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Faculty Detail Faculty Entry   
Name LYNN DOBRUNZ  
Campus Address SHEL 902 Zip 2182
Phone 205-934-7923
E-mail dobrunz@uab.edu" id="FacultyDetail1EmailAddress"><a href="mailto:dobrunz@uab.edu">dobrunz@uab.edu</a>
URL http://www.neurobiology.uab.edu/Faculty/Dobrunz/Dobrunz.htm
 
 

Department Affiliations(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Center  Center for Aging  Center for Aging Associate Professor
Center  Civitan International Research Center  Civitan International Research Center Associate Professor
Center  General Clinical Research Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center Associate Professor
Center  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med Associate Professor
Primary  Neurobiology  Neurobiology Associate Professor
Secondary  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology Associate Professor

Biographical Sketch 
Lynn E. Dobrunz received her S.B. in Engineering and Applied Sciences from Harvard University in 1988. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1994. She did postdoctoral work with Charles F. Stevens in the Department of Molecular Neurobiology at The Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA, and joined the faculty of UAB in 1999. She is currently an Associate Professor of Neurobiology.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
Society for Neuroscience     
 

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity in Hippocampus
Description
My research program uses electrophysiological approaches to study synaptic transmission and regulation of presynaptic properties at synapses in the central nervous system. Synapses in the central nervous system are unreliable in that they release a vesicle of neurotransmitter only a small fraction of the time they receive action potential input. The probability of neurotransmitter release is history dependent, resulting in dynamic modulation of synaptic strength by the timing of stimulation, a phenomenon called short-term plasticity. Short-term plasticity is important for information processing in the brain. In hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning and memory, short-term plasticity is a cellular correlate of short-term memory. Using hippocampal brain slices and cultured hippocampal neurons from rodents, my lab studies the presynaptic properties of single synapses and the regulation of presynaptic vesicle release probability and short-term plasticity. We are investigating the role of short-term plasticity in dynamically regulating the balance of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in hippocampus. We are also studying the changes that occur in presynaptic function during normal postnatal development, and how presynaptic physiology is altered in animal models of developmental disorders that cause cognitive impairment. We are also investigating changes in presynaptic function during normal aging. In addition, we are investigating the role of postsynaptic influences on the formation and function of presynaptic terminals, as well as cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the activity dependent modulation of neurotransmitter release.

Postdoc Positions Available
Date Posted Position Title
No records
 

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Sun, H.Y., A.F. Bartley, and L.E. Dobrunz. (2009). Calcium-permeable presynaptic kainate receptors involved in excitatory short-term facilitation onto somatostatin interneurons during natural stimulus patterns. J Neurophysiol 101(2):1043-1055.  19073817 
Speed, H.E. & L.E. Dobrunz (2009). Developmental changes in short-term facilitation are opposite at temporoammonic synapses compared to Schaffer collateral synapses onto CA1 pyramidal cells. Hippocampus 19(2): 184-204.   18777561 
Walters, B.J. , Campbell, S.L., P.C. Chen, L.E. Dobrunz, J.A. Wilson, K. Artavanis-Tsakonas, H.L. Ploegh, A.P. Taylor, D.G. Schroeder, G.A. Cox, & S.M. Wilson (2008). "Differential effects of Usp14 and Uch-L1 on the ubiquitin-proteasome system and synaptic activity." Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, in press.   18771733 
Scheiderer, C.L., M.E. McCutcheon, L.E. Dobrunz, & L.L. McMahon (2008). "Coactivation of M1 muscarinic and alpha1 adrenergic receptors stimulates ERK and induces long-term depression at CA3-CA1 synapses in rat hippocampus." J. Neurosci 28:5350-5358.   18480291 
Speed, H.E. & L.E. Dobrunz (2008). "Developmental decrease in short-term facilitation at Schaffer collateral synapses in hippocampus is mGluR1 sensitive." J. Neurophysiol 99:799-813.   18032567 
Crimmins, S., Y. Jin, C. Wheeler, A. K. Huffman, C. Chapman, L. E. Dobrunz, A. Levey, K. A. Roth, J. A. Wilson & S. M. Wilson (2006). "Transgenic rescue of ataxia mice with neuronal-specific expression of ubiquitin-specific protease 14." J Neurosci 26(44): 11423-31.   17079671 
Sun, H. Y. & L. E. Dobrunz (2006). "Presynaptic kainate receptor activation is a novel mechanism for target cell-specific short-term facilitation at Schaffer collateral synapses." J Neurosci 26(42): 10796-807.  17050718 
McCutchen, E., C. L. Scheiderer, L. E. Dobrunz & L. L. McMahon (2006). "Coexistence of muscarinic long-term depression with electrically induced long-term potentiation and depression at CA3-CA1 synapses." J Neurophysiol 96(6): 3114-21.   17005622 
Scheiderer, C. L., E. McCutchen, E. E. Thacker, K. Kolasa, M. K. Ward, D. Parsons, L. E. Harrell, L. E. Dobrunz & L. L. McMahon (2006). "Sympathetic sprouting drives hippocampal cholinergic reinnervation that prevents loss of a muscarinic receptor-dependent long-term depression at CA3-CA1 synapses." J Neurosci 26(14): 3745-56.  16597728 
Dekay, J. G., T. C. Chang, N. Mills, H. E. Speed & L. E. Dobrunz (2006). "Responses of excitatory hippocampal synapses to natural stimulus patterns reveal a decrease in short-term facilitation and increase in short-term depression during postnatal development." Hippocampus 16(1): 66-79.   16261553 
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