Biography
Rebola Nelson, born September 16, 1979 in Portugal, is a junior team leader at the Brain Institute. He obtained his degree in biochemistry at the University of Lisbon in 2002 and a doctorate in biology with honour and distinction at the University of Coimbra in 2008.
Training and professional education:
- Since 2017: Junior team leader at Paris Brain Institute
- 2012/2017: CR1 (research assistant, assistant professor equivalent), Unit of Dynamic Neuronal Imaging, CNRS URA 2182, Institut Pasteur (on mission of the CNRS unit UMR 5297).
- 2010/2012: CR2 (research assistant, equivalent assistant professor), CNRS UMR 5297, Bordeaux, France
- 2008/2010 CNRS 5091 Research Fellow (EMBO Fellowship), Bordeaux, France (thesis supervisor: Christophe Mulle)
- 2005/2008 CNRS 5091 Guest Investigator (Collaboration with Christophe Mulle Lab)
- 2003/2008: Doctor (Coimbra Neuroscience Centre) (Supervisor: Rodrigo Cunha)
- 2002/03 Project Sponsor (POCTI 43663/99), Coimbra Neuroscience Centre.
Research
The human brain consists of millions of neurons that communicate with each other through an even greater number of synapses.
An open question is how these neurons and all their connections give rise to most animal and human behaviour.
In the laboratory, the team is studying the cellular and network mechanisms responsible for sensory perception. Whether it is the sleepiness of a man dreaming on a commuter train or the heightened alertness of a climber performing a difficult movement, the sensations during wakefulness occur under radically different conditions, which in turn are associated with different perceptual outcomes.
A remarkable property of sensory systems is therefore to provide a flexible strategy to process related information according to context. Such flexibility in calculating incoming signals appears to be a key feature of cortical processing in the healthy brain. Indeed, a reduction in context- and adaptability-dependent sensory processing underlies many brain disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. However, the combination of circuit and cell characteristics that shape these modulations is still poorly understood. In the laboratory, the team is using a multidisciplinary approach, involving electrophysiology, brain imaging (two photons), in vivo and in vitro optogenetics, and computer modelling to understand how neural networks process sensory information and how this process is influenced by context. By working in the primary somatosensory cortex of mice, Nelson's team is trying to identify previously unnoticed cellular mechanisms that are essential for the brain to process information. His goal is also to study how these cellular mechanisms are modified or altered in the pathological brain and to eventually discover new molecular targets of potential therapeutic value.
Main publications
- Rebola N, Reva M, Kirizs T, Szoboszlay M, Lorincz A, Moneron G, Nusser Z, DiGregorio DA, Distinct Nanoscale Calcium Channel and Synaptic Vesicle Topographies Contribute to the Diversity of Synaptic Function. Neuron 2019, Neuron. 2019 Nov 20;104(4):693-710.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.08.014. Epub 2019 Sep 23
- Vergnano AM*, Rebola N*, Savtchenko L*, Casado M, Kieffer B, Rusakov D, Mulle C and Paoletti P, Zinc dynamics and action at excitatory synapses, Neuron 2014, 82(5):1101-14. *-Co-first authors
- Carta M*, Lanore F*, Rebola N*, Szabo Z, Viana Da Silva S, Lourenço J, Verraes A, Nadler A, Schultz C, Blanchet C, Mulle, C. Membrane lipids tune synaptic transmission by direct modulation of presynaptic potassium channels, Neuron. 2014, 81(4):787-99. *-Co-first authors
- Rebola N, Carta M, Lanore F, Blanchet C, Mulle C. NMDA receptor-dependent metaplasticity at hippocampal mossy fiber synapses. Nature Neurosci. 2011Jun.;14(6):691–3.
- Rebola N, Luján R, Cunha RA, Mulle C. Adenosine A2A Receptors Are Essential for Long-Term Potentiation of NMDA-EPSCs at Hippocampal Mossy Fiber Synapses. Neuron. 2008 Jan.;57(1):121–34.