Summary
My group investigates why the aged brain is vulnerable to neurodegeneration and asks whether we can alleviate this susceptibility. We focus on the role of key homeostatic neural-circuit plasticity processes thought to be critical for healthy network function.
After graduating from Oxford University in 2006 I was awarded an MRC Capacity building Ph.D. studentship at King’s College London to investigate synaptic connection loss and neural plasticity in the cortex. I then completed a post-doc investigating how homeostatic plasticity regulates neural activity in the adult visual cortex at University College London. In October 2015, I won the Edmond J Safra Fellowship which supports early career researchers during their transition to independence. In April 2018 I was awarded a UK Dementia Research Institute Fellowship and became a lecturer in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London. Here, I use a combination of in vivo voltage and calcium imaging, bioelectronics and electrophysiology to investigate the neural-circuit plasticity factors that make the aged brain susceptible to neurodegeneration and ultimately dementia.
Publications
Journals
Radulescu CI, Doostdar N, Zabouri N, et al. , 2023, Age-related dysregulation of homeostatic control in neuronal microcircuits, Nature Neuroscience, Vol:26, ISSN:1097-6256, Pages:2158-2170
Rueda-Carrasco J, Sokolova D, Lee S-E, et al. , 2023, Microglia-synapse engulfment via PtdSer-TREM2 ameliorates neuronal hyperactivity in Alzheimer's disease models, Embo Journal, Vol:42, ISSN:0261-4189
Nutma E, Fancy N, Weinert M, et al. , 2023, Translocator protein is a marker of activated microglia in rodent models but not human neurodegenerative diseases, Nature Communications, Vol:14, ISSN:2041-1723, Pages:1-25
Melgosa-Ecenarro L, Doostdar N, Radulescu CI, et al. , 2023, Pinpointing the locus of GABAergic vulnerability in Alzheimer?s disease, Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, Vol:139, ISSN:1084-9521, Pages:35-54
Barnes SJ, Keller GB, Keck T, 2022, Homeostatic regulation through strengthening of neuronal network-correlated synaptic inputs, Elife, Vol:11, ISSN:2050-084X