Gina G Turrigiano

Professor of Biology

Departments/Programs

Biology
Health: Science, Society, and Policy
Volen National Center for Complex Systems

Degrees

University of California, San Diego, Ph.D.
Reed College, B.A.

Expertise

Gina Turrigiano studies mechanisms of homeostatic synaptic plasticity and the role of these stabilizing mechanisms in the development and function of the cortex. Her work has been instrumental in demonstrating the existing of "self-tuning" mechanisms that allow neurons and circuits to adjust their excitability to prevent states of hyper- or hypoexcitability that underlie brain disorders such as epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders.

Profile

Gina Turrigiano is a full professor in the Dept. of Biology, the Volen Center for Complex Systems, and the Center for Behavioral Genomics at Brandeis.She has received numerous awards for her research including a Sloan Foundation fellowship, a MacArthur foundation "genius" award, McKnight Foundation Technological Innovation and Neurobiology of Disease awards, an NIH director’s pioneer award, and the HFSP Nakasone Award. she is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her scientific interests include mechanisms of synaptic and intrinsic plasticity and the experience-dependent rewiring of neocortical microcircuitry. Webpage

Courses Taught

NBIO	140b	Principles of Neuroscience
NBIO	145b	Systems Neuroscience
NBIO	148b	Cellular Mechanisms of Neuronal Excitability and Plasticity

Awards and Honors

Member, National Academy of Sciences (2013)

Election to American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012)

HSFP NAKASONE AWARD (2012)

McKnight Technological Development in Neuroscience Award (2007 - 2009)

NIH Directors Pioneer Award (2007 - 2012)

Heller Distinguished Lecturer, Hebrew University (2006)

McKnight Neurobiology of Disease Award (2004 - 2008)

MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2000 - 2005)

1st Alberta Goothardt Strage and Henry Strage Award for Aspiring Young Science Faculty (1999)

National Institutes of Health Career Development Award (1996 - 2001)

Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1996 - 1997)

Whitehall Foundation Research Award (1995 - 1999)

National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow (1990 - 1992)

Phi Beta Kappa (1984)

Regent's Fellowship, UCSD (1984 - 1985)

Scholarship

Nahmani M, Turrigiano GG. "Deprivation-induced strengthening of presynaptic and postsynaptic inhibitory transmission in Layer 4 of visual cortex during the critical period." J Neurosci 34. (2014): 2671-82.

Hengen, Lambo, Van Hooser, Katz, and Turrigiano. "Firing rate homeostasis in visual cortex of freely behaving rodents.." Neuron 80. (2013): 335-42.

Lambo ME, Turrigiano, Gina G. "Synaptic and Intrinsic Homeostatic Mechanisms Cooperate to Increase L2/3 Pyramidal Neuron Excitability During a Late Phase of Critical Period Plasticity." Journal of Neuroscience 33. (2013): 8810-8819.

Lefort S, Gray AC, Turrigiano GG. "Long-term inhibitory plasticity in vlsual cortical layer 4 switches sign at the opening of the critical period.." Proc Nat Acad Sci 110(47). (2013): E4540-7.

Loebrich S, Djukic B, Tong ZJ, Cottrell JR, Turrigiano GG, and Nedivi E. "Regulation of glutamate receptor internalization by the spine cytoskeleton is mediated by its PKA-dependent association with CPG2." Proc Nat Acad Sci 110(47). (2013): E4548-56.

Taft CE and Turrigiano GG. "PSD-95 promotes the stabilization of young synaptic contacts." Philo. Trans Royal Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 369. (2013): 20130134.

Tatavarty V, Sun Q, and Turrigiano, G.G.. "How to Scale Down Postsynaptic Strength." J Neurosci 33. (2013): 13179-89.

Blackman MP, Nelson SB, Turrigiano, Gina G. "A Critical and Cell-Autonomous Role for MeCP2 in Synaptic Scaling Up." Journal of Neuroscience 32. 39 (2012): 13529-36.

