About us
The Molecular Neurobiology Research Group was established in 2009. Our research aims to understand the mechanisms that regulate communication between neurons. We aim to identify novel signalling systems that are responsible for the variability in neural signalling. Our experiments will determine the molecular structure of these new pathways and reveal their physiological role.
Synaptic junctions are major sites of communication in the brain, where chemical messenger molecules transmit information from presynaptic neurons to their postsynaptic partners. The efficacy of synaptic transmission is not constant in time and space. Instead, its plasticity is a fundamental phenomenon underlying information storage and adaptation to environmental stimuli. Although classical neurotransmitters (such as glutamate and GABA) have well characterized principal roles in mediating basal neurotransmission, emerging evidence has revealed that synapses exploit a plethora of additional messenger molecules integrated into sophisticated signaling pathways to accomplish their complex functions.
Our research aims to map this complex signalling network to contribute to a better understanding of synaptic function and to identify new aspects of impaired synaptic activity in brain disorders.
In order to reach these aims, we use molecular biological tools, cell culture techniques, in utero electroporation, immunohistochemistry and different imaging techniques such as fluorescent confocal microscopy, STORM superresolution microscopy, electron microscopy.
Our work is/was financed by ERC, the Wellcome Trust, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, National Research, Development and Innovation Office, and the Hungarian Research Network.
Further information on the research group is available at katonalab.hu
