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Sascha du Lac

Sascha du Lac, PhD

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:
  • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

Languages

  • English

Gender

Female

About Sascha du Lac

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

Background

Sascha du Lac, Ph.D. received her doctoral degree in Neurosciences from Stanford University.  As a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, she established a multidisciplinary research program to investigate mechanisms of experience-dependent plasticity at multiple levels of analysis from behavior through cellular neurophysiology and gene expression.  Prior to moving her laboratory to Johns Hopkins University in 2013, Dr. du Lac was an Associate Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla California and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  Her laboratory in the JHU Center for Hearing and Balance studies signaling and plasticity in cerebellar, vestibular, and oculomotor circuits using multidisciplinary techniques in mice that include quantitative behavioral analyses, in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology and optogenetics, circuit tracing, and single cell gene expression profiling.

Centers and Institutes

Hearing and Balance, Center for

Additional Academic Titles

Professor of Neuroscience, Professor of Neurology

Research Interests

Cerebellum, Eye Movements, Neuroplasticity, Systems Neuroscience, Vestibular System

Lab Website

Systems Neurobiology Laboratory - Lab Website

  • The Systems neurobiology Laboratory is a group of laboratories that all study various aspects of neurobiology. These laboratories include: (1) computational neurobiology Laboratory: The goal of their research is to build bridges between brain levels from the biophysical properties of synapses to the function of neural systems. (2) computational Principles of Natural Sensory Processing: Research in this lab focuses on the computational principles of how the brain processes information. (3) Laboratory for Cognitive neuroscience: This laboratory studies the neural and genetic underpinnings of language and cognition. (4) Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical neurobiology: The goal of this laboratory is develop a theoretical infrastructure for modern experimental neurobiology. (5) Organization and development of visual cortex: This laboratory is studying the organization and function of neural circuits in the visual cortex to understand how specific neural components enable visual perception and to elucidate the basic neural mechanisms that underlie cortical function. (6) Neural mechanism of selective visual attention: This laboratory studies the neural mechanisms of selective visual attention at the level of the individual neuron and cortical circuit, and relates these findings to perception and conscious awareness. (7) Neural basis of vision: This laboratory studies how sensory signals in the brain become integrated to form neuronal representation of the objects that people see.

Research Summary

The du Lac laboratory studies systems and cellular mechanisms of signaling and plasticity in cerebellar and brainstem circuits responsible for balance and eye movements.  Experimental strategies taking advantage of mouse molecular genetic tools include quantitative behavioral analyses, optogenetic manipulation of specific neuronal populations, in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, circuit tracing, and single cell gene expression profiling.  Research into fundamental mechanisms of function, dysfunction, and plasticity in brainstem and cerebellar microcircuits aims to provide a foundation for improving clinical treatments of dizziness, balance disorders, and nystagmus.

Selected Publications

  • Bigelow RT, Semenov YR, Anson E, du Lac S, Ferrucci L, Agrawal Y. Impaired Vestibular Function and Low Bone Mineral Density: Data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2016 Oct;17(5):433-40. doi: 10.1007/s10162-016-0577-5. Epub 2016 Jul 22. PMID: 27447468

  • Ehmsen JT, Liu Y, Wang Y, Paladugu N, Johnson AE, Rothstein JD, du Lac S, Mattson MP, Hoke A. The astrocytic transporter SLC7A10 (Asc-1) mediates glycinergic inhibition of spinal cord motor neurons. Sci Rep. 2016 Oct 19;6:35592. doi: 10.1038/srep35592. PMID: 27759100 

  • Kattah JC, Tehrani AS, du Lac S, Newman-Toker DE, Zee DS.  Conversion of upbeat to downbeat nystagmus in Wernicke encephalopathy. Neurology. 2018 Oct 23;91(17):790-796. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000006385. PMID: 30348852

  • Kim SH, Zee DS, du Lac S, Kim HJ, Kim JS. Nucleus prepositus hypoglossi lesions produce a unique ocular motor syndrome. Neurology. 2016 Nov 8;87(19):2026-2033. Epub 2016 Oct 12. PMID: 27733568

  • Nelson AB, Faulstich M, Moghadam S, Onori K, Meredith A, du Lac S. BK Channels Are Required for Multisensory Plasticity in the Oculomotor System. Neuron. 2017 Jan 4;93(1):211-220. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.11.019. Epub 2016 Dec 15. PMID: 27989457 

Graduate Program Affiliations

  • Neuroscience Graduate Program, Johns Hopkins University

Memberships

  • Society for Neuroscience

Expertise

Education

Stanford University

Ph.D., 1989

University of Chicago

B.A., 1982