| Staff Details | ||||
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| Personal Information | ||
| Name | Ramaswami, Mani | |
| Main Department | Genetics | |
| College Title | Professor of Neurogenetics | |
| mani.ramaswami@tcd.ie | ||
| College Tel | +353 1 896 8400 | |
| Web | http://people.tcd.ie/ramaswam | |
| Notes | Professor (Adjunct), Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Division of Neurobiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.
Professor (Adjunct), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Department of Biological Sciences, Mumbai, India 400005 |
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| Awards and Honours | |
| Award | Date |
| Professorial Fellowship, Trinity College Dublin. | 2009 |
| Galileo Circle Fellow, College of Science, University of Arizona. | 2005 |
| NIDA K (Career Development/ Research Leave) Award. (declined in 2008) | 2004-2010 |
| Cutting Edge Brain Research Award (CEBRA) from the NIDA. | 2002 |
| Early Tenure, University of Arizona | 2000 |
| More Awards and Honours>>> | |
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| Description of Research Interests |
| Research interests My laboratory is interested in understanding molecular and circuit mechanisms of simple learned behaviors. We use the genetic model organism Drosophila melanogaster to study fundamental synaptic mechanisms as well as mechanisms of simple olfactory memory. An obvious extension of these studies to ask how these mechanisms are affected in disease and we currently study disease models for fragile-X mental retardation and spinocerebellar ataxia. Five post-doctoral researchers and three postgraduate students in my lab use many in vivo approaches including Drosophila genetics, two-photon microscopy based live-brain imaging, electrophysiology, and a range of cell biological, behavioral & molecular techniques. Several collaborations, particularly with top research groups in India and the US, expand our work into other fields such as natural products and peptide neurotoxins. Recent advances in the lab include the following. 1. Primarily in collaboration with Veronica Rodrigues’ group in the NCBS, Bangalore, we have discovered that gene expression- and synaptic growth dependent potentiation of GABAergic neurons drives specific forms of learned olfactory behavior. 2. In collaboration with Roy Parker at the University of Arizona, we have found that that proteins and mechanisms that control translation of mRNAs in yeast, also regulate the translation of mRNAs stored in synapses. Some of these regulatory mechanisms, required for proper neuronal homeostasis/plasticity are required for miRNA function and altered in human neurological disease. |
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| Research Projects | |
| Project title | Science Foundation of Ireland Investigator |
| Summary | |
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| Type of Project | |
| Date from | 2007 |
| Date to | 2011 |
| Person Months | |
| Project title | Wellcome Trust Cellular and genetic analysis of synapse assembly and function (Project Grant) |
| Summary | Role PI |
| Funding Agency | Wellcome Trust |
| Programme | |
| Type of Project | |
| Date from | 2006 |
| Date to | 2008 |
| Person Months | |
| Project title | Dept of Biotechnology, Govt of India. Circuit mechanisms of long-term habituation |
| Summary | Role: Collaborator (PI: Veronica Rodrigues) |
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| Project title | Deep sequencing of venom duct cDNAs from Indian cone snails |
| Summary | Dept of Biotechnology, Govt of India. Role: Collaborator (PI: K.S. Krishnan) |
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| Project title | Science Foundation of Ireland Research Professor. |
| Summary | |
| Funding Agency | |
| Programme | |
| Type of Project | |
| Date from | 2005 |
| Date to | 2007 |
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| More Research Projects>>> | |
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| Publications |
| Peer Reviewed |
| Sanyal S, Jennings T, Dowse H, Ramaswami M, Conditional mutations in SERCA, the sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase, alter heart rate and rhythmicity in Drosophila, Journal of Comparative Physiology B: Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology , 176, (3), 2006, p253 - 263 Notes: [PubMed ID: 16320060] DOI |
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| Sanyal S, Consoulas C, Kuromi H, Basole A, Mukai L, Kidokoro Y, Krishnan KS, Ramaswami M, Analysis of conditional paralytic mutants in Drosophila sarco-endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase reveals novel mechanisms for regulating membrane excitability, Genetics, 169, (2), 2005, p737 - 750 DOI |
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| Menon KP, Sanyal S, Habara Y, Sanchez R, Wharton RP, Ramaswami M, Zinn K, The translational repressor Pumilio regulates presynaptic morphology and controls postsynaptic accumulation of translation factor elF-4E, Neuron, 44, (4), 2004, p663 - 676 Notes: [PubMed ID: 15541314] DOI |
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| Sanyal S, Kim SM, Ramaswami M, Retrograde regulation in the CNS: Neuron-specific interpretations of TGF-beta signaling, Neuron, 41, (6), 2004, p845 - 848 Notes: [PubMed ID: 15046717] DOI |
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| Rikhy R, Ramaswami M, Krishnan KS, A temperature-sensitive allele of Drosophila sesB reveals acute functions for the mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocase in synaptic transmission and dynamin regulation, Genetics, 165, (3), 2003, p1243 - 1253 Notes: [PubMed ID: 14668379] Url |
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| More Publications>>> | |
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