in infancy
    Status: Completed

    Start 01.10.2022
    End 30.09.2024
    Funding Other 

    Development of sleep regulation 鈥� a window of opportunity for fostering healthy development
    Status: Ongoing

    Start 01.09.2019
    End 31.07.2025
    Funding SNSF 
    Good sleep is essential to human health, as it fosters neuronal functioning, cognitive performance and decision-making. Empirical work in the past decade has caused a shift in view from sleep as a pure behavior towards sleep as localized neurophysiological and cellular recovery process. Sleep also interacts with neurodevelopment 鈥� a connotation that opens up new avenues for interventional studies. Importantly, bacterial symbionts partially regulate the gene expression landscape of the human host. First indications suggest that bacteria are also linked to host sleep regulation. Mechanisms physiologically underlying the sleep-bacteria link were proposed to include peripheral circadian synchronization, the sleep hormone melatonin or neurotrophic/ neuroendocrine pathways. This project aims to foster the understanding of the role of sleep and especially also bacterial symbionts in cognitive development. We hypothesize that: (1) sleep quality is influenced by bacteria in infants, (2) sleep-wake behavior is associated with neurophysiological (EEG) maturational markers, and (3) neurophysiological maturational markers are associated with cognitive development. With a nutritional monitoring and a sleep intervention we will explore the link between of bacteria and infant sleep regulation. Associations will further be tested in a clinical population of preterm-born infants, and further, effects of antibiotic exposure will be quantified. With a behavioral sleep intervention, we will explore effects of improved sleep on bacteria and cognition. To capture the development of sleep-wake regulation, sleep will be objectively assessed in a core cohort of mother-infant pairs, starting in pregnancy. We will investigate the association of sleep-wake behavior with neuronal maturational markers (sleep high density EEG) and with cognitive development. The project at the edge of neuroscience, psychology and microbiology and the use of novel approaches tackling the early human lifespan has the immediate goal to examine the role of the bacteria-sleep link in infant development and the visionary goal to improve cognitive development by fostering healthy sleep regulation in infants.

Teaching and courses

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