Memory is essential for our identity and survival. Its alteration appears in many neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), dementia, posttraumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injury. Our long-term goal is to understand synaptic molecular dynamics underlying learning and memory in health and their impairments in disease.

 

We address the following questions using multifaceted approaches: protein engineering, genetically encoded tools, virus-mediated tool delivery, cell-type- & compartment-specific targeting of tools, optogenetic & chemogenetic control of tools, live neuron imaging, brainbow labeling, tissue clearing, histology, and behavioral tests.

​​​

Q. How do neurons encode learning and memory?
Synaptic plasticity (e.g., long-term potentiation [LTP]) has been considered a cellular mechanism underlying learning and memory. Many critical players for LTP induction have been identified (e.g., NMDA receptors, CaMKIIα, AMPA receptors, and the MAGUK family). Yet, many questions remain at cellular and molecular levels, including the maintenance of plasticity.

​

Q. How are synaptic molecules altered in AD?
AD is a progressive and degenerative brain disease. AD brains display intracellular tau inclusions (neurofibrillary tangles) and extracellular β-amyloid (Aβ) deposits (senile plaques). The tau and Aβ pathologies have been extensively studied as the cause of AD pathogenesis and are supported by many AD models. While AD treatment strategies have focused mainly on these pathologies, synaptic dysfunction in early AD has received much less attention, even though synapses are the fundamental units that mediate neuronal plasticity and memory and synaptic dysfunction precedes AD pathologies.

​

Q. How can synaptic molecules be leveraged to improve memory ability in health and disease?
Despite tremendous efforts over the past decades, little is known about facilitating healthy memory or reversing memory deficits in disease. We focus on novel molecular and pharmaceutical approaches to improving memory ability in animal models.