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Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology

Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology Left: GFP-labeled hippocampal granule cells (green), in utero electroporated. Middle: Dendrites (arrows) and dendritic spines (inset) of cortical pyramidal neurons (red) and their 3D model. Right: NFL antibody-stained peripheral neurons in E11.5 embryos.

Defects in signaling cascades are considered to contribute to many neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, but the exact molecular mechanisms underlying the onset of these diseases are so far largely unknown. Using mouse models and primary neuron cultures, we focus on identification of genes, molecular mechanism and signaling cascades that regulate neuron polarization, axonal/dendritic growth and guidance in the developing nervous system, and their deregulation that leads to neurodevelopmental disorders as autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy or schizophrenia.

Our work focuses on:

  • the function of microtubule associated proteins of CRMP family and their isoforms in neural development
  • regulation of CRMP isoforms by prolyl isomerases during growth and guidance of axons/dendrites
  • the efect of tubulin pottranslational modifications and microtubule associated proteins on microtubule dynamics and cortical development in vitro and in vivo

Projects

Publications

Průša; J. - Taha Ayoub; A. - Chafai; Djamel Eddine - Havelka; D. - Cifra; M. Electro-opening of a microtubule lattice in silico . Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. 2021; 19(Mar 4); 1488-1496 . IF = 7.271 [ASEP] [ doi ]
Maimon; R. - Ankol; L. - Pery; T. G. - Altman; T. - Ionescu; A. - Weissová; Romana - Ostrovsky; M. - Tank; E. - Alexandra; G. - Shelestovich; N. - Opatowsky; Y. - Dori; A. - Barmada; S. - Balaštík; Martin - Perlson; E. A CRMP4-dependent retrograde axon-to-soma death signal in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis . EMBO Journal. 2021; 40(17)); e107586 . IF = 11.598 [ASEP] [ doi ]
Žiak; Jakub - Weissová; Romana - Jeřábková; Kateřina - Janíková; Martina - Maimon; R. - Petrásek; Tomáš - Pukajová; Barbora - Kleisnerová; Marie - Wang; M. - Brill; M. S. - Kašpárek; Petr - Zhou; X. - Alvarez-Bolado; G. - Sedláček; Radislav - Misgeld; T. - Stuchlík; Aleš - Perlson; E. - Balaštík; Martin . CRMP2 mediates Sema3F?dependent axon pruning and dendritic spine remodeling . EMBO REPORTS. 2020; 21(3)); e48512 . IF = 8.807 [ASEP] [ doi ]
Dudová; I. - Horáčková; K. - Hrdlička; M. - Balaštík; Martin . Can Maternal Autoantibodies Play an Etiological Role in ASD Development? . Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. 2020; 16(Jun); 1391-1398 . IF = 2.570 [ASEP] [ doi ]
Magiera, M. M. - Bodakuntla, S. - Žiak, Jakub - Lacomme, S. - Sousa, P. M. - Leboucher, S. - Hausrat, T. J. - Bosc, Ch. - Andrieux, A. - Kneussel, M. - Landry, M. - Calas, A. - Balaštík, Martin - Janke, C. Excessive tubulin polyglutamylation causes neurodegeneration and perturbs neuronal transport . EMBO Journal 2018, 37(23)), e100440 . IF = 11.227 [ASEP] [ doi ]

Article photogallery

The entire photogallery

People

  Martin Balaštík, Ph.D.
Head of the Laboratory
  Mgr. Romana Weissová
PhD Student/Deputy Head of the Laboratory
 

Ing. Djamel Eddine Chafai, Ph.D. 

Postdoctoral Fellow

 

Mgr. Barbora Pukajová

PhD Student (maternity leave)

  Mgr. Marie Kleisnerová
PhD Student (maternity leave)
 

Mgr. Peter Búran

PhD Student

 

Mgr. Michaela Rusková

PhD Student

 

MSc. Maria Jose Ruiz Estrada

PhD Student

   
 

Alumni:

Jakub Žiak, MD, Ph.D. 

postdoc, John Hopkins Uni., Baltimore, USA