Neuroscience
Issue
- Neuroscience
- Physiology
- Neurobiology
- Electrophysiology
Personal Data
Jakob Wolfart, Prof. Dr. Dipl. Biol.
Department
Cellular Neurophysiology Group, Dept. for Neurosurgery, Neurocenter, University Medical Center Freiburg
Know-How
Interests:
- Signal integration in neurons
- Epilepsy
- Ion channels
- Activity-related neuroprotection
Techniques:
- Electrophysiology
- In vitro patch-clamp recordings using rodent and patient tissue
- Morphological reconstruction.
Experience
1999-02, PhD thesis on signal integration in dopaminergic neurons (Oxford University, Oxford, U.K.)
2002-04, Marie-Curie Postdoc on signal integration in thalamic neurons (Unité de Neurosciences Intégratives et Computationnelles,CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Since 2005, Assistant Professor (Neurozentrum, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg)
Publications
- Wolfart, J, Debay, D, Le Masson, G, Destexhe, A, Bal, T (2005) Synaptic background activity controls spike transfer from thalamus to cortex. Nature Neuroscience 8:1760-1767
- Debay, D, Wolfart, J, Le Franc, Y, Le
Masson, G, Bal, T (2005) Exploring spike transfer through the thalamus using
hybrid artificial-biological neuronal networks. Journal of Physiology (Paris)
- Salthun-Lassalle, B,
Hirsch, EC, Wolfart, J, Ruberg, M, Michel, P (2004) Rescue of Mesencephalic Dopaminergic
Neurons in Culture by Low-Level Stimulation of Voltage-gated Sodium Channels. Journal
of Neuroscience 24:5922-30
- Wolfart, J, Roeper, J
(2002) Selective Coupling of T-type Calcium Channels to SK Potassium Channels
Prevents Intrinsic Bursting in Dopaminergic Midbrain Neurons. Journal of Neuroscience 22:3404-13
- Wolfart, J, Neuhoff, H, Franz, O, Roeper, J (2001) Differential Expression of the Small Conductance, Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel SK3 is Critical for Pacemaker Control in Dopaminergic Midbrain Neurons. Journal of Neuroscience 21:3443-56
Projects
Presently we investigate signal integration in neurons of the hippocampal dentate gyrus and its relevance for temporal lobe epilepsy, i.e. the question of how these cells cope with or contribute to epileptic seizures. We examine changes in intrinsic properties such as the morphology and ion channel properties as well as changes in synaptic mechanisms. Our long-term goal is to identify the properties of neurons that are necessary to perform proposed computational tasks of these neurons.