Developmental Synaptic Plasticity Section - Division of Intramural Research

 John    Isaac   Ph.D., Senior Investigator

Dr. Isaac received his B.Sc. in biochemistry with pharmacology and his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Howard Wheal's laboratory, University of Southampton UK. During his postdoctoral training in Robert Malenka's laboratory at the University of California San Francisco, he studied the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and barrel cortex. He started his own laboratory at the University of Bristol where he became Full Professor in April of 2004. In September of 2004, he joined NINDS as an Investigator and established the Developmental Synaptic Plasticity Unit. In 2007 he was promoted to senior investigator. His group studies molecular and cellular mechanisms of developmental synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and barrel cortex.

Laboratory Staff

Michael Ashby, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Stephanie Braud, B.Sc., Graduate Student
Ramesh Chittajallu, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow
Seungsoo Chung, M.D., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Jean-Sebastien Jouhanneau, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Jose Matta, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Jong-Cheol Rah, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
John  Sherwood, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Akira Terashima, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow
Sherry Zhang, B.Sc., Technician

Research Interests

Research in my laboratory centers around investigating the properties and synaptic mechanisms that lead to plasticity of the mammalian brain during development. These development processes are critical in ensuring appropriate wiring of neural circuits that underlie normal brain function. We use rodent brain as a model system, focusing on two regions that display remarkable plasticity, hippocampus and barrel cortex.

Selected Recent Publications

Terashima, A., Pelkey, K.A., Rah, J., Suh, Y., Roche, K.W., Collingridge, G.L., McBain, C.J. and Isaac, J.T.R.
An essential role for PICK1 in NMDA receptor-dependent bidirectional synaptic plasticity - Neuron  57 872-82 2008

Daw, M.I., Ashby, M.C. and Isaac, J.T.R
Coordinated recruitment of latent fast spiking interneurons into the layer IV barrel cortex circuit enables rapid development of thalamocortical feed forward inhibition - Nature Neurosci  10 453-461 2007

Daw, M.I., Scott, H.L. and Isaac, J.T.R
Developmental synaptic plasticity at the thalamocortical input to barrel cortex: mechanisms and roles - Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience  34 493-502 2007

Isaac, J.T.R., Ashby, M. and McBain, C.J
The role of the GluR2 subunit in AMPA receptor function and synaptic plasticity - Neuron  54 859-871 2007

Daw, M.I., Bannister, N.J. and Isaac, J.T.R.
Rapid, activity-dependent plasticity of timing precision in neonatal barrel cortex - J.Neurosci.   26 4178-4187 2006

Plant, K., Pelkey, K.A., Bortolotto, Z.A., Morita, D., Terashima, A., McBain, C.J., Collingridge, G.L. and Isaac, J.T.R.
Transient incorporation of GluR2-lacking AMPA receptors during hippocampal long-term potentiation - Nature Neurosci.   9 602-604 2006

Selected Earlier Publications

Contact Information

Developmental Synaptic Plasticity Section, NINDS Porter Neuroscience Research Center  Building 35, Room 3C-1002  35 Convent Drive, MSC 3701 Bethesda MD  20892-3701

Telephone: 301-451- 7221 (office), - - (laboratory), 301-480- 1798 (fax), Email: isaacj@ninds.nih.gov