Silvio O. Conte Center
Projects and Cores
To address our hypothesis we are working on three collaborative projects.
- Project #1, led by Dr. Douglas Coulter, studies the role of astrocytes in regulating the loading of vesicles with transmitter by controlling the recycling of neurotransmitter substrates.
- Project #2, led by Dr. Jim Eberwine, takes a longer-term view of the astrocyte by studying the gene expression profiles of astrocytes, and investigates transmitter-dependent regulation of translation within astrocytes and their processes.
- Project #3, led by Dr. Philip G. Haydon, studies the role of synaptotagmin IV in releasing gliotransmitters from astrocytes and will determine how the short and long-term regulation of this protein controls synaptic transmission and plasticity.
Because imaging and photolysis are critical for many of the studies performed in this Conte Center it includes a Photochemistry Core, This core, led by Dr. Graham Ellis-Davies, provides and develops new caged compounds for photo-release by two-photon photolysis.