Tara Keck

Last updated
Tara Keck
Born (1978-11-26) November 26, 1978 (age 45)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.
Alma mater Harvard University
Boston University
Known forSynaptic plasticity in vivo
Scientific career
Fields
  • Neuroscience
  • Physiology
  • Pharmacology
InstitutionsProfessor of Neuroscience at University College London
Website iris.ucl.ac.uk

Tara Keck (born November 26, 1978, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American-British neuroscientist and Professor of Neuroscience and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, at University College London working in the Department of Neuroscience, Physiology, and Pharmacology. She is the Vice-Dean International for the Faculty of Life Sciences. [1] [2] She studies experience-dependent synaptic plasticity, its effect on behaviour [3] and how it changes during ageing and age-related diseases. [4] She has worked in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund on approaches for healthy ageing. [5] [6] Her recent work has focused on loneliness in older people, with a focus on gender. [7] [8] [9] [10] She was named a UNFPA Generations and Gender Fellow in 2022. [11]

Contents

Education

Professor Keck attended Harvard University from 1997 to 2001, majoring in bioengineering and then earned a PhD in biomedical engineering from Boston University in 2005, working with John White. [12] She grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania and attended Fairview High School. [13]

Career

Professor Keck completed her postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Munich, Germany with Tobias Bonhoeffer and Mark Hübener. [14] She received an MRC Career Development Fellowship from the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) in 2010 [15] and subsequently started her own lab at King's College London in the MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology. [16] In 2014, she moved her lab to University College London. [17] In 2018, she was awarded a Senior Research Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust. [18] Professor Keck's work focuses on different forms of synaptic plasticity in the intact brain, with a focus on homeostatic plasticity and changes in plasticity during ageing and age-related diseases. [4] Her work has demonstrated that homeostatic mechanisms in vivo may be implemented at a network level, rather than a single cell level. [19] [20] [21] [22] She is a recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and the Wekerle Foundation Award [23] , and was a finalist for the Max Planck Society Neuroscience Research Award.

Related Research Articles

In neuroscience, synaptic plasticity is the ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time, in response to increases or decreases in their activity. Since memories are postulated to be represented by vastly interconnected neural circuits in the brain, synaptic plasticity is one of the important neurochemical foundations of learning and memory.

In neurophysiology, long-term depression (LTD) is an activity-dependent reduction in the efficacy of neuronal synapses lasting hours or longer following a long patterned stimulus. LTD occurs in many areas of the CNS with varying mechanisms depending upon brain region and developmental progress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrel cortex</span> Region of the somatosensory cortex in some rodents and other species

The barrel cortex is a region of the somatosensory cortex that is identifiable in some species of rodents and species of at least two other orders and contains the barrel field. The 'barrels' of the barrel field are regions within cortical layer IV that are visibly darker when stained to reveal the presence of cytochrome c oxidase and are separated from each other by lighter areas called septa. These dark-staining regions are a major target for somatosensory inputs from the thalamus, and each barrel corresponds to a region of the body. Due to this distinctive cellular structure, organisation, and functional significance, the barrel cortex is a useful tool to understand cortical processing and has played an important role in neuroscience. The majority of what is known about corticothalamic processing comes from studying the barrel cortex, and researchers have intensively studied the barrel cortex as a model of neocortical column.

In neuroscience, homeostatic plasticity refers to the capacity of neurons to regulate their own excitability relative to network activity. The term homeostatic plasticity derives from two opposing concepts: 'homeostatic' and plasticity, thus homeostatic plasticity means "staying the same through change".

A cultured neuronal network is a cell culture of neurons that is used as a model to study the central nervous system, especially the brain. Often, cultured neuronal networks are connected to an input/output device such as a multi-electrode array (MEA), thus allowing two-way communication between the researcher and the network. This model has proved to be an invaluable tool to scientists studying the underlying principles behind neuronal learning, memory, plasticity, connectivity, and information processing.

