Publications by Johannes Gräff

ABBA+BraiAn, an integrated suite for whole-brain mapping, reveals brain-wide differences in immediate-early genes induction upon learning

Johannes Gräff, Arne Seitz, Nicolas René Chiaruttini

Elsevier BV2025

A modular toolbox for the optogenetic deactivation of transcription

Light-controlled transcriptional activation is a commonly used optogenetic strategy that allows researchers to regulate gene expression with high spatiotemporal precision. The vast majority of existing tools are, however, limited to light-triggered inducti ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2024

Chromatin plasticity predetermines neuronal eligibility for memory trace formation

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Johannes Gräff, Marion Leleu, Liliane Glauser, Simone Astori, Giulia Santoni

Memories are encoded by sparse populations of neurons but how such sparsity arises remains largely unknown. We found that a neuron’s eligibility to be recruited into the memory trace depends on its epigenetic state prior to encoding. Principal neurons in t ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science2024

Prefrontal engrams of long-term fear memory perpetuate pain perception

Johannes Gräff, Yechao Han

A painful episode can lead to a life-long increase in an individual's experience of pain. Fearful anticipation of imminent pain could play a role in this phenomenon, but the neurobiological underpinnings are unclear because fear can both suppress and enhan ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2023

From cellular to fear memory: An epigenetic toolbox to remember

Johannes Gräff

Throughout development, the neuronal epigenome is highly sensitive to external stimuli, yet capable of safeguarding cellular memory for a lifetime. In the adult brain, memories of fearful experiences are rapidly instantiated, yet can last for decades, but ...

Current Biology Ltd2023

Nutritional metabolism and cerebral bioenergetics in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Johannes Gräff, Giulia Santoni

Disturbances in the brain's capacity to meet its energy demand increase the risk of synaptic loss, neurodegeneration, and cognitive decline. Nutritional and metabolic interventions that target metabolic pathways combined with diagnostics to identify defici ...

WILEY2023

Face your fears: attenuating remote fear memories by reconsolidation-updating

Johannes Gräff, Bianca Ambrogina Silva

Traumatic events generate some of the most enduring memories, yet little is known about how long-lasting fear memories can be attenuated. In this review, we collect the surprisingly sparse evidence on remote fear memory attenuation from both animal and hum ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON2023

Prenatal stress aggravates age-dependent cognitive decline, insulin signaling dysfunction, and the pro-inflammatory response in the APPNL-F/ NL-F mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Johannes Gräff

Accumulating evidence indicates that early adverse life experiences may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Prenatal stress (PS) can affect brain maturation and neuroimmune and metabolic interactions, leading to age-dependent cogni ...

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE2023

Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research

Johannes Gräff, Kwok Yui Reymond Yip

A memory engram is thought to be the physical substrate of the memory trace within the brain, which is generally depicted as a neuronal ensemble activated by learning to fire together during encoding and retrieval. It has been postulated that engram cell e ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2023

Brain-wide screen of prelimbic cortex inputs reveals a functional shift during early fear memory consolidation

Johannes Gräff, Lucie Pauline Dixsaut

Memory formation and storage rely on multiple interconnected brain areas, the contribution of which varies during memory consolidation. The medial prefrontal cortex, in particular the prelimbic cortex (PL), was traditionally found to be involved in remote ...

2022