Ricardo Dolmetsch

Research/Lab website:   Lab Web Site

Changes in cytoplasmic calcium play a central role in converting electrical events at the cell membrane into the activation of enzymatic cascades in the cytoplasm of cells. We are interested in understanding how intracellular calcium activates the signaling pathways that regulate the survival, motility and morphology of neurons and muscle cells. We are conducting RNA interference and proteomic screens to identify new proteins that regulate neuronal and cardiac function in response to electrical signals. One project in the lab is to use proteomic approaches to identify the full set of proteins that are associated with voltage gated calcium channels. In parallel we are characterizing the function of specific channel-interacting proteins using a multidisciplinary approach that includes digital calcium imaging, electrophysiology, in vitro cell biological assays and genetically engineered mice. We are also studying how different temporal and spatial patterns of cytoplasmic calcium regulate the expression of genes in excitable cells. Finally we are developing new ways of manipulating and visualizing intracellular signaling cascades in neuronal circuits and we are engineering neuronal circuits in vitro to investigate how neuronal networks store and process information. From our studies we hope to identify mechanisms in the brain that underlie both physiological changes such as learning and pathological events such as epilepsy and autism.