Dr. Jeff Lichtman

Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Harvard University
MCB, Sherman Fairchild Bldg., Room 155
7 Divinity Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
Telephone: 617 496-8943
Fax: 617-496-9590
Email: jeff@mcb.harvard.edu
Predocs: 3 Postdocs: 7 Completed PhD's: 8

We are interested in the mechanics that underlie synaptic competition between neurons that innervate the same target cell. Such competitive interactions are responsible for sharpening the patterns of neural connections during development and may also be important in learning and memory formation. The laboratory studies synaptic competition by visualizing synaptic rearrangements directly in living animal using modern optical imaging techniques. We have concentrated on neuromuscular junctions in a very accessible neck muscle in mice where new transgenic animals and other labeling strategies allow individual nerve terminals and postsynaptic specializations to be monitored over hours or months. In addition, the lab has developed several new methods to improve our ability to resolve synaptic structure.

References:

• Gan W-B and Lichtman JW (1998) Synaptic segregation at the developing neuromuscular junction. Science 282:1508-1511.
• Feng G, Hood R, Bernstein M, Keller-Peck C, Nguyen QT, Wallace M, Nerbonne JM, Lichtman JW, Sanes JR (2000) Imaging neuronal subsets in transgenic mice expressing multiple spectral variants of GFP. Neuron 28:41-51.
• Keller-Peck CR, Gan W, Feng G, Sanes JR, Lichtman JW (2001) Asynchronous synapse elimination in neonatal motor units: studies using GFP transgenic mice. Neuron 31:381-94.
• Walsh MK and Lichtman JW (2003) Synaptic takeover: coordinated proliferation and elimination of developing synapses in vivo. Neuron 37:67-73.
• Kasthuri N and Lichtman JW (2003) The role of neuronal identity in synaptic competition. Nature 424:426-30.
• Buffelli M, Burgess RW, Feng G, Lobe C, Lichtman JW, Sanes JR (2003) Genetic evidence that relative synaptic efficacy biases the outcome of synaptic competition. Nature 424:430-4.