Research

Ongoing Research Projects Screening the CPG pool CPG15 CPG2 Structural plasticity in the adult brain CPGs as molecular probes of visual system development Compare a sequence against the CPG database

Synaptic Plasticity
      Learning and memory are specific cases of the brain's ability to modify connections in response to altered input. The property of the brain that allows it to constantly adapt to change is termed plasticity and is a prominent feature not only of learning and memory in the adult, but also of brain development. Connections between neurons (synapses) that are frequently used become stronger, while those that are unstimulated gradually dwindle away. How does activity modify a synapse to make it 'strong'? In the case of both developmental and adult plasticity, there is evidence that correlated neuronal activity induces expression of specific plasticity genes whose protein products then bring about molecular changes in the neurons, strengthening their response to a given stimulus. Our approach to understanding the cellular mechanisms of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity is to identify and characterize participating genes and their protein functions.

Candidate Plasticity Genes
     We have developed a highly sensitive subtractive cloning and differential screening method that has allowed us to identify and isolate a large pool of genes involved in neuronal plasticity (Nature, Nedivi et al. 1993). These 377 candidate plasticity-related genes (CPGs), approximately 210 of them novel, constitute the basis of our studies. The large number of CPGs isolated necessitates their priority ranking for further analysis. We are using various criteria to assess how interesting each CPG is, how closely related it may be to plasticity and whether there are hints as to it function that could aid in its characterization.