RESEARCH SUMMARY

We study the nuclear components of activity- and Ca²⁺-dependent transcriptional responses in neurons and immune cells to:

• understand the molecular determinants of downstream events responsible for plastic changes in synaptic function,
• to regulate the output of physiological functions including learning and memory, pain sensitization and immune response, and
• to develop tools to intervene in pathological processes during neurodegeneration.

We foresee the Ca²⁺-dependent transcriptional repressor DREAM as an active/central component of several nucleoprotein complexes that mediate specifically the various transcriptional cascades triggered by membrane depolarization in neurons or T cell receptor activation in lymphocytes.

Moreover, we investigate other Ca²⁺-dependent properties of the DREAM protein outside the nucleus that are mediated through specific protein-protein interactions with membrane receptors and other key components of major signalling cascades. These interactions are essential to regulate the biological activity of different cell types, including the development of follicular cells in the thyroid gland and the acrosome reaction in sperm cells.