Edda (Floh) Thiels Assistant Professor, Neurobiology University of Pittsburgh Phone: (412) 648-1442 Fax: (412) 648-1441 Email: thiels@neurobio.pitt.edu E1440 Biomedical Science Tower Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Ph.D., Indiana University Research Interests The main research interest of Dr. Thiels is how animals acquire information from the environment and use that information to guide their behavior. Understanding of the biological substrates of learning and memory is one of the most sought-after goals of neuroscience because of the universality of these cognitive faculties and their utmost importance for survival in a variable environment. Growing evidence indicates that learning and memory involve specific neural circuits and, within these circuits, specific physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes. Likely neurophysiological substrates of learning and memory include experience-induced changes in the strength of synaptic communication. Dr. Thiels' laboratory studies experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, a structure in the medial temporal lobes critical for the acquisition and storage of episodic and factual memories. Much is known about the ability of excitatory synapses in the hippocampus to undergo activity-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP). Work with artificial neural networks indicates, however, that synaptic strength must be able to both increase and decrease in a use-dependent manner if information processing and storage are to proceed successfully and efficiently. Dr. Thiels' research concentrates primarily on activity-dependent long-term depression (LTD), which her laboratory studies in area CA1 of the adult rat hippocampus using in vivo electrophysiological, pharmacological, and biochemical techniques. In an effort to link hippocampal synaptic plasticity and associated biochemical processes to memory, Dr. Thiels' laboratory also investigates hippocampal-dependent memory function and associated biochemical changes. For this line of work, the laboratory makes use of genetically engineered mice, which are examined with a variety of behavioral paradigms and whose hippocampi are analyzed with biochemical techniques similar to those employed in conjunction with electrophysiological studies. Recent Publications Thiels, E., Kanterewicz, B.I., Norman, E.D., Trzaskos, J.M., and Klann, E. (2002). Long-term depression in the adult hippocampus in vivo involves activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase and phosphorylation of Elk-1. J. Neurosci. 22: 2054-2062. Thiels, E., and Klann, E. (2001). Extracellular signal-regulated kinase, synaptic plasticity, and memory. Rev. Neurosci. 12: 327-345. Thiels, E., Urban, N.N., Gonzalez-Burgos, G.R., Kanterewicz, B.I., Barrionuevo, G., Chu, C.T., Oury, T.D., and Klann, E. (2000). Impairment of long-term potentiation and hippocampal-dependent memory in mice that overexpress extracellular superoxide dismutase. J. Neurosci. 20: 7631-7639. Thiels, E., Kanterewicz, B.I., Knapp, L.T., Barrionuevo, G., and Klann, E. (2000). Protein phosphatase-mediated regulation of protein kinase C during long-term depression in the adult hippocampus in vivo. J. Neurosci. 20: 7199-7207. Thiels, E., Norman, E.D., Barrionuevo, G., and Klann, E. (1998). Transient and persistent increases in protein phosphatase activity during long-term depression in adult hippocampus in vivo. Neuroscience 86: 1023-1029.