Tobias Bonhoeffer is a German-American neurobiologist. He is director of the department Synapses – Circuits – Plasticity and current managing director at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence in Martinsried near Munich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonsynaptic plasticity</span> Form of neuroplasticity

Nonsynaptic plasticity is a form of neuroplasticity that involves modification of ion channel function in the axon, dendrites, and cell body that results in specific changes in the integration of excitatory postsynaptic potentials and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials. Nonsynaptic plasticity is a modification of the intrinsic excitability of the neuron. It interacts with synaptic plasticity, but it is considered a separate entity from synaptic plasticity. Intrinsic modification of the electrical properties of neurons plays a role in many aspects of plasticity from homeostatic plasticity to learning and memory itself. Nonsynaptic plasticity affects synaptic integration, subthreshold propagation, spike generation, and other fundamental mechanisms of neurons at the cellular level. These individual neuronal alterations can result in changes in higher brain function, especially learning and memory. However, as an emerging field in neuroscience, much of the knowledge about nonsynaptic plasticity is uncertain and still requires further investigation to better define its role in brain function and behavior.

Developmental plasticity is a general term referring to changes in neural connections during development as a result of environmental interactions as well as neural changes induced by learning. Much like neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity, developmental plasticity is specific to the change in neurons and synaptic connections as a consequence of developmental processes. A child creates most of these connections from birth to early childhood. There are three primary methods by which this may occur as the brain develops, but critical periods determine when lasting changes may form. Developmental plasticity may also be used in place of the term phenotypic plasticity when an organism in an embryonic or larval stage can alter its phenotype based on environmental factors. However, a main difference between the two is that phenotypic plasticity experienced during adulthood can be reversible, whereas traits that are considered developmentally plastic set foundations during early development that remain throughout the life of the organism.

Timothy Vivian Pelham Bliss FRS is a British neuroscientist. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, and a group leader emeritus at the Francis Crick Institute, London.

Memory allocation is a process that determines which specific synapses and neurons in a neural network will store a given memory. Although multiple neurons can receive a stimulus, only a subset of the neurons will induce the necessary plasticity for memory encoding. The selection of this subset of neurons is termed neuronal allocation. Similarly, multiple synapses can be activated by a given set of inputs, but specific mechanisms determine which synapses actually go on to encode the memory, and this process is referred to as synaptic allocation. Memory allocation was first discovered in the lateral amygdala by Sheena Josselyn and colleagues in Alcino J. Silva's laboratory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heterosynaptic plasticity</span>

Synaptic plasticity refers to a chemical synapse's ability to undergo changes in strength. Synaptic plasticity is typically input-specific, meaning that the activity in a particular neuron alters the efficacy of a synaptic connection between that neuron and its target. However, in the case of heterosynaptic plasticity, the activity of a particular neuron leads to input unspecific changes in the strength of synaptic connections from other unactivated neurons. A number of distinct forms of heterosynaptic plasticity have been found in a variety of brain regions and organisms. These different forms of heterosynaptic plasticity contribute to a variety of neural processes including associative learning, the development of neural circuits, and homeostasis of synaptic input.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Hausser</span>

Michael A. Häusser FRS FMedSci is professor of Neuroscience, based in the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at University College London (UCL).

Alexandru Radu Aricescu, known by his middle name, is a Romanian-British molecular neuroscientist based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge; Prior to 2017, he worked at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford; in 2016 the University awarded him the title of Professor of Molecular Neuroscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angus Silver</span> English neuroscientist

Robin Angus Silver is Professor of Neuroscience and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at University College London. His laboratory studies neurotransmission and artificial neural networks by combining in vitro and in vivo experimental approaches with quantitative analysis and computational models developed in silico.

Erin Margaret Schuman, born May 15, 1963, in California, US, is a neurobiologist who studies neuronal synapses. She is currently a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research.

Camilla Bellone is an Italian neuroscientist and assistant professor in the Department of Basic Neuroscience at the University of Geneva, in Switzerland. Bellone's laboratory explores the molecular mechanisms and neural circuits underlying social behavior and probes how defects at the molecular and circuit level give rise to psychiatric disease states such as Autism Spectrum Disorders. 

Sonja Hofer is a German neuroscientist studying the neural basis of sensory perception and sensory-guided decision-making at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour. Her research focuses on how the brain processes visual information, how neural networks are shaped by experience and learning, and how they integrate visual signals with other information in order to interpret the outside world and guide behaviour. She received her undergraduate degree from the Technical University of Munich, her PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried, Germany, and completed a post doctorate at the University College London. After holding an Assistant Professorship at the Biozentrum University of Basel in Switzerland for five years, she now is a group leader and Professor at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour since 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yukiko Goda</span> Japanese molecular biologist and academic

Yukiko Goda is a Japanese molecular biologist who is a professor and group leader at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Her research considers neural communication through synapses. She was elected a Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Mrsic-Flogel</span> Experimental neuroscientist

Tom Mrsic-Flogel is an experimental neuroscientist. He is Director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre and a Professor in Neuroscience at University College London (UCL). Mrsic-Flogel is a founding member of the International Brain Laboratory.

