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  3. / Nedivi, Elly Ph.D.
Nedivi, Elly
Ph.D.
William R. (1964) & Linda R. Young Professor of Neuroscience
Brain & Cognitive Sciences; Biology
Investigator
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

Building: 

46-3239
Email: nedivi@mit.edu

Phone: 

6172532344

Administrative Asst: 

Moss, Charles
Lab website

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About

Elly Nedivi received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford University Medical School and completed her postdoctoral training at The Weizmann Institute in Israel. In 1998, after two years at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, she joined the faculty of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. She also has an appointment in the Department of Biology at MIT.

Research

Molecular Genetic Analysis of Synaptic Plasticity

The capacity of the brain to modify connections in response to levels of activity is termed plasticity. Plasticity is a prominent feature of brain development, and in the adult underlies learning and memory and adaptive reorganization of sensory maps. To understand the cellular mechanisms that underlie activity-dependent plasticity in the developing and adult brain, we are identifying and characterizing the participating genes and the function of the proteins they encode. This work began with the cloning of a large number of activity-regulate genes that we termed candidate plasticity genes (CPGs). Although only a small subset of these genes have been pursued to date, it is clear that the pool is highly enriched for genes that are relevant to neuronal and synaptic function.

One CPG characterized in depth, CPG2, has emerged as a key component of a specialized postsynaptic endocytic mechanism devoted to internalization of synaptic proteins, including glutamate receptors. Another, CPG15, plays a dual role in the brain: as a survival factor that rescues cells from apoptosis, and as a growth and differentiation factor that affects process outgrowth and synaptic maturation.

In collaboration with Dr. So's group in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at MIT w e have fabricated a custom designed multi-photon microscope for chronic in vivo imaging of neuronal morphology in the intact rodent cerebral cortex. Using this system we have imaged and reconstructed the dendritic trees of neurons in visual cortex of thy1 -EGFP transgenic mice. These mice express EGFP in a random subset of neurons sparsely distributed within the superficial cortical layers that are optically accessible through surgically implanted cranial windows. Chronic imaging of the same neurons over a period of months, revealed an unexpected degree of remodeling in adult neurons. Establishing the baseline dynamics of dendritic remodeling now allows us to examine the brains of mice deficient in specific CPGs and ask how they compare with normal brains.

Teaching

9.18J Developmental Neurobiology

Publications

Non-descanned multifocal multiphoton microscopy with a multianode photomultiplier tube. Cha JW1, Yew EY1, Kim D2, Subramanian J3, Nedivi E, So PT. AIP Adv. 2015 Mar 23;5(8):084802. eCollection 2015.

Spectral-resolved multifocal multiphoton microscopy with multianode photomultiplier tubes. Cha JW, Tzeranis D, Subramanian J, Yannas IV, Nedivi E, So PT. Opt Express. 2014 Sep 8;22(18):21368-81. doi: 10.1364/OE.22.021368.

Reassignment of scattered emission photons in multifocal multiphoton microscopy. Cha JW, Singh VR, Kim KH, Subramanian J, Peng Q, Yu H, Nedivi E, So PT. Sci Rep. 2014 Jun 5;4:5153. doi: 10.1038/srep05153.

Aberrant development and plasticity of excitatory visual cortical networks in the absence of cpg15. Picard N, Leslie JH, Trowbridge SK, Subramanian J, Nedivi E, Fagiolini M. J Neurosci. 2014 Mar 5;34(10):3517-22. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2955-13.2014

Loebrich S, Djukic B, Tong ZJ, Cottrell JR, Turrigiano GG, Nedivi E. (2013) Regulation of glutamate receptor internalization by the spine cytoskeleton is mediated by its PKA-dependent association with CPG2. PNAS. 2013 2013 Nov 4.

Chen JL, Nedivi E. (2013) Highly specific structural plasticity of inhibitory circuits in the adult neocortex. Neuroscientist. 2013 Aug;19(4):384-93.

Leslie JH, Nedivi E. (2013) Activity-Regulated Genes and Synaptic Plasticity, In: Cellular Migration and Formation of Neuronal Connections, Comprehensive Developmental Neuroscience Elsevier Inc., Pages 579-597, ISBN 9780123972668.

Eavri R, Nedivi E. (2013) Synaptogenesis in the Adult CNS–Neocortical Plasticity, In: Cellular Migration and Formation of Neuronal Connections, Comprehensive Developmental Neuroscience Elsevier Inc., Pages 713-721, ISBN 9780123972668.

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