Translational Neuroscience

The research mission of the Department of Translational Neuroscience is to discover and delineate mechanisms and processes which are fundamental to the development of neural systems and to the control of behavior as well as to translate these to pathogenesis and disease models. We use cutting edge technology, disease models as well as computational tools to achieve these goals.

Our teaching mission is to raise the next generation scientists and clinicians with state-of-the-art knowledge, technical expertise and vision in the field of neuroscience. As a part of this effort, we teach in several Bachelor courses, coordinate the Neuroscience and Cognition master program of the Utrecht University and offer doctoral and postdoctoral training.

News

May 23, 2023 / News, Public outreach

Fundraising ALS researchers will climb the Mont Ventoux

Tour de ALS

Fundraising is fun! Two researchers of the Department of Translational Neuroscience will climb the Mont Ventoux in France during the Tour du ALS, a yearly event to raise funds for ALS research. Under the slogan “Let’s kick ALS out of the world together”, hundreds of cyclists, runners and hikers will, together with ALS-patients, conquer the mountain on the 8^th of June this year.

“Besides working on a daily basis in the lab to help discover the fundamental pathology behind ALS, this event is a great opportunity to contribute in a different way to the fight against ALS.” Rianne de Jongh

Rianne and Astrid will join the larger UMC Utrecht Brain Center team of fourteen researchers and staff. Next to raising funds themselves, Rianne and Astrid will also talk to patients that will support the event on the spot. Both PhD students are involved in projects that aim to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms of ALS, as members of the Pasterkamp lab.

“I see how the daily research efforts for ALS will inevitably result in effective medicine in the long term, therefore it is important that events like this ensure continued funding for research into this devastating disease.” Astrid van der Geest

If you would like to support the ALS center team of the UMC Utrecht you can do so here until 30^th of June 2023. We are proud of our members’ ongoing fundraising efforts to support research in a number of diseases. Any amount is welcome in this fight against ALS, a research priority at the UMC Utrecht Brain Center.

December 2, 2022 / News, Research paper

Stress eating: hypothalamic control over dopamine system drives bingeing

Studying how stress changes synaptic function to causally contribute to stress eating

Does stress eating sound familiar? Stress can increase the intake of high caloric food, which can contribute to obesity and eating disorders, but the neurobiology underlying this process is not clear. In a new paper out in Nature Communications the lab of Frank Meye describes how stress changes synaptic strength from the Lateral Hypothalamus (LHA) to the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) midbrain dopamine system to drive binge eating behavior.

First author Louisa Linders observed in mice that social stress resulted in binge-like intake of high caloric fat. Calcium recordings done by Lefkothea Patrikiou and Evelien Schut showed that LHA glutamatergic neurons controlling the VTA were responsive to such social stress, as well as to fat intake. Using patch-clamp electrophysiological approaches, Louisa went on to show that social stress strengthened the glutamatergic synaptic connection from the LHA to the VTA. Optogenetic tweaking of the strength of these LHA-VTA synapses proved critical in regulating whether stress eating took place. Overall, this paper highlights an important causal role of stress-induced plasticity in the synaptic connection from the lateral hypothalamus to the midbrain dopamine reward system for stress-driven food intake.

“I’m excited that we can share our findings on how stress changes synaptic function to causally contribute to stress eating.” Louisa Linders

The work was performed in the Translational Neuroscience Dept of the UMC Utrecht Brain Center. Check out the tweet by Frank Meye as well.

We look forward to seeing the upcoming work from the Meye group!

December 2, 2022 / News, Research paper

Studying synapses in specific neural circuits

new review on the use of electrophysiology and optogenetics for the study of synaptic connectivity and strength

In recent years the combination of brain slice electrophysiological recordings of neurons in response to optogenetic stimulation of their input, has become an indispensable staple to probe the function of neural circuits. The large amounts of distinct metrics that one can obtain this way are both informative but also daunting to the newcomer. In a recent review paper, Frank Meye’s team summarized the methodological state-of-the-art for this approach. The paper featured several team members including co-first authors Laura Supiot and Louisa Linders. In particular, the authors reviewed the rationale behind the different metrics used to study synaptic connectivity and changes in synaptic strength. They compiled a guide for the implementation of these methodologies in practice and discussed future directions to decipher neural circuits.

“We aimed to provide the rationale for distinct electrophysiological synaptic metrics, as well as practically explain how to obtain them.” Laura Supiot

Also see the tweet by Frank Meye. Congratulations to the whole team! 🎉

1 2 3 … 10 Next »

Vacancies

We welcome open applications from PhD candidates and postdocs.