The science
The mammalian nervous system is composed of billions of individual cells that communicate with one another via trillions of synaptic connections. Each synaptic connection is a highly resilient biological structure that responds to perturbations with offsetting adjustments governed by evolutionarily conserved molecular signals. These compensatory adjustments together represent a biological property known as homeostasis, a corrective and stabilizing influence over all bodily functions that is required for life.
My work explores how homeostatic synaptic plasticity at individual synapses can confer network resilience and buffer against injury and disease.
Read my published research below.
About me
I’m Peter H. Chipman, Ph.D., a neuroscientist who is seeking to understand how the nervous system responds to aging, neurodegeneration, and injury. In the lab, I primarily use electrophysiology and imaging approaches to study how synapses in the brain compensate for the impact of toxic and genetic perturbations. My aim is to identify the molecular foundations and physiological principles of effective regenerative synaptic plasticity events in order to develop strategies to promote the healing of neural circuits after injury and during the progression neurodegenerative disease.
Academic history
BSc. Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Ph.D. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Dalhousie University , Halifax, Canada
Supervisor: Dr. Victor Rafuse External Thesis Examiner: Dr. Lynn Landmesser
Post-doctoral Fellow, Laboratory for Synaptic Plasticity and Connectivity, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako-shi, Japan
Supervisor: Dr. Yukiko Goda
Associate Specialist, Department of Biochemisty and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, USA
Supervisor: Dr. Graeme Davis