Thomas Sangrey, PhD.

Emory University

Dept. of Biology

1510 Clifton Road

Atlanta, GA 30308

tsangrey@emory.edu

After receiving a Ph.D. in physics from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT (2002), I joined W.B. Levy's lab at the University of Virginia where I studied the evolutionary biology of the neuron using biophysical and computational methods. I joined Dieter Jaeger's lab at Emory University in the summer of 2004.

My work in the Jaeger lab continues to explore how the DCN controls spiking through precisely controlled and reproducible artificial synaptic input presented to the DCN via the dynamic current clamp technique in slice preparation. In addition to elucidating the roles of various types of synaptic inputs in the control of spiking, the dynamic clamp technique also affords the possibility of studying how synaptic input can be decoded by active conductances in the membrane. By artificially injecting currents that mimic synaptic input as well as voltage-gated and calcium activated conductances, the mechanism and function of synaptic processing can be studied.

My work also aims at closing the loop between our observations in slice-electrophysiology experimentation and detailed electrophysiological models. Our method is to use the results from modeling studies of individual neurons to guide our approach to slice preparation and the stimulation protocols we design.