Jakob von Engelhardt

Synaptic communication changes with brain development and ageing. We work on the mechanisms of neuronal communication in the adult and aged mouse brain. A main focus is the molecular and electrophysiological foundation of synaptic transmission and of information processing in neuronal networks of the central nervous system (CNS). For example, the different types of glutamate receptors (AMPA and NMDA receptors) that influence fast synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. In addition, synaptic proteins play an important role in the pathophysiology of CNS diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinsons’s disease, Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia and epilepsy.

Research website

Positions held

• Since 2017: W3 Professor, Institute of Pathophysiology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz
• 2012 - 2016: Junior group leader, DZNE & DKFZ
• 2010 - 2010: Visiting scientist, University of Bordeaux 2, Physiologie Cellulaire de la Synapse, CNRS, Bordeaux, France (Prof. Dr D. Choquet)
• 2006 - 2007: Visiting scientist, Postdoc, Vollum Institute of the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Portland, USA (Prof. Dr G. Westbrook)
• 2005: Visiting scientist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, USA (Prof. Dr Rafael Yuste)
• 2003 - 2011: Postdoc, University Hospital Heidelberg (Prof. Dr H. Monyer)
• 2000 - 2003: Resident, Neurology Department, University Hospital Heidelberg

Education

• 2014: Habilitation in Physiology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany
• 2013: Fachphysiologe (title for a specialised physiologist awarded by the German Physiological Society)
• 2001: Approbation as physician
• 2001: Doctorate (Dr. med.), Department of Internal Medicine, Philipps-University Marburg
• 1999: Medicine, Philipps-University Marburg

Selected publications by Jakob von Engelhardt

Chen X, Aslam M, Gollisch T, Allen K and von Engelhardt J (2018) CKAMP44 modulates integration of visual inputs in the lateral geniculate nucleus. Nat Commun, 9:261 Link

Farrow P*, Khodosevich K*, Sapir Y*, Schulmann A*, Aslam M, Stern-Bach Y*, Monyer H* and von Engelhardt J* (2015) Auxiliary subunits of the CKAMP family differentially modulate AMPA receptor properties. eLIFE, 4:e09693 Link

Khodosevich K*, Jacobi E*, Farrow P*, Schulmann A, Rusu A, Zhang L, Sprengel R, Monyer H and von Engelhardt J (2014) Co-expressed auxiliary subunits exhibit distinct modulatory profiles on AMPA receptor function. Neuron, 83:601–15 Link

von Engelhardt J*, Mack V*, Sprengel R, Kavenstock N, Li KW, Stern-Bach Y, Smit AB, Seeburg PH and Monyer H (2010) CKAMP44: a brain-specific protein attenuating short-term synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus. Science, 327:1518–1522 Link

von Engelhardt J, Doganci B, Jensen V, Hvalby O, Gongrich C, Taylor A, Barkus C, Sanderson DJ, Rawlins JN, Seeburg PH, Bannerman DM and Monyer H (2008) Contribution of hippocampal and extra-hippocampal NR2B-containing NMDA receptors to performance on spatial learning tasks. Neuron, 60:846–860 Link

(*indicates joint contribution)