Portal to the Penn Neuroscience Community
Home
MINS Members
MINS News
Weekly Events
MINS Colloquium Schedule
History
Community Outreach Programs
Neuroscience Graduate Group
Other Educational Activities
Society for Neuroscience
Classified Ads
MINS Members
Marc
A. Dichter, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Neurology
School of Medicine
467 Stemmler Hall/6077
(215) 349-5166, LAB: (215) 898-3130
FAX: (215) 573-2107
email: dichter@mail.med.upenn.edu
Click here for selected publications since Dr. Dichter's arrival at Penn
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Epilepsy; cortical physiology; brain stimulation for seizure suppression; regulation of synaptic function; pharmacology of inhibitory and excitatory amino acid receptors RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
CNS tissue culture; intracellular recording; voltage clamping; patch clamping; immunohistochemistry; whole animal cortical electrophysiology – recording and stimulating; seizure generation and spread in intact animalsRESEARCH SUMMARY
Research focuses on basic mechanisms of epilepsy, mechanisms underlying the development of seizures and one's ability to predict seizure onset, mechanisms by which brain stimulation can suppress seizure development and spread, the physiology and pharmacology of synaptic transmission between hippocampal neurons, the developmental cell biology of cortical and hippocampal neurons maintained in cell culture, and characteristics of pleuripotent neural progenitor cells. Ongoing projects focus on chronic recording from awake, behaving epileptic animals in order to characterize their seizures, develop methods to predict seizure onset well before it occurs and develop methods to stimulate the brain in order to prevent ictogenesis. The long range goal is to develop an implantable closed loop feedback device to predict and prevent seizures. Other projects in the lab, have included an analysis of the differential effects of frequency dependent processes on inhibitory and excitatory synaptic transmission in cultured hippocampal neurons, the regulation of GABA mediated synaptic transmission, the regulation of excitatory neurotransmitter action, the molecular regulation of receptor choice and neurotransmitter phenotype, and mechanisms of progenitor cell differentiation into neurons.
KEY WORDS:
Hippocampus; culture; epilepsy; GABA; glutamate; synapse; plasticity; deep brain stimulation
