Staff profile

Dopamine (DA) is a critical neurotransmitter involved in several essential functions throughout the nervous system, including learning and memory. Integral to dopamine homeostasis and neurotransmission is the dopamine transporter (DAT), a transmembrane solute carrier which is responsible for DA clearance from the synaptic cleft. By actively driving DA re-uptake into pre-synaptic neurons, DAT thereby modulates both spatial and temporal DA dynamics, including gating DA spillover by regulating the concentration and diffusion of DA in extracellular space.

I utilise the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to understand how DAT modulates olfactory learning and memory. Unexpected DAT expression has been observed in a subset of memory-relevant Kenyon cells (KCs) in the mushroom body (MB) – revealing a novel cell type expressing DAT. We believe that DAT expressed by these KCs strongly localises in a specific compartment of the MB called b’2, which is one of the few MB compartments receiving input from functionally distinct dopaminergic neurons involved in state-specific memory expressions. Using neurogenetic and behavioural approaches, I am addressing the functional role of DAT, which may function to prevent DA spillover in b’2.

• Dopamine Biology
• Evolutionary Genetics
• Gene Expression
• Learning and Memory Circuits
• Neurogenetics