Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
Maulbeerstrasse 66
4058 Basel, Switzerland
Email: pico.caroni@fmi.ch
Secretary: Isabella Bogdal
Phone: +41 61 697 66 53
Plasticity of neuronal connections
We investigate regulatory mechanisms that control the formation, maintenance and turnover of synaptic connections (anatomical plasticity). We are particularly interested in mechanisms determining the plasticity of defined neuronal circuits, as they may inform us about principles of learning, adaptation, and resilience to disease in the nervous system. Applying this approach to the neuromuscular system, we investigate mechanisms underlying intrinsic and age-dependent differences in the anatomical plasticity of defined synapses, as well as mechanisms of selective vulnerability to disease in neurodegeneration. The same type of approach guides our research on anatomical plasticity in the hippocampus, a brain structure that plays a critical role in learning and memory. We are discovering specific life-long synaptic rearrangements influenced by experience in an axonal projection with major functional significance to hippocampal function. As well as mouse genetics, neuroanatomy, single cell genomics and live imaging, we use transgenic mice expressing fluorescent chimeric proteins in single neurons to visualize neurons and subcellular components in situ.
