Membrane Excitability and Synaptic Transmission

The nervous system uses electrical signals to encode and process information. These signals take the form of action potentials within neurons and synaptic potentials between neurons. The molecules responsible for these signals include voltage-gated channels, which generate and shape action potentials; neurotransmitter receptors, which generate and shape synaptic potentials; and membrane trafficking proteins, which catalyze the fusion of neurotransmitter-containing vesicles with the plasma membrane. Research into membrane excitability and synaptic transmission provides insight into the cellular and molecular basis for learning and memory, and illuminates the molecular mechanisms of neurological disease and drug action. Faculty in the Neuroscience Training Program investigate these questions in a wide variety of models from yeast and Drosophila to humans, using a broad range of techniques including patch clamping, electrophysiology, and cellular imaging.

Sensory denervation of the cervical spinal cord increases the number of nerve terminals that contain serotonin (green) near the phrenic motoneurons (red) that control diaphragm contractions and, thus, breathing. Serotonin appears to initiate plasticity in respiratory motor output, symbolized here as an increase in respiration-related activity of the phrenic nerve (white tracings). (Figure Legend, image courtesy of Gordon Mitchell and Brad Hodgeman)

Faculty:

Matthew I. Banks GABAA Receptors and the Dynamics of Cortical Inhibitory Circuits	Baron Chanda Structure Function Studies of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels
Edwin R. Chapman Molecular Mechanisms of Ca2+-Triggered Exocytosis	Nansi J. Colley Molecular Genetics of Protein Trafficking in the Drosophila Visual System and Mechanisms of Neurodegeration
Cynthia Czajkowski The Structure and Function of GABAA Receptor	Barry Ganetzky Genetic and Molecular Analysis of Neuronal Signaling, Development, and Maintenance
Meyer B. Jackson Excitability, Synapses, and Circuits in the Nervous System	Mathew V. Jones Mechanisms of Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission
Thomas F.J. Martin Molecular Mechanisms of Neurotransmitter and Peptide Hormone Secretion	Thomas S. McDowell Opioid Modulation of Nociceptive Transmission
Gordon S. Mitchell Plasticity in Respiratory Motor Control; Applications to Spinal Cord Injury, Sleep Apnea and ALS	Donata Oertel The Role of the Mammalian Cochlear Nuclei in Hearing
Robert A. Pearce Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission, Hippocampal Function, and Mechanisms of Anesthetic Action	Gail A. Robertson Molecular Mechanisms of Ion Channel Function and Disease
Arnold E. Ruoho G-Protein Receptors, G-Proteins, Neurotransmitter Transporters and Sigma Receptors	Paul A. Rutecki Synaptic Physiology of Epileptiform Activity
Antony O.W. Stretton Structure and Function of Meuropeptides in Nematodes	Ei Terasawa Oscillatory Behavior of Neuroendocrine Neurons in the Hypothalamus
Lea Ziskind-Conhaim Cellular and Synaptic Mechanisms Underlying Locomotor-like Rhythms in the Mammalian Spinal Cord

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More research strengths:

Behavior, Cognition and Emotion

Development, Plasticity and Repair

Membrane Excitability and Synaptic Transmission

Molecular Neuroscience

Neuronal Circuits

Neurobiology of Disease

Perception and Movement