Christian Tardif

EMAIL:

POSITION:

Ph.D. student in Biophotonics (http://www.biophotonique.ulaval.ca), Université Laval (http://www.ulaval.ca)

ACADEMIA:

M.Sc. in Neurobiology Faculty of Medicine (http://www.fmed.ulaval.ca), Université Laval (http://www.ulaval.ca)

B.Sc. in Engineering Physics Physics Dep. (http://www.phy.ulaval.ca/), Université Laval (http://www.ulaval.ca)

D.E.C. in Physics Technology, Cégep de La Pocatière (http://www.cegeplapocatiere.qc.ca)

ADVISORS:

Paul De Koninck (http://www.greenspine.ca)

Daniel Côté (http://dcclab.ca)

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Study of spatio-temporal dynamics of CaMKII and partners, with advanced microscopy techniques like:

Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STED_microscopy))

Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescence_recovery_after_photobleaching))

Fluorescence Lost After Photo-Activation (FLAPA)

Research Summary

In this biophotonic project, we will use a super resolution microscope, based on Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED), to study the interaction of CaMKII during synaptic activity. Such a microscope will enable us to reach beyond the resolution limits, hereby, revealing protein localization and movements inside the cell as well as on the membrane.

The first step of that project is to build the microscope that should allow us to take two color images of fixed cells and to do live imaging of cultured cells.

The second step will be to study the interaction of CaMKII with the microtubular structure and its partners, like the MAPs, the kinesins and the cargos. We will also focus on the interaction of CaMKII with the NMDA receptor and other PSD proteins such as AMPA, Actin, PSD95, etc., in the synapses.

Finally, we will evaluate the potential presence of CaMKII nano-domain of interaction inside synapses or dendrites, near the endoplasmic reticulum, associated with the PSD or the endosomes or even sub synaptic dendritic domain.

Links

Personal Web Page (http://www.greenspine.ca/christian/)