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Clifford Saper , M.D., Ph.D.

James Jackson Putnam Professor of Neurology
Head of the Department of Neurology At the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Beth Israel Hospital
Neurology, Kirstein 406
330 Brookline Ave
Boston, MA 02215
Telephone: 617-667-2622
Fax: 617- 975-5161
Email: csaper@bidmc.harvard.edu
Predocs: 1 Postdocs: 7 Completed PhD's: 10

Clifford Saper

The focus of the Saper laboratory is on the integrated functions maintained by they hypothalamus. These include regulation of wake-sleep cycles, body temperature, and feeding. These functions interact with one another extensively, and all three are driven by homeostatic mechanisms as well as by circadian influences. We attempt to identify the neuronal circuitry that is involved in regulating these responses. Although the emphasis in our laboratory is on morphological methods, particularly the use of axonal tracer methods combined with in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to determine the chemical phenotypes of neurons as well as changes in gene expression under different physiological conditions, we also employ a wide range of physiological methods. These range from whole animal chronic recording, to lesion and stimulation methods, single cell extracellular recording in whole animals, and to intracellular recordings in slice preparations. In addition to identifying this circuitry in experimental animals, we also are interested in determining the homologous circuitry in human brains, and in determining how it may be disrupted in specific neurological and psychiatric disorders.

 

References:

  • Zhang, Y.-H., Lu, J., Elmquist, J.K., Saper, C.B. (2003) Specific roles of cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 in lipopolysaccharide-induced fever and fos expression in rat brain. J Comp. Neurol. 463:3-12.
  • Scammell, T.E., Arrigoni, E., Thompson, M.A., Ronan, P.J., Saper, C.B., Greene, R.W. (2003) Focal deletion of the adenosine A1 receptor in adult mice using an adeno-associated viral vector. J. Neurosci., 23:5762-5770.
  • Oka, T., Oka, K., Kobayashi, T., Sugimoto, Y., Ichikawa, A., Ushikubi, F., Narumiya, S., Saper, C.B. (2003) Characteristics of thermoregulatory and febrile responses in mice deficient in prostaglandin EP1 and EP3 receptors. J. Physiol. 551:945-954.
  • Gooley, J.J., Lu, J., Fischer, D., Saper, C.B. (2003) A broad role for melanopsin in nonvisual photoreception. J. Neurosci. 23:7093-7106.
  • Chou, T.C., Scammell, T.E., Gooley, J.J., Gaus, S.E., Saper, C.B., Lu, J. (2003) Critical role of the dorsomedial nucleus in a wide range of behavioral circadian rhythms. J. Neurosci., 23:10691-10702.