Project Co-ordinator:

Prof. Leszek Kaczmarek
http://neurogene.nencki.gov.pl
l.kaczmarek@nencki.gov.pl
Nencki Institute
Warsaw, POLAND

Project Manager:

Ms. Marta Rucinska
m.rucinska@nencki.gov.pl
Nencki Institute
Warsaw, POLAND

Recruitment Co-ordinator

Prof. Alexander Dityatev
alexander.dityatev@dzne.de
Deutsches Zentrum fur
Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen
Magdeburg, GERMANY

Training Co-ordinator

Prof. Robert Pawlak
R.Pawlak@exeter.ac.uk
University of Exeter Medical School
Exeter, UK

Projects

The following 3 years PhD projects have been carried out within the Project:

(ESR means Early Stage Researcher; for the acronyms of the names of the institutions please refer to the home page)

• ESR1:    Role of Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in schizophrenia-like behaviors (lead: NENCKI, partners: UNEXE, ETEC)
• ESR2:    Role of Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in plasticity at synapses (lead: NENCKI, partners: UNEXE, MPG, SVIDA)
• ESR3:    ECM-mediated regulation of GABA_B receptors and schizophrenia (lead: DZNE-2a, partners: MPG, NENCKI)
• ESR4:    Neurotrypsin and mental retardation (lead: DZNE-2a, partners: DZNE-2b, FMI)
• ESR5:    The role of PAR-1/ECM interactions in neuronal remodelling (lead: UNEXE, partners: NENCKI, UCL, ETEC)
• ESR6:    PAR-1 "ECM signalosome" and fear/anxiety (lead: UNEXE, partners: ENS, MPG, SVIDA)
• ESR7:    MMP-9 and synaptogenesis upon learning in the hippocampus (lead: FMI, partners: NENCKI)
• ESR8:    Normal variation in ECM-relevant gene families, MMP-9 and FragileX related genes: Contribution to neuropsychiatric phenotypes (lead: MPG, partners: NENCKI, DZNE-2a, SVIDA).
• ESR9:    APP ectodomain and structural plasticity of dendritic spines (lead: DZNE-2b, partners: NENCKI, DZNE-2a, ETEC)
• ESR10: ECM and synapse dynamics (lead: ENS, partners: DZNE-2a, UCL, SVIDA)
• ESR11: Implications of miRNAs in several neurodegenerative disorders and their potential as therapeutic interventions (lead: SVIDA, partners: DZNE-2b, DZNE-2a)

There are also three postdoctoral positions running:

• ER1:   Signal exchange between the ECM and astrocytes (lead: UCL, partners: NENCKI, UNEXE, DZNE-2a )
• ER2:   Automated imaging platform to investigate the role of ECM on synapse number and function (lead: ETEC, partners: UCL, DZNE-2a, FMI, UNEXE )
• ER3:  Parvalbumin neurons and PNN regulation upon enrichment: dissecting the neural correlate of enrichment (lead: FMI, partners: NENCKI, DZNE-2a)