Professor Kei Cho
Professor Kei Cho
Dorothy Hodgkin Building,
Whitson Street,
Bristol
BS1 3NY
(See a map)
kei.cho@bristol.ac.uk
Telephone Number (0117) 331 3048
Organisations
Synaptic Plasticity and Repair
Research overview
Research in Cho group focuses on a wide range of projects from molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in the brain to pathological aspects of the central nervous system (CNS) including Alzheimer's disease. This is achieved through electrophysiological recordings, calcium imaging, molecular biology, cell culture, gene transfection, immunocytochemical techniques and MRI-brain imaging.
The plastic nature of synapses means that long-term potentiation (LTP, a prolonged increase in synaptic transmission) and long-term depression (LTD, a long-lasting depression of synaptic transmission) can be induced.
Using brain slice electrophysiology and calcium imaging techniques, our findings from the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex have suggested a new form of LTD in which G-protein coupled metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) have an important role. These findings have led to a greater understanding of mechanisms that regulate mGluRs and the ways in which mGluRs interact with other receptors. Our group is also investigating the molecular roles of postsynaptic calcium sensors and caspase-cascades in hippocampal and perirhinal LTP.
Key words
beta-amyloid, excitatory synapse, long-term synaptic plasticity, calcium-sensor, brain atrophy, stress, jet-lag, stem-cell
Key findings
- Roles of Beta-Amyloid in synaptic dysfunction.
- Roles of postsynaptic calcium sensors and caspase-cascades in long-term synaptic plasticity.
- Synaptic plasticity in human embryonic stem cell-derived neurons
- Stress-related hormones in excitatory synaptic transmission
- Aging and stress-related decline of recognition memory
Diseases related to this field of research
Alzheimer's disease, Amyloid-beta toxicity, Stress, Neurodegeneration
Processes and functions relevant to this work
Synaptic Plasticity, Recogntion Memory, Stem-cell differentiation
Research group
Christopher Brown, Ellen Hogg, Jihoon Jo, Byeong Kim, Dong Hyan Kim, Man Seok Park, Thomas Piers, Philip Regan, Daniel Whitcomb, Garry Whitehead, Bryony Winters, Jee-Hyun Yi
Techniques in routine use
Whole-cell patch recording (multiple electrode patch / single electrode patch), Organotypic brain slice culture, Primary cell culture, Calcium imaging (slice and primary cultured neuron), Gene transfection, Western-blot, GST-pull down, Co-immunopreciepetation, Stem-cell differentiation, neuronal transplantation, MRI brain volumetric analysis, Human cognition
Equipment in routine use
Whole-cell Patch Recording System, Infra-Red Imaging System, Calcium imaging from brain slice, Gene-Gun transfection system, Confocal Imaging System, Western-Blot, MRI-scanner
Collaborations
Dr Osborne Almeida (Max-Plank-Institute - Munich - Germany)
Prof Graham Collingridge (MRC Centre - Bristol)
Prof Stafford Lightman (Henry Wellcome LINE - Bristol)
Prof Morgan Sheng (Genentech - USA)
Prof Peter St George-Hyslop (Cambridge)
Prof. David Klenerman (Cambridge)
Dr. Lisa Saksida (Cambridge)
Public engagement
- British Neuroscience Roadshow in Seoul, Korea (2008)
- Association for Neuron and Disease, Brain Summer Camp in Bristol, UK (2010)
Key publications
- Li, Z, Jo, J, Jia, J, Lo, S, Whitcomb, D, Jiao, S, Cho, K & Sheng, M 2010, ‘Caspase-3 activation via mitochondria is required for long-term depression and AMPA receptor internalization’. Cell, vol 141., pp. 859 - 871
- Jo, J, Son, G, Winters, B, Kim, M, Whitcomb, D, Dickinson, B, Lee, Y, Futai, K, Amici, M, Sheng, M, Collingridge, G & Cho, K 2010, ‘Muscarinic receptors induce LTD of NMDAR EPSCs via a mechanism involving hippocalcin, AP2 and PSD-95’. Nature Neuroscience, vol 13., pp. 1216 - 1224
- Jo, J, Heon, S, Kim, M, Son, G, Park, Y, Henley, J, Weiss, J, Sheng, M, Collingridge, G & Cho, K 2008, ‘Metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated LTD involves two interacting Ca(2+) sensors, NCS-1 and PICK1’. Neuron, vol 60(6)., pp. 1095 - 1111
- Jo, J, Ball, S, Seok, H, Oh, S, Massey, P, Molnar, E, Bashir, Z & Cho, K 2006, ‘Experience-dependent modification of mechanisms of long-term depression’. Nature Neuroscience, vol 9 (2)., pp. 170 - 172
- Jo, J, Whitcomb, DJ, Olsen, KM, Kerrigan, TL, Lo, S, Bru-Mercier, G, Dickinson, B, Scullion, S, Sheng, M, Collingridge, G & Cho, K 2011, ‘Aβ(1-42) inhibition of LTP is mediated by a signaling pathway involving caspase-3, Akt1 and GSK-3β’. Nature Neuroscience, vol 14., pp. 545 - 547
Latest publications
- Kerrigan, TL, J, WD, Regan, PL & Cho, K 2012, ‘The role of neuronal calcium sensors in balancing synaptic plasticity and synaptic dysfunction’. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, vol 5., pp. 57 - 57
- Lee, K, Kim, J, Kwon, O, An, K, Ryu, J, Cho, K, Suh, Y & Kim, H 2012, ‘An Activity-Regulated microRNA, miR-188, Controls Dendritic Plasticity and Synaptic Transmission by Downregulating Neuropilin-2’. J Neurosci, vol 18;32(16)., pp. 5678 - 5687
- Bradley, C, Peineau, S, Taghibiglou, C, Nicolas, C, Whitcomb, D, Bortolotto, Z, Kaang, BK, Cho, K, Wang, YT & Collingridge, G 2012, ‘A pivotal role of GSK-3 in synaptic plasticity’. Front Mol Neurosci, vol 5.
- Oh, D, Han, S, Seo, J, Lee, J, Choi, J, Groffen, J, Kim, K, Cho, Y, Choi, H, Shin, H, Woo, J, Won, H, Park, S, Kim, S, Jo, J, Whitcomb, D, Cho, K, Kim, H, Bae, Y, Heisterkamp, N, Choi, S & Kim, E 2010, ‘Regulation of synaptic Rac1 activity, long-term potentiation maintenance, and learning and memory by BCR and ABR Rac GTPase-activating proteins’. J of Neuroscience, vol 30., pp. 14134 - 14144
- Riedemann, T, Patchev, A, Cho, K & Almeida, O 2010, ‘Corticosteroids: way upstream’. Molecular Brain, vol 3:2., pp. 1 - 20
Full publications list in the University of Bristol publications system