Cum laude PhD projects

The Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam and the Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 have selected three projects and students for the socalled Twinning Cum Laude projects in the field of Experimental Neurosciences. These twinning projects are not funded by (or conform) the financial cofunding scheme and conditions of Erasmus Mundus, but are financed by independent grants, which follow the local salary rules of Bordeaux (and Amsterdam). Accordingly reimbursement for mobility for these students is arranged differently for these projects. However so as to not isolate them from their peer-group, with respect to scientific education and training, having access to all laboratory facilities and being full participants of the Annual Meetings and Advanced Methodology Courses, these PhD candidates may be regarded as students of ENC-Network.

Currently two of the three projects have started, and below the students of these projects are introduced:

Development of glutamate receptor function in immature synapses and x-linked mental retardation

PhD student: Angélique Desplat
Home Institute: Bordeaux Neuroscience – Université Bordeaux Segalen; Principle Investigator: Daniel Choquet and Françoise Coussen-Choquet,
Host Institute: Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam; Principle Investigator; Huibert Mansvelder and Rhiannon Meredith

The main aim of the project is to investigate the functional development of glutamate receptors at single synapses and synaptic networks during early brain development and in mental retardation, and to study by what mechanisms mGluR activation affects glutamate receptor mobility and spine stabilization at single synapses. > Go to Executive Summery

Mechanisms of presynaptic modulation of synaptic strength in the mouse hippocampus

PhD student: Bernat Gonzalez i Llinares; Spain
Home Institute: Bordeaux Neuroscience – Université Bordeaux Segalen; Principle Investigator: Christophe Mulle
Host Institute: Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam; Principle Investigator; Matthijs Verhage

Recent evidence suggests that current theory of synaptic plasticity may need to be revised. Especially the accumulating evidence for presynaptic NMDA receptors and new retrograde signaling cascades shed a new light on the contribution of the nerve terminal to synaptic plasticity. In this project we aim to exploit these new insights to revisit the signal transduction cascades that modulate synaptic strength and also to exploit new emerging technology to address these cascades on a single synapse level in the mouse hippocampus. > Go to Executive Summery

Identification of astrocyte-expressed genes involved in neuronal plasticity

PhD student: Karen Carney, United States of America
Home Institute: Bordeaux Neuroscience – Université Bordeaux Segalen; Principle Investigator: Stéphane Oliet
Host Institute: Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam; Principle Investigator; Mark Verheijen

For this collaborative project, we combine the expertise of the Oliet group in SON and hippocampus physiology with the molecular expertise of the Smit & Verheijen group in neuron-glia interactions. > Go to Executive Summery