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Note: please contact the respective supervisor to apply or request further information about a project that interests you (you can click on the name in the title for further information, or see the Members page for contact information).
 

Morphology of cortical neurons in 3D (D. Schubert)

 
Background: Details about the dendritic and especially the axonal organization of cortical neurons are crucial for their classification and prediction of their functional capabilities. Fixed cortical tissue of rats, containing single or two synaptically connected neurons that were labeled during electrophysiological recordings, will be used to produce 3D reconstructions of the neurons, revealing their morphometric details - and its full beauty.
Project Postnatal exposure of newborn rats to the antidepressant Fluoxetine (comparable to the situation that a mother is using Fluoxetine against depression during her pregnancy) leads to prominent changes in the neuronal networks of the brain. Aim of this study is to reveal how severe these changes are in the different cortical networks and whether they are permanent or at least partially transient only. For methodological details: see below.
  • Histochemistry of fixed cortical tissue preparations
  • Single neuron staining methods
  • Computer supported light microscopy
  • Vector based 3-dimensional somatodendritic and axonal reconstruction using Neurolucida Software
  • Morphometrical quantitative analysis and classification of neurons
  • Localization & quantification of synaptic contacts between two neurons
 

Functional connectivity & signal processing in the cortex (D. Schubert)
Not applicable for bachelor interships: duration >6 months!

 
Background: The functional background of signal processing in sensory cortical areas is still unclear. We investigate how single neurons and small defined populations of neurons in living brain slice preparations participate in the signal propagation of the primary somatosensory cortex in health and in the disease model we emply in our group (SERT-/- rat line & EHMT1+/- mouse line). For this, a sophisticated state of the art combination of different electrophysiological methodologies is used on in vitro brain slice preparations of rats or on neuronal cultures.
  • Preparation of living thalamocortical slices of rats
  • Whole cell patch clamp recordings of single neurons supported by IR enhanced microscopy
  • Multielectrode (MEA) chip recordings
  • Non-invasive multi site induction of neuronal activity by electrical stimulation and/or focal photolysis of caged glutamate
  • Measurement of stimulus related signal propagation patterns
  • Modulation of signal propagation by application of neuropharmaca
  • Quantitative analysis of electrical neuron activity