The lab is interested in understanding the regulation of synaptic strength and synaptic mechanisms underlying neuronal circuit function in animal behavior. We believe that these research will provide fundamental insights into neural underpinnings for learning and memory, and will identify synaptic and neural circuit malfunctions that are involved in many neurological and mental disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, depression and autism disorders. During the fiscal year, We have succeeded in setting up the lab for these research programs. This includes setting up three dual whole cell patch-clamp systems in the lab to perform electrophysiological analysis of neuronal activity, which are the essential component of the labs research program;setting up molecular, biochemical, imaging and histological equipment and reagents in the lab to facilitate scientific discoveries;setting up the equipment and methods for in vivo manipulations of gene expression in rodents (stereotaxic viral or drug injection, in utero cDNA electroporation and p0 newborn pup viral injection), which will provide important research tools to manipulate neuronal genes in vivo;and setting up the room and equipment for behavioral testing on rodent animals, which will allow us to test functional significance of manipulation of neuronal gene expression at systems levels. In addition, we have imported, maintained, expanded and created over twenty lines of transgenic and knockout mice in the lab, which laid the foundation for various research programs in the future. In parallel, we have developed two animal protocols that have been approved to initiate scientific research with these animals. Furthermore, we have recruited three scientists to join the lab to form a dynamic and motivated research team. This includes one research assistant and two postdoctoral fellows. On the research side, we have collected some promising preliminary data that indicate an important role for a novel protein in the regulation of excitatory synaptic strength. Currently we are actively pursuing this project. In addition, we have characterized a knockout mouse model developed by our collaborator at NIH, Dr. Katherine Roche.
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