Department of Neuroscience

Research Abstract

Since its inception, Neuroscience has focused on neurons as the single most relevant cellular component of the nervous system for understanding its inner workings. Yet, parts of the mammalian brain are only comprised of 10-20% of neurons. Our research explores the role played by the remaining 80-90% of “non-neuronal” cells, called glial cells, in brain function. We focus on astrocytes, a sub-class of glial cells that has the ability to respond to different forms of brain activity and release signaling molecules that influence neuronal function. The goal of the Papouin lab is to understand how astrocytes contribute to information processing in the brain, at the molecular scale, circuit level, and in behaving animals... read more

Selected Publications

• Smith S, Chen X, Brier L, Bumstead J, Rensing N, Epstein A, Crowley J, Bice A, Dikranian K, Ippolito J, Haigis M, Papouin T, Zhao G, Wong M, Culver JP, Bonni A (2020). Astrocyte deletion of α2-Na/K ATPase triggers episodic motor paralysis in mice via a metabolic pathway. Nat Communications. 11(1):6164.
• Nagai J., Yu X., Papouin T., Cheong E., Freeman MR., Monk KR., Hastings MH., Haydon PG., Rowitch D., Shaham S., Khakh BS. Behaviorally consequential astrocytic regulation of neural circuits (2020). Neuron. In press.
• Christian DL., Wu DY., Martin JR., Moore JR., Liu YR., Clemens AW., Nettles SA., Kirkland NM., Papouin T., Hill CA., Wozniak FD., Dougherty JD., Gabel HW. (2020). DNMT3A haplo-insufficiency results in behavioral deficits and global epigenomic dysregulation 2 shared across neurodevelopment disorders. Cell Reports. 33(8):108416.
• Manno R., Witte J., Papouin T. (2020). A modular set-up to run a large line of behavioral testing in mice in a single space. Current Protocols in Neuroscience. 93(1):e102.
• Ozawa M., Davis P., Ni J., Maguire J., Papouin T. & Reijmers L. (2020). Experience-dependent resonance in amygdalo-cortical circuits supports fear memory retrieval following extinction. Nature Communications. 11(1):4358.

For a complete list of Dr. Papouin's publications, click here.