University of British Columbia
MacVicar Lab
TheLab
Lab Staff
Katherine Rhodes, MA
Research & Network Facilitator
Master of Arts, Family Studies
Katherine is the Research Facilitator for the Leducq Foundation Project, and is responsible for managing the finances and networking components of the project. Before this project began, she worked as research coordinator in women's health after she completed her Master's degree in Family Studies at UBC.
604-827-5693
Associates
Hyun Beom Choi, PhD.
Leducq Research Associate
PhD., Experimental Medicine
I am very interested in studying the mechanisms underlying metabolic communications between neuronal and glial cells. Astrocytes are proposed to maintain brain health by providing energy substrates to neurons from their glycogen stores and from glycolysis. However, little is known about the molecular pathways responsible for metabolic coupling between different cell types in the central nervous system. Currently, I am investigating the role of astrocytes in providing an energy sustrate to neurons in an activity dependent manner.
Jeff LeDue
Research Associate
MSc, Physics
I completed my BSc in physics at Dalhousie University and pursued graduate studies at the University of Victoria working on novel wavefront sensors for Adaptive Optics at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. I transitioned from physical to biomedical science while working in the Nanoscience and Scanning Probe Microscopy group in the Physics Department at McGill University where we used combined Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy to study inter and intracellular calcium signalling in osteoblasts and osteoclasts. In my next position as Imaging Specialist for the Vision Science Core at the University of California, Berkeley, I supported the research of labs working on all aspects of vision and eye health, from the role of MyD88 in corneal barrier function to the neurobiology of the retina, with programming, data/image analysis and design and implementation of custom optical hardware.
At UBC I manage the In-vivo Imaging Core two photon microscopes in the Center for Disease Modelling and am responsible to the MacVicar lab as well as the lab of Prof. Timothy Murphy. I am currently developing custom hardware for optogenetic brain mapping using laser stimulation and voltage sensitive dye imaging
Fellows
Huili Han, PhD.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
PhD., Neuroscience
Dr. Han completed her PhD in the Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms and Academy of Learning and Memory at the Kunming Institure of Zoology. She received a Canadian Heart & Stroke Postdoctoral Fellowship, and is one of the lab's Leducq Fellows.
Dr. Han's is interested in neurobiological mechanisms of aberrant memory by using behavioral, electrophysiological and molecular biological methods.
Clare Howarth, PhD.
Leducq Post-Doctoral Fellow
PhD., Neuroscience
MSc. Physics
Dr. Howarth is one of Brian MacVicar's Leducq Fellows. She is the recipient of the 2011 Canadian Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, and is a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow.
Current Project: The role of astrocytes in the brain vascular response to neural activity
During my PhD I studied the control of the energy supply to the brain, both experimentally and theoretically. I discovered a new mechanism for the control of brain blood flow at the capillary level (Nature 443, 700) and I produced the first energy budget for an area of brain tissue that is based on the measured electrical properties of its cells. My research goals are to characterise in detail the cellular mechanisms by which neuronal activity regulates brain energy supply. This knowledge is essential to understand normal brain function, functional imaging techniques, and what occurs when the brain energy supply is cut off in disorders such as stroke.
It is critical for the maintenance of normal brain function that cerebral blood flow (CBF) is matched to neuronal metabolic demands. Neuronal activity leads to an increase in blood flow to the active area, and it is this increase which results in the signals necessary for functional imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, the mechanisms regulating CBF are only poorly understood.
The increase in blood flow results partly from neuron-arteriole signaling via a glutamate – NMDA receptor – NO – cGMP pathway. However astrocytes also regulate the blood flow through brain arterioles, as a result of astrocytic [Ca2+]i elevations which are evoked by neural activity. It has previously been observed that astrocyte [Ca2+]i elevations can lead to vasoconstriction or dilation. The mechanisms underlying these opposing effects are poorly understood, but they may reflect the release of different signalling molecules, such as 20-HETE and prostaglandins (PGE2) which lead to either vasodilation or constriction. My current project is studying the role of astrocytes in the brain vascular response to neural activity. By monitoring arteriole diameter while uncaging Ca2+ in astrocyte endfeet in hippocampal slices, I will investigate the role of astrocytes in the regulation of cerebral blood flow and compare their role with that of neuron–arteriole signalling.
Ning Zhou, PhD.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
PhD. UBC
BSc. Peking University
Dr. Zhou completed her PhD. in 2010 with Brian MacVicar and now has a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the lab. She is funded by the Taiwan Department of Health Clinical Trial and Research Centre of Excellence, where she has accepted a Professorship beginning in late 2011.