Nataraj K. and Turrigiano, G. "Regional and Temporal Specificity of Intrinsic Plasticity Mechanisms in Rodent Primary Visual Cortex.." J Neurosci 31. (2012): 17932-40.

Turrigiano, Gina G. "Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity: Global and Local Mechanisms for Stabilizing Neuronal Function.." Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 1;4(1):a005736 4. (2012).

Sun, Q and Turrigiano, Gina G. "Distinct roles for PSD-95 and PSD-93 in synaptic scaling up and down." J Neurosci 31. (2011): :6800-6808.

Turrigiano, Gina G. "Too many cooks? Intrinsic and synaptic homeostatic plasticity in neocortical circuit function.." Ann Rev Neurosci 34. (2011): 89-103.

Ehlers M, Turrigiano, Gina G. "Signaling Mechanisms." Curr. Opin. Neurobiol,19:253-256 (2010).

Maffei A., Lambo M., and Turrigiano, Gina G. "Critical period for inhibitory plasticity in binocular visual cortex." J Neurosci 30:3304-3309 (2010).

Nataraj, K., Le Roux, N., Nahmani, M., Lefort S, and Turrigiano, G.G. "Visual deprivation during a critical period selectively suppresses L5 pyramidal neuron excitability by modulating the induction of intrinsic plasticity." Neuron 68. (2010): 750-762.

Steinmetz, C, and Turrigiano, Gina G. "Tumor necrosis factor-alpha signaling maintains the ability of cortical synapses to express synaptic scaling.." J Neurosci 30. (2010): 14685-90.

Bracken, B. and Turrigiano, G. "Experience-dependent regulation of TrkB isoforms in rodent visual cortex." Dev. Neurobiol 69. (2009): 267-278.

Gainey M., Hurvitz-Wolff J., Lambo, M., and Turrigiano G.G.. "Synaptic scaling in neocortical neurons requires the GluR2 subunit of the AMPA receptor." J Neurosci 29:6479-6489 (2009).

Ibata, K., Sun, Q., and Turrigiano, Gina G. "Rapid synaptic scaling induced by changes in postsynaptic firing." Neuron 57. (2008): 819-826.

Maffei, A, and Turrigiano, Gina G. "Multiple modes of network homeostasis in visual cortical layer 2/3." J Neurosci 28. (2008): 4377-4384.

Pratt, K. G., Taft, C. E., Burbea, M., Turrigiano, G. G.. "Dynamics underlying synaptic gain between pairs of cortical pyramidal neurons." Dev Neurobiol 68. 2 (2008): 143-51.

Turrigiano, Gina G. "The self-tuning neuron: synaptic scaling of excitatory synapses." Cell 135. (2008): 422-435.

Giorgi, Yeo, Stone, Katz, Turrigiano, and Moore. "The EJC factor eIF4AIII modulates synaptic strength and neuronal protein expression." Cell 130. (2007): 179-191.

Sjostrom, P. J., Turrigiano, G. G., Nelson, S. B.. "Multiple forms of long-term plasticity at unitary neocortical layer 5 synapses." Neuropharmacology 52. 1 (2007): 176-84.

Turrigiano, Gina G. "Homeostatic signaling: the positive side of negative feedback." Current Opinion in Neurobiology 17. (2007): 318-324.

Maffei, A., Nataraj, K., Nelson, S. B., Turrigiano, G. G.. "Potentiation of cortical inhibition by visual deprivation." Nature 443. 7107 (2006): 81-4.

Turrigiano, G. G.. "More than a sidekick: glia and homeostatic synaptic plasticity." Trends Mol Med 12. 10 (2006): 458-60.

Turrigiano, G.. "Maintaining your youthful spontaneity: microcircuit homeostasis in the embryonic spinal cord." Neuron 49. 4 (2006): 481-3.

Wierenga, C. J., Walsh, M. F., Turrigiano, G. G.. "Temporal regulation of the expression locus of homeostatic plasticity." J Neurophysiol 96. 4 (2006): 2127-33.