welcome to the scharfman lab

 
 

Neuronal excitability and its role in disorders of the nervous system


Research topics:

        Mechanisms of neuronal excitability and plasticity

        Hippocampus; dentate gyrus; entorhinal cortex; “limbic” circuits

        Dysfunction in ‘complex’ disorders

                Epilepsy

                Aging and Alzheimer’s disease

        Neuroendocrinology; sex differences

Current research “streams”:

        Neurotrophins              

                    Estrogen and androgen actions

                    mediated by brain-derived

                    neurotrophic factor (BDNF)

       Neurogenesis in the adult dentate

                     gyrus

       Mossy cells of the dentate gyrus

                         

 

overview          

Top left: A “mossy” cell of the dentate gyrus hilus.

Top right: A GABAergic interneuron in the dentate gyrus.  Bottom: A seizure-like event, recorded in a hippocampal slice after exposure to the neurotrophin BDNF and a GABA receptor antagonist. See Publications (topics: dentate gyrus, epilepsy) for more information.

From top right, clockwise: Aine Duffy, Korey Kam, Hannah Bernstein, Swati Jain, John LaFrancois, Jillian Moretto, Helen Scharfman