My research is focused on the cellular mechanism of spreading depression and ischemic depolarization in cerebral cortex. Spreading depression is thought to be the neural cause of migraine headaches. It is a wave that spreads throughout the gray matter at the front of which brain cells undergo profound depolarization. Understanding the mechanism of spreading depression will also help to reveal the cellular processes of ischemic cell death. My research involves the use of combined techniques, including two-photon laser scanning microscopy and electrophysiology, to discover cellular processes of different types of brain cells during spreading depression, and how this contributes to cell death during stroke.
Students
Lasse Dissing-Olesen
MSc, Biomedical Science
Lasse received his MSc from University of Southern Denmark. During his undergraduate he went on exchange at University of Miami, USA and at Cajal Institute in Madrid, Spain. He performed parts of the experiments for his master thesis at Novo Nordisk, Denmark.
He is the recipient of a Canadian Heart & Stroke Doctoral Research Award and the 2010/11 North Award (highest rated HSFC Doctoral Research applicant from BC).
My research aims to discover novel interactions and ways of communication between neurons and glia. Currently, I'm investigating the activation of the brain's immune cells; the microglia in non-pathological paradigms using acute brain slices and an arsenal of different techniques: including two-photon laser scanning microscopy, electrophysiology, and enzyme based electrodes for specific in-situ quantification of target molecules. I strongly believe that by elucidating unknown mechanisms by which neurons crosstalk with glia we will contribute significantly to an enhanced understanding of the functional role of glia in the healthy as well as the diseased brain.
Aqsa Malik
MSc, Neuroscience
BSc, Human Biology
Aqsa compeleted her Master of Science degree in the Department of Cell & Systems Biology and Collaborative Program in Neuroscience at the University of Toronto before she joined Dr. MacVicar's Lab. Currently funded by NSERC, her awarded funding includes the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Vietnamese-Canadian Community Graduate Award in Zoology, and the Helen Sawyer Hogg Graduate Award.
Rebecca Ko
BSc Pharmacology
Rebecca received her B.Sc. (Hons) in Pharmacology from the University of British Columbia. During her undergraduate degree, she trained at Merck in West Point, Pennsylvania as part of the pharmacology Co-op program. She is currently undertaking a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. Her project involves understanding the interactions between astrocytes and neurons in complex behaviours.
Ravi Rungta
MSc in Progress, Neuroscience
BSc.,Pshysiology
Ravi was awarded a CIHR Graduate Award in 2010 and is a Leducq Trainee.
My area of research interest is synaptic and non-synaptic control of neuronal excitability. My projects include investigating a synaptic role for pannexin hemichannels, which our lab has shown opens during both stroke and epilepsy. I am also looking into mechanisms for the uptake and release of adenosine, which inhibits transmitter release via A1 receptors.
Zachary Stansfield
BSc, Psychology
In 2010, I completed my BSc in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience from the University of Guelph. During 2008 I held an NSERC USRA in Vision Science in the laboratory of Dr. Allison Sekuler at McMaster University where I conducted research on the physiological and psychological correlates of image processing. Throughout the rest of my undergraduate studies I conducted research in a number of laboratories on both the cognitive and cellular bases of memory and memory dysfunction.
My research interests lie at the intersection between physiology and behaviour. In particular, I am intrigued by the cellular correlates of memory and how these cellular events are expressed behaviourally. In addition, I am also interested in exploring the underlying physiological abnormalities associated with pathologies such as stroke, MS and neurodegeneration.
Past research has shown that neuroglial metabolic coupling is intrinsic to brain function in vivo, particularly for glutamate and energy metabolism. My current research focuses on mechanisms of metabolic coupling between astrocytes and neurons during normal synaptic activity and conditions of abnormal cellular stress. More specifically, my research aims to explore the role of energy metabolism in basic processes associated with ischemic stroke and models of plasticity such as long term potentiation.
Jingfei Zhang
PhD.Candidate
BSc.
Chronic activation of microglia is thought to be mediated in several pathological process. Microglias can be activated by harmful reagent such as lipopolysccharide (LPS) and beta amyloid. The release of cytokines from activated microglia are potential to generate synaptic disruption and neurodegeneration, leading to sickness behavior, memory deficits, and cognitive disfunctions.
Currently, I am in the process of doing field recording on hippocampal slices to study the mechanism of LPS induced cognitive deficits. Whole cell recording and behavior experiments will be involved in my study in the near future. My interests are also in the microglia based link among different physical stress such as hypoxia and inflamation.
