Nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other by electrical signals that are transmitted from cell to cell at specialized junctions called synapses. Electrical signaling and synaptic transmission are disrupted in neurological and psychiatric diseases. This proposed IMeRA project would address this area of research through luncheon discussions focusing on electrical signaling and synaptic plasticity in the normal brain, impairment of these processes in brain diseases; participation in an IMeRA seminar on humanistic aspects of brain science; a workshop on: Electrical Signaling, Ion Channelopathies, and Bioethics of Inherited Diseases in the Brain, and participation in a collaborative laboratory research project with Dr. Michael Seagar, Director of INSERM Unit 641 at Université de la Mediterranée on “Protein Interactions in the Molecular Network Regulating Calcium Channels and Synaptic Plasticity in the Brain”.
