Dwight E. Bergles, PhD

Professional Titles

• Director, Multiphoton Imaging and Electrophysiology Core, The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience
• Diana Sylvestre and Charles Homcy Professor

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Neuroscience

Background

Centers and Institutes

Basic Biomedical Sciences, Institute for

CV

http://bergleslab.com/documents/DwightBerglesCV2012.pdf

Recent News Articles and Media Coverage

• How Cells in the Developing Ear ‘Practice’ Hearing
• Dwight Bergles on shifting his focus from marine life to brain cells
• Researchers Discover Dynamic Behavior Of Progenitor Cells In Brain
• Researchers Discover New Clues about how Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Develops

Additional Academic Titles

Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests

Glial involvement in neuronal signaling, Glutamate transporters in neuronal signaling, Synaptic physiology

Lab Website

Dwight Bergles Laboratory - Lab Website

• The Bergles Laboratory studies synaptic physiology, with an emphasis on glutamate transporters and glial involvement in neuronal signaling. We are interested in understanding the mechanisms by which neurons and glial cells interact to support normal communication in the nervous system. The lab studies glutamate transport physiology and function. Because glutamate transporters play a critical role in glutamate homeostasis, understanding the transporters' function is relevant to numerous neurological ailments, including stroke, epilepsy, and neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Other research in the laboratory focuses on signaling between neurons and glial cells at synapses. Understanding how neurons and cells communicate, may lead to new approaches for stimulating re-myelination following injury or disease. Additional research in the lab examines how a unique form of glia-to-neuron signaling in the cochlea influences auditory system development, whether defects in cell communication lead to certain hereditary forms of hearing impairment, and if similar mechanisms are related to sound-induced tinnitus.

Research Summary

Dr. Bergles is interested in understanding the mechanisms by which neurons and glial cells interact to support normal communication in the nervous system. Glutamate transporters are critical in the communication process.

Dr. Bergles' lab studies the properties of these glutamate transporters in expression systems as well as in acute tissue, such as the hippocampus and cerebellum.

Because transport is electrogenic, Dr. Bergles' lab can monitor transporter activity using electrophysiological (patch-clamp) techniques. Through these studies they hope to determine the fate of glutamate after it is released—how far it diffuses, the types and locations of the receptors it activates and the role of transporters in shaping its spatial and temporal profile in the extracellular space.

Transporters play a critical role in glutamate homeostasis, so understanding their function has relevance for numerous disorders, such as stroke, epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease).

Selected Publications

• De Biase LM, Kang SH, Baxi EG, Fukaya M, Pucak ML, Mishina M, Calabresi PA, Bergles DE. "NMDA receptor signaling in oligodendrocyte progenitors is not required for oligodendrogenesis and myelination." J Neurosci. 2011 Aug 31;31(35):12650-62. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2455-11.2011.

• Hughes EG, Kang SH, Fukaya M, Bergles DE. "Oligodendrocyte progenitors balance growth with self-repulsion to achieve homeostasis in the adult brain." Nat Neurosci. 2013 Jun;16(6):668-76. doi: 10.1038/nn.3390. Epub 2013 Apr 28.

• Kang SH, Fukaya M, Yang JK, Rothstein JD, Bergles DE. "NG2+ CNS glial progenitors remain committed to the oligodendrocyte lineage in postnatal life and following neurodegeneration." Neuron. 2010 Nov 18;68(4):668-81. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.09.009.

• Kang SH, Li Y, Fukaya M, Lorenzini I, Cleveland DW, Ostrow LW, Rothstein JD, Bergles DE. "Degeneration and impaired regeneration of gray matter oligodendrocytes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis." Nat Neurosci. 2013 May;16(5):571-9. doi: 10.1038/nn.3357. Epub 2013 Mar 31.

• Paukert M, Bergles DE. "Reduction of motion artifacts during in vivo two-photon imaging of brain through heartbeat triggered scanning." J Physiol. 2012 Jul 1;590(Pt 13):2955-63. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2012.228114. Epub 2012 Apr 16.

Honors

• NARSAD Young Investigator Award, The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, 1/1/05
• Young Investigator Travel Fellow, Spring Brain Conference, 1/1/04
• March of Dimes Foundation, Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award, 1/1/02
• Winter Conference on Brain Research Travel Fellow, 1/1/02
• Research Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 1/1/02
• NIH Training Grant, Oregon Health & Science University, 1/1/95
• Predoctoral Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 1/1/92
• NIH Training Grant, Stanford University, 1/1/91
• Cancer Federation Award, 1/1/90
• Phi Beta Kappa, 1/1/90

Memberships

• Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO)
• Society for Neuroscience

Professional Activities

• French National Research Agency (ANR), Reviewer, 1/1/12
• Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, External Thesis Examiner, 1/1/06
• InterUniversity Attraction Poles, Reviewer, 1/1/12
• Minnesota PPG Grant, External Advisory Board, 1/1/09
• Motor Neurone Disease Association (England), Reviewer, 1/1/10
• NASA Biomedical Focused Flight ILS Initiative, Reviewer, 1/1/04
• North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Institutional Development Grant Program, 1/1/07 - 1/1/08
• Royal National Institute for the Deaf, Reviewer, 1/1/06
• Singapore Biomedical Research Council, Reviewer, 1/1/08
• The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, Operating Committee, 1/1/08
• The Wellcome Trust, Reviewer, 1/1/04

Additional Training

Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR, 2000