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Faculty Fidel Santamaria, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Researcher, Duke University Medical Center, 2001-2006 Research Interests My long term goals are to understand the biophysical substrates of neuronal dendritic computation. For that purpose, since January 2007, I have been setting up a computational and experimental lab at UTSA that focuses on integrating electrophysiological, imaging, and structural observations of neurons into detailed biophysical models. In the past, I have used a wide set of experimental techniques, such as whole cell recordings and confocal/2-photon microscopy in vitro, as well as extracellular recordings in vivo. My modeling work has spanned from detailed morphological and physiological models of the cerebellar cortex to Monte Carlo simulations of molecular diffusion in spines and dendrites using massive parallel computers. Although the fundamental concepts that I study are applicable to all neurons I have done most of my work in the cerebellum. This part of the brain is a fascinating area to study, not only because of the biophysics of dendritic integration, but also due to its involvement in sensory acquisition, motor learning, disease, and higher cognitive functions. The very regular structure of the cerebellar cortex allows us to ask questions about the computational power of this network applied to different tasks and problems using in vivo and in vitro techniques. For these reasons my lab is initially using the cerebellum as a model system. However, we will actively seek the extension of our findings into other areas of the nervous system. If you are interested in rotating in my lab drop me a line at Fidel.Santamaria@utsa.edu. Recent Publications F. Santamaria and S. Ragavachari. A biophysical model of the post-synaptic density (in preparation). F. Santamaria, G. J. Augustine. Anomalous diffusion in Hippocampal pyramidal and Purkinje cells caused by spines and intracellular organelles. (in preparation). K. Tanaka, L. Kirough, F. Santamaria, T. Doi, M. Kawato, G. Ellis-Davies, G. J. Augustine. A dynamic calcium threshold for cerebellar long-term synaptic depression (submitted to Neuron). F. Santamaria, P. Tripp and J. M. Bower. Molecular interneuron feed forward inhibition controls the spread of granule cell activity in the cerebellar cortex. J Neurophysiol 97: 248-263, 2007. F. Santamaria, S. Wils, E. De Schutter, G. J. Augustine. Anomalous diffusion in Purkinje cell dendrites caused by spines. Neuron 52(4):635-648 (2006). F. Santamaria and J. M. Bower. Background synaptic activity modulates the response of a modeled Purkinje cell to paired afferent input. J Neurophysiol 93: 237-250 (2005). G. J. Augustine, F. Santamaria, K. Yamamoto. Local calcium signaling in neurons. Neuron 20(2):331-346, October 2003. F. Santamaria, D. Jaeger, E. De Schutter and J. M. Bower. Modulatory effects of parallel fibers and molecular layer interneuron synaptic activity on the Purkinje cell responses to ascending segment input: A modeling study. J. of Comp. Neurosc., 13(3):217-35, November 2002. O. D. Mocanu, J. Oliver, F. Santamaria and J. M. Bower. Branching point effects on the passive properties of the cerebellar granule cell. Neurocomputing 32-33:207-212, 2000. P. Marsalek and F. Santamaria. Investigating spike backpropagation induced Ca2+ influx in models of hippocampal and cortical pyramidal neurons. BioSystems 48:147-156, 1998.
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