Roger Colbran
Vanderbilt Brain Institute (VBI)
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC)
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC)
Department of Pharmacology
The Colbran Lab (https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/colbran-lab/) is focused on understanding the mechanisms controlling excitatory synaptic transmission and structure under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. We focus on calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), an abundant postsynaptic signaling molecule with a unique auto-regulatory mechanism that mediates many downstream responses in neuronal dendrites. We are testing the over-arching hypothesis that direct interactions with diverse CaMKII-associated proteins modulate the activity, localization and/or substrate-specificity of CaMKII to confer specific downstream actions that have unique roles in modulating synaptic function and behavior.
The Colbran Lab (https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/colbran-lab/) is focused on understanding the mechanisms controlling excitatory synaptic transmission and structure under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. We focus on calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), an abundant postsynaptic signaling molecule with a unique auto-regulatory mechanism that mediates many downstream responses in neuronal dendrites. We are testing the over-arching hypothesis that direct interactions with diverse CaMKII-associated proteins modulate the activity, localization and/or substrate-specificity of CaMKII to confer specific downstream actions that have unique roles in modulating synaptic function and behavior.
Keywords: Protein phosphorylation , Protein-protein interactions , Synaptic transmission , Dendritic spines , Autism , Transgenic mice
Research Area: Cell Signaling , Synaptic Function and Neuroendocrinology