J. Troy Littleton is an American neuroscientist and Menicon Professor of Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Departments of Biology and Brain and Cognitive Sciences. He is also the co-director of MIT's Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Graduate Program.

References

  1. ↑ UCL (2018-01-08). "People". UCL Faculty of Life Sciences. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  2. ↑ UCL (2017-06-29). "Contact us". UCL Global. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  3. ↑ "keck-tara". www.ucl.ac.uk. 22 June 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Failures of neuronal homeostasis in Alzheimer's Disease and ageing | British Council". www.britishcouncil.org.il. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  5. ↑ "Healthy Ageing Centres are important for older people in Bosnia and Herzegovina". UNFPA Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  6. ↑ "Older people regularly visiting healthy ageing centres live healthier, longer lives, new study finds". UNFPA Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  7. ↑ "Providing support for day-to-day tasks most effective in reducing loneliness in older people, new UNFPA study finds". UNFPA EECA. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  8. ↑ UCL (28 January 2022). "Support for day-to-day tasks could reduce loneliness in older people". UCL News. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  9. ↑ "Support for day-to-day tasks could reducing loneliness in older people". Mirage News. 2022-01-28. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  10. ↑ London, University College. "Support for day-to-day tasks could reduce loneliness in older people". medicalxpress.com. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  11. ↑ "Our Board". HARVARD W3D. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  12. ↑ "Lab Alumni". Neuronal Dynamics Lab - John A. White. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  13. ↑ "Roaring into Tomorrow". www.fairviewschools.org.
  14. ↑ "Bonhoeffer Lab Alumni".
  15. ↑ "MRC Career Development Award - Research Portal, King's College, London". kclpure.kcl.ac.uk.
  16. ↑ "Tara Keck - Research Portal, King's College, London". kclpure.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  17. ↑ UCL (2019-02-08). "keck-tara". UCL Division of Biosciences. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  18. ↑ "Inhibitory mechanisms of homeostatic plasticity in vivo | Wellcome". wellcome.org. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  19. ↑ Barnes, Samuel J.; Sammons, Rosanna P.; Jacobsen, R. Irene; Mackie, Jennifer; Keller, Georg B.; Keck, Tara (2015-06-03). "Subnetwork-Specific Homeostatic Plasticity in Mouse Visual Cortex In Vivo". Neuron. 86 (5): 1290–1303. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.05.010. ISSN   1097-4199. PMC   4460189 . PMID   26050045.
  20. ↑ Barnes, Samuel J.; Franzoni, Eleonora; Jacobsen, R. Irene; Erdelyi, Ferenc; Szabo, Gabor; Clopath, Claudia; Keller, Georg B.; Keck, Tara (2017-11-15). "Deprivation-Induced Homeostatic Spine Scaling In Vivo Is Localized to Dendritic Branches that Have Undergone Recent Spine Loss". Neuron. 96 (4): 871–882.e5. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2017.09.052. ISSN   1097-4199. PMC   5697914 . PMID   29107520.
  21. ↑ Barnes, Samuel J; Keller, Georg B; Keck, Tara (2022-12-14). Goda, Yukiko; Chen, Lu; Goda, Yukiko; Hengen, Keith B (eds.). "Homeostatic regulation through strengthening of neuronal network-correlated synaptic inputs". eLife. 11: e81958. doi: 10.7554/eLife.81958 . ISSN   2050-084X. PMC   9803349 . PMID   36515269. S2CID   251474035.
  22. ↑ Barnes, Samuel J; Keller, Georg B; Keck, Tara (2022-12-14). Goda, Yukiko; Chen, Lu; Goda, Yukiko; Hengen, Keith B (eds.). "Homeostatic regulation through strengthening of neuronal network-correlated synaptic inputs". eLife. 11: e81958. doi: 10.7554/eLife.81958 . ISSN   2050-084X. PMC   9803349 . PMID   36515269.
  23. ↑ "Tara Keck and Tatiana Tomasi receive Outstanding Paper Award". www.neuro.mpg.de. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
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