Regulation of Hippocampal Plasticity: Single Synapses to Alzheimer’s Disease

The research in the laboratory is focused on understanding the basic mechanisms underlying synaptic function and primary mechanisms initiating synaptic dysfunction at very early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. To achieve this goal, we developed an integrated system that enables simultaneous real-time visualization of structural reorganization in spatially-restricted signaling complexes and functional modifications of single synapses in brain circuits. Utilizing FRET spectroscopy, high-resolution optical imaging, electrophysiology, molecular biology, and biochemistry we explore experience-dependent mechanisms regulating the number and plasticity of hippocampal synapses under physiological and pathological conditions.