- Unit20 Oct 2009
Dr Melanie Ludlow has joined the McIlhinney group for two years to investigate potential modulator binding sites on the AMPA receptor. Following on from her PhD studies Melanie has just completed a post-doctoral position at Leicester University, studying the function of P2X receptors in Dictyostelium discoideum.
- Unit20 Oct 2009
At the Royal Society- with Ole Paulsen 1996Ex-Unit member Ole Paulsen, currently lecturer at the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics at the University of Oxford, has been appointed Professor of Physiology (1883) at the University of Cambridge from the 1st of January 2010. Ole joined Peter Somogyi's group in 1993 and made seminal contributions to the Unit's programme. He introduced in vitro studies and concepts of neuronal oscillations to the Unit and his collaboration with Peter and the late Eberhard Buhl resulted in the milestone observations of how GABAergic synaptic input from basket cells reset intrinsic membrane potential oscillations in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells leading to their synchronization (Cobb et al., 1995. Nature 378, 75-78). The group's work on cortical interneurons was demonstrated at the Royal Society summer exhibition and soiree in 1996 (see picture). Ole's insights into cellular neurophysiology and his strengths in analysis greatly contributed to studies on the synaptic mechanisms and role of cortical interneurons, and his exceptional teaching ability is witnessed by his success in training students and staff. Congratulations Ole, richly deserved! - Unit20 Oct 2009
Ruth has joined Jeff McIlhinney's lab as an MRC-funded DPhil student. Ruth holds a BSc in Neuroscience from UCL, where she carried out her final year dissertation at the Institute of Neurology, concentrating on the role of microglial activation in neuroinflammatory disease. Last year Ruth successfully completed the MSc in Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, where she initially joined Jeff's lab in order to carry out her thesis on the expression and distribution of Copine-6 in brain during development. Ruth will continue studying the Copine proteins during her DPhil, focussing on their function and distribution in brain.
- Unit20 Oct 2009
Miss Alessia Manganaro has joined the group of Jozsef Csicsvari as an MRC-funded DPhil student.Alessia obtained her BSc in the University of Palermo and MSc in Neurosciences in the University of Florence.
- Unit14 Oct 2009
HolgerHolger Dannenberg has joined the group of Jozsef Csicsvari for 3 months as a visiting fellow. Holger is studying for his PhD at the University of Bonn at the laboratory of Professor Heinz Beck.
He will learn extracellular recording techniques during his stay in the Unit.
- Unit9 Oct 2009
AdamWe are pleased to welcome Mr. Adam Tudor Jones to the Unit. Adam has joined the Magill Group as an MRC-funded D.Phil. student and will study the functional organization of the basal ganglia and related thalamocortical circuits using advanced electrophysiological and anatomical techniques. Adam has just successfully completed a M.Sc. in Neuroscience at University College London, where his research project focussed on presynaptic NMDA receptors in cells impinging on cortical interneurons in the primary visual cortex.
- Unit5 Sep 2009
SilviaSilvia Willadt has joined Marco Capogna's lab supported by a NENS (Network of European Neuroscience Schools) stipend for Training Stay and by an International Junior Research Grant from the Physiological Society, UK. The aim of her stay is to learn to identify and record selective interneurons of the hippocampus in vitro to detect GABAergic signals in dendrites of pyramidal cells by using voltage imaging. Silvia, who originally is from Freiburg, Germany, is a PhD student of the Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland, under the supervision of Dr. Marco Canepari and Prof. Kaspar Vogt.