David Stellwagen, PhD

We are studying the role of the pro-inflammatory cytokine Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNFα), a molecule principally characterized in the immune system, in the regulation of synaptic transmission. TNFα has an intrinsic neuronal function as it, through the alteration of receptor trafficking, acts as a glia-released mediator of homeostatic synaptic scaling, an important form of synaptic plasticity. We are interested in characterizing the role of TNFα and other cytokines in the normally functioning nervous system, to understand how the nervous system changes during mental disease or could be damaged by excessive release of these same cytokines during neuroinflammation.