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The laboratory for
"Molecular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory"
Kobi Rosenblum, Ph.D.
Kobi Rosenblum "The Taste
of Memories"
Head of the laboratory for
"Molecular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory"
Tel-
972-4-8288421
Fax-
972-4-8288108
kobir@psy.haifa.ac.il
Research Interests:
We
are interested in exploring how memories are being formed and
maintained in the mammalian brain. In order to understand the
biological hardware enabling the brain to learn and store memories
we are using different molecular and cellular techniques including
molecular biology, proteomics, electrophysiology and microscopy. The
main behavioral model we are applying in our research is taste
learning and the main brain structure we are looking at is the taste
cortex which resides within the insular cortex.
We have succeeded in identifying different signal transduction
cascades and molecules that are operating in the taste cortex
subserving the formation and the storage of taste memories (e.g.
MAPK, tyrosine phosphorylation, regulation of different levels of
the cellular translation machinery, regulation of protein expression
patterns). One of our main tasks is to understand how regulation of
protein synthesis and degradation enable memory consolidation.
Another line of research is to put these new identified molecular
modulations within the cellular frame of the neuronal network of the
taste cortex. Research in the laboratory further focuses on
identifying molecules that can serve as coincidence detector for
fast (ionotropic) and slow (metabotropic) neurotransmission.
Our research contributes to the current understanding of how the
normal brain acquire, stores, retrieves and forgets new information.
But there is a significant direct link between understanding the
normal brain and uncovering the reasons for dysfunction and disease.
For example, one of the proteins we identified recently as important
for neuronal function, rsk90, is a protein known to mediate mental
retardation in the Coffin-Lowery syndrome.
We collaborate with different laboratories in Israel and abroad in a
synergistic effort to expand our combined expertise in the different
lines of research.
Key Words: Learning,
Memory, Taste, Cortex, Consolidation, Proteomic, Protein synthesis
and degradation.
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