Professor of Neurobiology

Current Lab Members

Michelle Amaral, PhD
Gaston Calfa, PhD

Contact Information:

Office Phone: 205-975-4659

Lab Phone: 205-934-6359
Fax: 205-934-6571

Past Lab Members
Dr. Christopher Chapleau
Dr. Yong Li (Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Jiao-Tong University, Shanghai, China)
Dr. Antonio Campos-Torres (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Dr. Pablo Pomata (Facultad de Medicina, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Dr. Mariana Alonso (Pasteur Institute, Paris, France)
Dr. Mary Eve McCutchen
Dr. William J Tyler (Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tucson, AZ)

My long-term research interest is to characterize the functional role of structurally defined neuronal compartments such as spines, dendrites, and presynaptic terminals, and how they participate in synaptic function and plasticity. The work in the lab focuses on the transient elevations of intracellular free Ca²⁺ concentration induced by neuronal activity, and defining their role in synaptic plasticity. The lab investigates the effects of neurotrophins on synapses as an initial approach to characterize the regulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity by slow-acting, non-classical neuromodulators.

Lucas' Curriculum Vitae

From Pozzo Miller, Petrozzino, Golarai & Connor, Journal of Neurophysiology 76: 554-562 (1996)

The large dendritic arbors of central neurons allow for massive parallel synaptic input as well as input-specific signal processing. Identifying the sources and spatio-temporal patterns of intracellular calcium transients is important to understand the role of different neuronal compartments in synaptic integration. Optical imaging of fluorescent indicators sensitive to free calcium ion is specially suited to study such phenomena by simultaneous, non-invasive access to large regions of the dendritic tree in individual central neurons.

Lucas' Bibliography

From Petrozzino, Pozzo Miller & Connor, Neuron 14: 1223-1231 (1995)

Last updated October 2009

You can reach Lucas by e-mail at: lucaspm at uab.edu

or by more conventional cable methods at:

phone: 205-975-4659
fax: 205-934-6571

or by snail-mail at:

Department of Neurobiology,
SHEL-1002
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
1825 University Blvd.
Birmingham, AL 35294-2182

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Department of Neurobiology

School of Medicine

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Lucas Pozzo-Miller, PhD