Theodore Dumas
George Mason University, VA·Neuroscience
Schizophrenia disrupts thinking, perception, emotion and social life and is among the leading causes of work disability worldwide. Its cognitive disorganization is thought to arise partly in the hippocampus, a brain region essential for memory and navigation.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Psychology
Pharmacology
- Topics
schizophrenia
NMDA receptor
GluN2B
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Test whether GluN2B-type C-terminal domain signaling, separated from ion-channel function using chimeric GluN2 subunits in transgenic mice, regulates hippocampal theta and slow gamma oscillations and cross-frequency coupling.
- Determine whether heightened GluN2B-type intracellular signaling enhances slow gamma activity while mice plan paths to known goal locations, and whether this links to improved long-term spatial memory.
- Compare mice expressing chimeric GluN2 subunits only in hippocampal principal cells or only in parvalbumin-positive interneurons to identify which synapses carry GluN2B signaling effects on oscillations and memory.
More about the research
Patients show abnormal rhythmic electrical activity in the hippocampus, called network oscillations, along with a specific deficit in spatial memory. This project asks which molecular signals shape these rhythms and memories.
Why it matters
Schizophrenia is a severe, disabling disorder with an incomplete biological explanation. Pinpointing how one signaling region of the NMDA receptor's GluN2B subunit controls hippocampal rhythms and spatial memory could refine models of how the disorder arises. It could also provide a framework for developing new treatments aimed at specific receptor signaling pathways.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Horacio Rotstein
New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ·Neuroscience
Build biophysical computational models of the hippocampal CA1 network that include neurons' intrinsic subthreshold oscillatory properties and medial septum input, and test whether they reproduce theta-frequency local field potential oscillations.
Vishnu Suppiramaniam
Kennesaw State University, GA·Neuroscience
Investigate the molecular mechanisms behind memory and synaptic plasticity deficits after prenatal cannabinoid exposure, using behavioral tests and hippocampal measurements of long-term potentiation and long-term depression in exposed animals.
Marco Hefti
University of Iowa, IA·Neuroscience
Determine whether tau's interaction with NMDA receptors, signaling channels at nerve connections, is needed for human neurons to mature and grow dendrites, using tau knockout human neurons.
The school
George Mason University: 15 labs on PI Pages, $282M a year on research, 297 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.