Publications related to Laboratory of Synaptic Mechanisms

A bistable inhibitory optoGPCR for multiplexed optogenetic control of neural circuits

Information is transmitted between brain regions through the release of neurotransmitters from long-range projecting axons. Understanding how the activity of such long-range connections contributes to behavior requires efficient methods for reversibly mani ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Principles of Network Plasticity in Neocortical Microcircuits

András Ecker

Synaptic plasticity underlies our ability to learn and adapt to the constantly changing environment. The phenomenon of synapses changing their efficacy in an activity-dependent manner is often studied in small groups of neurons in vitro or indirectly throu ...

EPFL2023

Assemblies, synapse clustering and network topology interact with plasticity to explain structure-function relationships of the cortical connectome

Eilif Benjamin Muller, Michael Reimann, James Gonzalo King, Marwan Muhammad Ahmed Abdellah, Pramod Shivaji Kumbhar, Giuseppe Chindemi, András Ecker, Sirio Bolaños Puchet, James Bryden Isbister, Daniela Egas Santander

Synaptic plasticity underlies the brain’s ability to learn and adapt. While experiments in brain slices have revealed mechanisms and protocols for the induction of plasticity between pairs of neurons, how these synaptic changes are coordinated in biologica ...

2024

Plasticity of sensory representations in the posterior insular cortex during fear learning

Denys Osypenko

Aversively-motivated associative learning allows animals to avoid harm and thus ensures survival. Aversive learning can be studied by the fear learning paradigm, in which an innocuous sensory stimulus like a tone (conditioned stimulus, CS), acquires a nega ...

EPFL2023

Modeling and simulation of neocortical micro- and mesocircuitry. Part II: Physiology and experimentation

Henry Markram, Eilif Benjamin Muller, Srikanth Ramaswamy, Michael Reimann, James Gonzalo King, Rajnish Ranjan, Armando Romani, Mustafa Anil Tuncel, Aleksandra Zuzanna Teska, Polina Litvak

Cortical dynamics underlie many cognitive processes and emerge from complex multi-scale interactions, which are challenging to study in vivo. Large-scale, biophysically detailed models offer a tool which can complement laboratory approaches. We present a m ...

2024

A conditional glutamatergic synaptic vesicle marker for Drosophila

Evelyne Ruchti, Brian Donal McCabe

Glutamate is a principal neurotransmitter used extensively by the nervous systems of all vertebrate and invertebrate animals. It is primarily an excitatory neurotransmitter that has been implicated in nervous system development, as well as a myriad of brai ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC2022

Modulation of working memory duration by synaptic and astrocytic mechanisms

Sophia Becker

Short-term synaptic plasticity and modulations of the presynaptic vesicle release rate are key components of many working memory models. At the same time, an increasing number of studies suggests a potential role of astrocytes in modulating higher cognitiv ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2022

The matricellular protein Drosophila Cellular Communication Network Factor is required for synaptic transmission and female fertility

Evelyne Ruchti, Brian Donal McCabe

Within the extracellular matrix, matricellular proteins are dynamically expressed nonstructural proteins that interact with cell surface receptors, growth factors, and proteases, as well as with structural matrix proteins. The cellular communication networ ...

Genetics Society America2022

A conditional GABAergic synaptic vesicle marker for Drosophila

Brian Donal McCabe

Background: Throughout the animal kingdom, GABA is the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter of the nervous system. It is essential for maintaining the homeostatic balance between excitation and inhibition required for the brain to operate normally. Identi ...

2022

Homeostatic regulation of axonal Kv1.1 channels accounts for both synaptic and intrinsic modifications in the hippocampal CA3 circuit

Mickael Maurice Zbili

Homeostatic plasticity of intrinsic excitability goes hand in hand with homeostatic plasticity of synaptic transmission. However, the mechanisms linking the two forms of homeostatic regulation have not been identified so far. Using electrophysiological, im ...

National Academy of Sciences2021