项目介绍

2026年10月23日

Are you an enthusiastic young scientist with a Master’s degree in a neuroscience-related field? And would you like to figure out how plasticity at multiple synapses is coordinated within dendrites? Then you have a part to play as a PhD candidate in our research team. Put your ideas to the test at our green campus and push your boundaries in an internationally friendly environment.

Synaptic plasticity is considered to be the foundation of brain adaptation and learning. Multiple signalling pathways have been identified that are underlying synaptic plasticity of single synapses, depending on induction protocol and cell type. However, linking these molecular pathways to behavioural adaptation and learning turned out to be difficult. Under physiological conditions in vivo, multiple synapses will be activated simultaneously and plasticity pathways will inherently interfere.

In this PhD project, we will use a combination of single cell electrophysiology, advanced microscopy techniques and novel biosensors to examine molecular pathways underlying multisynaptic plasticity in dendrites of hippocampal CA1 neurons in brain slices.

Research in the Wierenga lab focuses on the formation and plasticity of inhibitory synapses and the interactions between inhibitory and excitatory synapses within dendrites. In this project, you will use two-photon glutamate uncaging in hippocampal slices to induce synaptic plasticity at multiple spines and you will exploit novel biosensors to study interactions between molecular pathways within the dendrite. Furthermore, you will explore how these interactions are affected by neuromodulators. Pilot experiments with four spine stimulation have shown that large calcium signals emerge within the dendritic shaft that continue even after the stimulation has ended, and that there are at least two modes of spine growth that seem to be regulated independently.

The research has the following objectives:

1. To determine how calcium release from internal stores contributes to dendritic calcium signals.
2. To investigate how PKA and PKC activity interacts with calcium signals.
3. To assess if these interactions can explain the two modes of spine growth.
4. To examine when and where molecular signalling molecules (aka retrograde messengers) are produced.

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Your teaching load may be up to 10% of your working time.

Would you like to learn more about what it’s like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate.