Synaptic Transmission Section - Division of Intramural Research

 Ling-Gang   Wu  M.D., Ph.D., Senior Investigator

Dr. Wu received his M.D. in 1985 from Second Military Medical College, Shanghai, and his Ph.D. in neuroscience in 1994 from Baylor College of Medicine, where he worked with Peter Saggau studying the role of presynaptic voltage-dependent calcium channels in controlling transmitter release. From 1994 to 1996 he did postdoctoral training with William J. Betz at the University of Colorado Medical School, where he studied the kinetic regulation of endocytosis at frog neuromuscular junctions using FM dye imaging. From 1996 to 1999 he a second postdoctoral fellowship with Bert Sakmann at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany, where he identified calcium channel types and studied the presynaptic mechanisms underlying short-term synaptic depression at a giant nerve terminal, the calyx of Held in rat brainstem. From 1999 to 2003 he was an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where his laboratory applied capacitance recording techniques to study regulation of the kinetics of endocytosis at the calyx of Held. Dr. Wu joined NINDS as an investigator in 2003 and was promoted to senior investigator in 2007. His laboratory is using electrophysiological, imaging, as well as biochemical and molecular biological techniques, to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying generation and regulation of endocytosis and synaptic plasticity at the calyx-type synapse.

Laboratory Staff

Abdeladim Elhamdani, Ph.D., Research Fellow , 301-451- 3356
Junmei Fan, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow , 301-594- 1287
Liming He, Ph.D., Research Fellow , 301-451- 3358
Benjamin McNeil, B.S., Graduate Student , 301-451- 2284
Kenneth  Paradiso, Ph.D., Research Fellow , 301-451- 3341
Jiansong Sheng, , Visiting Fellow , 301-451- 3334
Wonchul Shin, , Visiting Fellow , 301-451- 3335
Tao Sun, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow , 301-451- 3339
Xin-Sheng Wu, Ph.D., Research Fellow , 301-451- 3345
Jianhua Xu, Ph.D., Research Fellow , 301-451- 3340
Lei Xue, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow , 301-451- 3357

Research Interests

Neurons communicate with each other via chemical synaptic transmission. Regulation of the strength of synaptic transmission plays essential roles in many physiological and pathological processes, such as control of neuronal network outputs, neuronal development, learning and memory, and neurological diseases. It remains poorly understood how synaptic strength is controlled at nerve terminals. Filling this gap of knowledge is the goal of the Synaptic Transmission Unit.

Selected Recent Publications

Paradiso K and Wu LG
Small voltage changes at nerve terminals travel up axons to affect action potential initiation - Nature Neuroscience  12 541 - 543  2009

Wu XS, McNeil BD, Xu J, Fan J, Xue L, Melicoff E, Adachi R, Bai L, Wu LG
Ca(2+) and calmodulin initiate all forms of endocytosis during depolarization at a nerve terminal - Nat Neurosci.  12(8) 1003-10 2009

He L, Xue L, Xu J, McNell B, Bai L, Melicoff E, Adachi R and Wu LG.
Compound vesicle fusion increases quantal size and potentiates synaptic transmission - Nature  459 93-98 2009

Xu J, McNeil B, Wu W, Nees D, Bai L, Wu LG.
GTP-independent rapid and slow endocytosis at a central synapse - Nat Neurosci.  11(1) 45-53 2008

He L, Wu LG.
The debate on the kiss-and-run fusion at synapses. - Trends in Neuroscience  30(9) 447-55  2007

Wu LG, Ryan TA, Lagnado L.
Modes of vesicle retrieval at ribbon synapses, calyx-type synapses, and small central synapses - J Neurosci.   27(44) 11793-802 2007

Selected Earlier Publications

Contact Information

Synaptic Transmission Section, NINDS Porter Neuroscience Research Center  Building 35, Room 2B-1012  35 Convent Drive, MSC 3706 Bethesda MD  20892-3706

Telephone: 301-451- 3338 (office), 301- 451-3338 (laboratory), 301-480- 1466 (fax), Email: wul@ninds.nih.gov