Jean-Christophe Cassel. Professor, Head of LNCA 

University of Strasbourg. Website

Laboratory of Cognitive and Adaptive Neurosciences, Faculty of Psychology. CNRS

Reseach subject

Dynamics of memory functions and consolidation

Summary

All our experiences, whatever their nature, leave traces in our memory systems, thereby constructing who we are, shaping our skills, enabling adaptive responses to the constraints of our environment.

Based on a variety of animal models and human subjects, our project is constructed along three lines of questions: i) by which plasticity mechanisms does the brain conserve a lasting trace of an organism’s experiences, ii) what happens with these mechanisms over normal/pathological aging or in models of neurodegenerative diseases, and iii) how can behavioral mal-adaptations such as drug addiction be explained in neurobiological terms, and what is the specificity of their underlying mechanisms?

In rat and mice models, these questions are addressed using functional explorations going from subcellular to systems level by combining behavioral approaches and brain imaging, neurochemical, standard or state of the art molecular (epigenomic, transcriptomic), electrophysiological, opto- and pharmacogenetics techniques. In humans, these questions are addressed using a highly competitive neuropsycho/neurophysiological research platform (UMS 3489; head Pr A Dufour) to characterize longitudinally a variety of cognitive functions. In nonhuman primates, the facilities of the Primates Centre of the University of Strasbourg encompass automated modules that are used to assess the efficacy of different types of memory and attention functions.

Publications

• Loureiro M, Cholvin T, Lopez J, Merienne N, Latreche A , Cosquer B, Geiger K, Kelche C, Cassel JC, Pereira de Vasconcelos A (2012) The ventral midline thalamus (reuniens and rhomboid nuclei) contributes to the persistence of spatial memory in rats. Journal of Neuroscience 32, 9947-9959, 2012.
• Cholvin T, Loureiro M, Cassel R, Cosquer B, Geiger K, De Sa Nogueira D, Raingard H, Robelin L, Kelche C, Pereira de Vasconcelos A, Cassel JC. The ventral midline thalamus contributes to strategy shifting in a memory task requiring both prefrontal cortical and hippocampal functions. Journal of Neuroscience 33, 8772-8783, 2013.
• Chatterjee S, Mizar P, Cassel R, Neidl R, Selvi R, Mohankrishna DV, Vedamurthy BM, Schneider A, Bousiges O, Mathis C, Cassel JC, Eswaramoorthy M, Kundu TK, Boutillier AL. A novel activator of CBP/p300 acetyltransferases promotes neurogenesis and extends memory duration in adult mice. The Journal of Neuroscience 33, 10698-712, 2013.
• Pereira de Vasconcelos A, Cassel JC. The nonspecific thalamus: A place in a wedding bed for making memories last? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 54:175-96.
• Neidl R, Schneider A, Bousiges O, Majchrzak M, Barbelivien A, de Vasconcelos AP, Dorgans K, Doussau F, Loeffler JP,
  Cassel JC, Boutillier AL. Late-Life Environmental Enrichment Induces Acetylation Events and Nuclear Factor κB-Dependent Regulations in the Hippocampus of Aged Rats Showing Improved Plasticity and Learning. Journal of Neuroscience 36, 4351-4361, 2016.