Our Research Interest

How does the central nervous system encode information on environmental changes and experience into short- and long-term memories?

It is generally accepted that activity-dependent changes not only in the hippocampus, but also the entorhinal cortex are critically involved in certain forms of learning and memory. Long term potentiation (LTP) as well as long term depression (LTD) are both activity-dependent long-lasting changes in synaptic strength. LTP and LTD are the most widely studied and compelling cellular and molecular models for mechanisms underlying memory formation. Our laboratory uses electrophysiological and optical methods to study the basic mechanisms of synaptic transmission, its modification by neuromodulators and plasticity in the mammalian hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. One of our main goals is to elucidate the molecular events that underlie certain short- and long-lasting forms of synaptic plasticity.