Lab Members

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Dr. Franck Polleux – Ph.D.

Professor of Neuroscience

Dr. Franck Polleux did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, (France) where he obtained his Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 1997. He then joined the laboratory of Dr. Anirvan Ghosh at Johns Hopkins University for his post-doctoral training. In 2002, Dr Polleux was hired as an Assistant Professor in the Neuroscience Center and Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill where he became an Associate Professor in 2008. In August 2010, he joined The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

In November 2013, he was recruited as a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University to join the new Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind, Brain, Behavior Institute.

Throughout his career, Dr Polleux has focused on the identification of the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal development in the mammalian brain. More recently, his lab started studying the genetic basis of human brain evolution as well as the signaling pathways underlying synaptic loss during early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease progression.

CV • Pubmed • Google scholar • Research Gate • Mendeley

Postdocs

2016_2_16_justin_headshot-25 Justin O’Hare, Ph.D.

Justin carried out his graduate work in the lab of Nicole Calakos at Duke University Medical Center. He joined the Polleux lab in 2017 where he studies how the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria networks regulate spatiotemporal dynamics of dendritic calcium in the context of synaptic integration, plasticity, circuit function and behavior. Pubmed

Heike Blockus, Ph.D.

Heike did her graduate work in Alain Chédotal’s lab at Sorbonne Université – Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. She joined the Polleux lab in 2016 where she studies the role of srGAP2A and its human-specific paralog srGAP2C in synaptic plasticity and circuit dynamics. Pubmed

Yusuke Hirabayashi, Ph.D.

Yusuke did his graduate work in Dr Yukiko Gotoh lab at University of Tokyo and joined the Polleux lab in 2013 where he studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying presynaptic capture of mitochondria. Pubmed

Chandana Kondapalli, Ph.D.

Chandana did her graduate work jointly supervised by Prof. Dario Alessi and Dr. Miratul M.Muqit at University of Dundee, Scotland. She joined the lab in 2014 and is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying early synaptotoxic effects of Amyloid-β in context to Alzheimer’s disease. Pubmed

Tommy Lewis Jr., Ph.D.

Tommy did his graduate work in the lab of Dr Don Arnold at Univ. Southern California and joined the Polleux lab in 2011 where he studies the function of LKB1 in axonal transport. Pubmed

Ewoud Schmidt, Ph.D.

Ewoud did his graduate work in the lab of Dr Jeroen Pasterkamp at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. He joined the Polleux lab in 2014 where he studies the role of SRGAP2A and its human-specific paralog SRGAP2C in synaptic development and circuit formation. Pubmed

Graduate Students

Daniel Iascone

Dan is a graduate student in the Neurobiology and Behavior program. He joined the Polleux lab in 2014 and studies the role of SRGAP2 in the evolution of human synaptic structure and function. Pubmed

Annie Lee

Annie is a PhD candidate in the Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies (CMBS) program. She joined the Polleux lab in 2014 and studies the role of the AMPK-ULK kinase pathway in Alzheimer’s Disease.

Research Technician

Miyako Hirabayashi