Back to Main

Faculty Detail Faculty Entry   
Name LUCAS D POZZO-MILLER  
Campus Address SHEL 1002 Zip 2182
Phone 205-975-4659
E-mail lucaspm@uab.edu" id="FacultyDetail1EmailAddress"><a href="mailto:lucaspm@uab.edu">lucaspm@uab.edu</a>
URL http://neurobiology-uab.infomedia.com/bios.asp?action=form&recordID=146780
 
 

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

Biographical Sketch 
Lucas Pozzo-Miller completed his undergraduate studies in Biology (M.Sc., 1986) and earned his graduate degree from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina (Ph.D., 1989). He trained as postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH, with Dr. Dennis Landis (1990-1992), and at the former Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, Nutley NJ, with Dr. John Connor (1992-1995). He performed research at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole MA, with Dr. Rodolfo Llinás (1994 Grass Foundation Fellow, and 1995 Lakian Foundation Fellow). He held a Senior Staff Fellow position at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD, in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Reese (1995-1998). He joined the faculty of the Department of Neurobiology at The University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1998, and is currently a Professor of Neurobiology.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
Society for Neuroscience  Member  http://web.sfn.org/ 
Te American Physiological Society  Member  http://www.the-aps.org/index.htm 
 

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Neurotrophins, Ca2+ Signaling, Synapse Development and Plasticity, Mental Retardation, Rett Syndrome
Description
The long-term interest of the Pozzo-Miller lab is to characterize the functional role of structurally defined neuronal compartments such as dendritic spines and presynaptic terminals, and how they participate in synaptic development, function and plasticity as they relate to learning and memory. We focus on the hippocampus due to its well-known role in learning and memory.
Neurotrophins such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are secretory proteins that regulate neuronal survival and differentiation, as well as synapse development, function and plasticity. Neurotrophic factors are strong candidates to provide the molecular signaling pathways mediating complex interactions leading to appropriate dendritic maturation and synapse development. We focus on the actions of neurotrophins in the hippocampus to characterize the regulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity by slow-acting non-classical neuromodulators. Currently, we are investigating the “BDNF hypothesis” of Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with autistic features and intellectual disabilities that is caused by mutations in MECP2, a transcriptional regulator of many genes, including Bdnf. In our studies, we apply several functional and structural approaches to acute and cultured slices of hippocampus, including intracellular whole-cell recordings, Ca2+ and voltage-dye imaging, confocal microscopy, synaptic vesicle recycling with FM dyes, multiphoton excitation microscopy, as well as conventional and rapid-freezing electron microscopy.

Postdoc Positions Available
Date Posted Position Title
No records
 

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Amaral MD, Chapleau CA, Pozzo-Miller L. (2007) Transient receptor potential channels as novel effectors of brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling: potential implications for Rett syndrome.
Pharmacol Ther. 2007 Feb;113(2):394-409. Epub 2006 Nov 21 		 17118456 
Amaral MD, Pozzo-Miller L. (2007) TRPC3 channels are necessary for brain-derived neurotrophic factor to activate a nonselective cationic current and to induce dendritic spine formation. J Neurosci. 2007 May 9;27(19):5179-89.   17494704 
Moore CD, Thacker EE, Larimore J, Gaston D, Underwood A, Kearns B, Patterson SI, Jackson T, Chapleau C, Pozzo-Miller L, Theibert A. (2007) The neuronal Arf GAP centaurin {alpha}1 modulates dendritic differentiation. J Cell Sci. 2007 Aug 1;120(Pt 15):2683-93. Epub 2007 Jul 17.   17635995 
Hojjati MR, van Woerden GM, Tyler WJ, Giese KP, Silva AJ, Pozzo-Miller L, Elgersma Y. (2007) Kinase activity is not required for alphaCaMKII-dependent presynaptic plasticity at CA3-CA1 synapses. Nat Neurosci. 2007 Sep;10(9):1125-7. Epub 2007 Jul 29.   17660813 
Amaral MD, Pozzo-Miller L. (2007) BDNF Induces Calcium Elevations Associated with IBDNF, a Non-Selective Cationic Current Mediated by TRPC Channels. J Neurophysiol. 2007 Aug 15; [Epub ahead of print]   17699689 
Alonso M, Medina JH, Pozzo-Miller L (2004). ERK1/2 activation is necessary for BDNF to increase dendritic spine density in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Learning and Memory 11: 172-178.  15054132 
Tyler WJ, Zhang XL, Hartman, K, Winterer J, Muller W, Stanton PK, Pozzo-Miller, L (2006). BDNF increases release probability and the size of a rapidly recycling vesicle pool within rat hippocampal excitatory synapses. Journal of Physiology (London) 574: 787-803.  16709633 
Pozzo-Miller L (2006). BDNF enhances dendritic Ca(2+) signals evoked by coincident EPSPs and back-propagating action potentials in CA1 pyramidal neurons. Brain Research 1104:45-54.  16797499 
Kushner SA, Elgersma Y, Murphy GG, Jaarsma D, van Woerden GM, Hojjati MR, Cui Y, LeBoutillier JC, Marrone DF, Choi ES, De Zeeuw CI, Petit TL, Pozzo-Miller L, Silva A (2005). Modulation of presynaptic plasticity and learning by the H-ras/extracellular signal-regulated kinase/synapsin I signaling pathway. Journal of Neuroscience 25: 9721-9734.  16237176 
Tyler WJ & L Pozzo-Miller (2003). BDNF and miniature synaptic transmission modulate dendritic spine growth and form in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Journal of Physiology (London) 553: 497-509.  14500767 
First Prev   1 2 of  2  Next Last  

Keywords
BDNF, Ca2+, Synapse, Rett Syndrome, Hippocampus, Dendritic Spines, MecP2, Autism

© 2003 University of Alabama School of Medicine. Copyright Information. UAB Disclaimer.
Contact the MEIS Help Desk if you experience problems with this site.