Pamela England
Pamela England, PhD, assistant professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, has been selected to receive one of four Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Awards for 2006-2008, given by the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. The awards provide $200,000 over two years to scientists seeking to develop new tools and techniques for neuroscience research to explore how the brain works.
England's research has clarified how the brain refreshes the supply of molecules it needs to make new memories. Memory formation is thought to involve a strengthening of the communication between neurons in the part of the brain known as the hippocampus. Researchers know that this increased communication results from a surge in the number of receptors on one neuron that is available to bind to the neurotransmitter glutamate released from another neuron. But how and from where the brain gains fresh supplies of these crucial receptors has remained unclear. Known as AMPA receptors, they are essential for the rapid connections made between nerves during learning.
The England lab will develop a novel set of molecular tools that may be used to study the trafficking of AMPA receptors in living neurons - the normal process by which receptors are replaced from fresh stores synthesized inside the cell. The goal is to produce a set of pharmacological reagents to monitor the movement of native AMPA receptors electrophysiologically and/or optically so that researchers can study the roles different AMPA receptor subtypes play in living neurons.
Photo/Christine Jegan
