Faculty Member
Associate Professor in Residence
Department of Ophthalmology
Department of Neurobiology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
Jules Stein Eye Institute, Room A-200
100 Stein Plaza Driveway,
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Faculty Member
Professor
Department of Neurology
Department of Neurobiology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
710 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Biography
The Portera-Cailliau laboratory investigates how developmental defects in network connectivity at the level of the cerebral cortex directly lead to symptoms of autism, learning disability and intellectual dysfunction. In particular they are studying sensory hypersensitivity in a model of fragile X syndrome, by combining in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, patch-clamp electrophysiology, and head-fixed behavior. Dr. Portera-Cailliau was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. He obtained a B.A. in Biochemistry & Cell Biology from U.C. San Diego in 1990. He then attended the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and obtained an MD-PhD degree in 1997. His mentors were Drs. Donald Price and Lee Martin. After finishing a residency in Neurology at The Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston in 2001, Dr. Portera-Cailliau moved to Columbia University for a post-doctoral fellowship in Dr. Rafael Yuste’s laboratory. His second post-doc was with Dr. Karel Svoboda in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He joined the UCLA faculty in November 2004 and has joint appointments in the Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology. He is a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute, the Integrated Center for Learning & Memory, and the Neuroscience Theme. Since 2013 he has served as co-director of the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program.
Faculty Member
Professor & Interim Director of the Brain Research Institute
Chair, Graduate Interdepartmental Program for Neuroscience
Department of Neurobiology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
Office
Center for Health Sciences 63-323
650 Charles E Young Dr S,
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Biography
Felix E. Schweizer was born in Basel, Switzerland and conducted his graduate research in the laboratory of Prof. Max M. Burger under the direction of Dr. Theo Schafer. He received his PhD degree in biochemistry summa cum laude from the University of Basel in 1989. From 1990 to 1994, he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University in the laboratory of Prof. Richard W. Tsien. From 1994 to 1998, he was postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurobiology at Duke University in the laboratory of Professor George J. Augustine. Dr. Schweizer joined the Department of Neurobiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 1998 as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Full Professor in 2010. Dr. Schweizer’s research interests concern the molecular mechanisms by which neurons communicate, the regulation of communication by neurons and how alterations in neuronal communication might contribute to neuronal diseases. The Schweizer laboratory uses electrophysiological and optical tools to investigate the dynamic molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of neurotransmitter release. We are particularly interested in the role of protein ubiquitination in regulating neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission. In collaboration with Dr. James Wohlschlegel, we used multiplexed SILAC and identified synaptic proteins that are dynamically regulated. More recently, in collaboration with Dr. David Krantz, we are using pesticides linked to neuro-degenerative disorders as unbiased tools identify novel pathways that might be involved in early signs of degeneration. In addition, we are characterizing transmission at the first synapse of the vestibular system, i.e. between utricular sensory hair cells and primary afferent neurons. In collaboration with Dr. Larry Hoffman we are finding that changing the gravitational load alters synaptic structures. We are now using serial EM and EM tomography in addition to physiology and cell biology to define in more detail the transfer function between head-movement input and afferent nerve-firing output.
Faculty Member
Professor
Department of Oral Biology
School of Dentistry
University of California, Los Angeles
Center for Health Sciences
10833 Le Conte Avenue,
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Publications
A selected list of publications:
Shen Yi, Lindemeyer A Kerstin, Spigelman Igor, Sieghart Werner, Olsen Richard W, Liang Jing Plasticity of GABAA receptors after ethanol pre-exposure in cultured hippocampal neurons Molecular pharmacology, 2011; 79(3): 432-42.
