 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
IPN Seminar SeriesSeminars are held in the Pharmacology Library, NE401-Med/Dent from 12:30pm until 1:30pm on designated Tuesdays. Click to View
Seminar Schedule in
Bai Lu, Ph.D. Senior Investigator Recent Paper: xxxxxx
Jeffrey S. Diamond, Ph.D. Investigator Recent Paper: Coordinated
multivesicular release at a mammalian ribbon synapse.
Nature
Neuroscience 7:826, 2004
Phillip J. Brooks, Ph.D. Investigator Recent Paper: xxx.
P.J. is interested in DNA
damage and repair in relation to neurological disease, alcohol related
pathologies, and aging. Sponsor: Alexei Kondratyev
Professor and Chairman
Sponsor: Josef Rauschecker Assistant
Professor "Transgenic
studies in Xenopus of photoreceptor biology and disease"
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The
goal of our research is to understand how neuronal communication at
synapses is regulated. Specifically, we are interested in the regulation
of synapse development by neurotrophic factors. Traditionally,
neurotrophic factors are defined as secretory proteins that regulate
neuronal survival and differentiation. Recent studies have established a
new concept that neurotrophic factors also play important roles in
synapse transmission and plasticity in both developing and adult nervous
system. Two types of regulation have been discovered: acute modulation
of synaptic transmission and plasticity, and long-term alteration of the
structure and function of synapses. We were among the first to study the
synaptic functions of neurotrophic factors. A combined molecular
biological and electrophysiological techniques are employed to study the
regulatory effects of neurotrophic factors on the synapses at the
neuromuscular junction and in the central nervous system such as
hippocampus. We have made two important discoveries. One is that
brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) acutely facilitates hippocampal
LTP, a cellular model for learning and memory. This is achieved, at
least in part, by enhancing synaptic responses to high frequency,
tetanic stimulation and facilitation of synaptic vesicle docking. The
second is that BDNF and neurotrophin-3 (NT3) promotes the long-term
maturation at developing neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Both structure
and function of the NMJ are altered after prolonged exposure to the
neurotrophins. Our recent work focuses on the molecular mechanisms
underlying the acute and long-term neurotrophic regulation, and their
relationships. Ongoing projects include: 1) neurotrophic regulation of
long-lasting hippocampal synaptic plasticity, using transgenic/knockout
mice; 2) biochemical and molecular study of activity-dependent
modulation of BDNF receptor trafficking in hippocampal neurons; 3)
molecular study of the signaling mechanisms for acute and long-term
neurotrophic regulation, using Xenopus nerve-muscle system.
Sponsor: Baoji Xu
Excitatory,
glutamatergic synapses mediate much of the interneuronal communication
in the CNS. We have learned a great deal about the structural and
molecular organization of these synapses, but many important
physiological questions remain unresolved. How do the morphological
characteristics of the synaptic cleft and the biophysical properties of
neurotransmitter receptors influence synaptic signaling? How do
transporters, which bind free glutamate and remove it from the extracellular space, limit the extent to which transmitter diffuses from
its point of release? Can glutamate diffuse out of the cleft to activate
receptors in neighboring synapses and, if so, how does this "spillover"
degrade or enhance the information capacity of a neuronal network? How
are these processes developmentally regulated? In the hippocampus,
answers to these questions may give insight into the mechanisms by which
learning and memory are implemented at the synaptic level. In the
retina, they may help explain how visual information is transformed into
a neural code and how the visual system's exquisite spatial acuity is
preserved. We approach these questions experimentally using
electrophysiological methods, including whole-cell recordings and
excised patches, in hippocampal and retinal slice preparations.
Sponsor: Stefano Vicini
During development, a symphony of
gene expression sets up the structure and function of the nervous
system. Dr. Marsh-Armstrong’s lab focuses on the use of transgenic
technologies to shed light on the rules that govern developmental gene
regulation in the nervous system. His ultimate goal is to understand how
aberrant gene regulation leads to developmental disorders.
Sponsor: Ken Kellar