Head:

The work in our group is concerned with the molecular analysis of cellular plasticity in the central nervous system. Central topics are studies on the mechanisms, which are responsible for the activity-dependent re-modeling of the postsynaptic cyotskeletion, the postsynaptic density (PSD) and the morphogenesis of dendritic spines. Further work is devoted to the question how inflammatory signals are transduced in damaged axons in a model of diffuse axon injury and how this relates to restitution plasticity. Finally we are analyzing the physiological and pathophysiological role of a survival promoting peptide termed Y-P30 that we recently characterized.

Projects:

» Synapto-dendritic Ca 2+
» Post-lesion plasticity after axon injury
» A maternal blood-borne survival factor for the developing and injured brain

Teaching:

Lecture: Developmental Neurobiology; Practical courses: Molecular Cell Biology; Biochemistry

Staff:

• Corinna Borutzki
• Imbritt König
• Dr. Peter Landgraf
• Monika Marunde
• Falko Nagel
• Katarzyna Strusinska
• Irina Zdobnova

Funding:

• BMBF
• DFG
• Land Saxony-Anhalt
• Schram Foundation