Renden Lab

Mission

Using electrophysiology and fluorescent imaging approaches to understand the energetic needs of presynaptic function and how these energetic demands change with activity, age and disease.

Key areas of focus

  • Studying the mechanisms that permit rapid and sustained synaptic transmission in the mouse brain.
  • Understanding the maintenance, distribution and consumption of energy (ATP) during the development of the calyx synapse, and how these pathways may break down due to aging and/or neurodegenerative disease.
  • Facilitating rapid hypothesis testing by using standard primary neuronal cultures in low glucose conditions to simulate what is known to happen in the intact brain.
  • Utilizing a ratiometric probe (pHusion) to visualize pH changes during synaptic activity.

Lab team

Robert Renden, Ph.D., associate professor and director in the Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology (CMPP) Graduate Program, seeks to understand the movement of synaptic vesicles within the presynaptic terminal. The Renden Lab uses advanced technologies to study how activity, age and disease affects the energetic demands of presynaptic function. The Lab also has an active engagement in training future scientists in cell and molecular neuroscience techniques at all levels of study.

  • Robert Renden, Ph.D.: Principal Investigator
  • Sarpras Swain, Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Fellow

Notable research findings

  • Discovered that under moderately strenuous stimulation, the calyx synapse is largely able to utilize either glycolysis or mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to maintain the energy needed for synaptic transmission.
  • Hypothesized that dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) has multiple roles at the presynaptic terminal: modulating mitochondrial health, as well as mediating synaptic vesicle retrieval and biogenesis.
  • Growing neurons in low (5mM) glucose media provides conditions where their respiration more closely mimics what is seen in vivo.

Equipment, technology and techniques

  • Three electrophysiology stations set up for whole cell recordings

Active grants and research projects

  1. Dynamin-related protein 1 and mitochondrial fission adapters regulate presynaptic function.
    • Award: 1R01NS119980
    • Funding organization: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) - National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMH)