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Light-activated learning

GSN Faculty member Prof. Dirk Trauner involved in developing a light-sensitive switch that regulates a protein implicated in the neurobiology of synaptic plasticity

28.08.2015

A team of researchers led by Dirk Trauner, GSN Faculty member and Professor of Chemical Biology and Genetics at LMU, in collaboration with colleagues at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, has synthesized a light-dependent switch that enables them to control the activity of a particular class of receptors which is crucial for the formation and storage of memories. The compound provides a powerful new tool for researchers interested in probing the mechanisms that underlie short- and long-term memory. The results appear in the online journal “Nature Communications”.

The researchers expect that their new-found capacity to regulate the activation of NMDA receptors will lead to new insights into the mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity and memory formation. NMDA receptors may also be involved in precipitating or exacerbating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. “A better understanding of this class of receptors, coupled with the ability to control their activity, is therefore of great interest in this context too,” Trauner points out. “We are now cooperating with other groups who want to use ATG specifically to understand the role of these receptors in neurodegenerative conditions.”