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4 YEAR PhD IN NEUROSCIENCE
Ralf Schoepfer
Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology
The molecular machinery at synapses
My group is interested in molecular mechanisms underlying higher brain functions such as memory and learning
The basic questions that we are addressing are:-
How do synapses function on the molecular level?
How is the function of synapses regulated?
Towards these goals we are analyzing the molecular signaling related to glutamate receptors, such as NMDA and AMPA receptors, in wild-type mice, or mutant mice with impaired spatial learning, or mutant mouse models for neurological diseases.
AVAILABLE PROJECTS
Projects include the analysis of the network of signaling molecules at synapses by advanced proteomic means [1]. This project will extend to the analysis of a mutant mouse strains for human neurologicla diseases. Further projects will analysis of specific signaling pathways [2], structure-function studies on selected molecules of interest [3], and/or the generation and analysis of engineered mouse models [4].
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Tigaret, C. M., Thalhammer, A., Rast, G. F., Specht, C. G., Auberson, Y. P., Stewart, M. G., and Schoepfer, R. (2006)
Subunit Dependencies of N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) Receptor-Induced {alpha}-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid (AMPA) Receptor Internalization.
Mol Pharmacol 69, 1251-1259
Trinidad, J. C., Specht, C. G., Thalhammer, A., Schoepfer, R., and Burlingame, A. L. (2006)
Comprehensive identification of phosphorylation sites in postsynaptic density preparations.
Mol Cell Proteomics 5, 914-922
Specht CG, Tigaret CM, Rast GF, Thalhammer A, Rudhard Y, Schoepfer R. (2005)
Subcellular localisation of recombinant alpha- and gamma-synuclein.
Mol Cell Neurosci 28:326-334
Rudhard Y, Kneussel M, Nassar MA, Rast GF, Annala AJ, Chen PE, Tigaret CM, Dean I, Roes J, Gibb AJ, Hunt SP, Schoepfer R. (2003)
Absence of Whisker-related pattern formation in mice with NMDA receptors lacking coincidence detection properties and calcium signaling.
J Neurosci 23:2323-2332
More: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Pharmacology/research/ralf.html
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