Natalia V. Luchkina, PhD
McLean Hospital Title:
- Research Fellow, Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory
Harvard Medical School Title:
- Research Fellow in Psychiatry
Biography:
Natalia V. Luchkina, PhD, received her PhD degree from the University of Helsinki in Finland. During her graduate studies, Dr. Luchkina explored a developmental profile of mechanisms underlying the induction and expression of long-term-potentiation at CA3-CA1 synapses in the hippocampus. Her results linked the expression of GluA4 subunits of the AMPA receptor to alterations in signaling requirements for the induction of long-term potentiation, explaining the switch in LTP kinase dependency during synapse maturation. She found that GluA4 subunit expression may define the signaling requirements for LTP and silent synapse activation during a critical period of synapse development and also demonstrated that maturation of glutamatergic synapses involves a critical period during which presynaptic function is highly susceptible to activity-dependent regulation through a PKC-dependent mechanism.
In the Bolshakov laboratory at McLean, Dr. Luchkina uses optogenetics to explore how brain functions underlying complex behavioral processes are regulated.
Expertise:
Publications:
PubMed search for Dr. Luchkina
Education & Training:
Degrees:
- 2007 BS in Biology/Biophysics, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- 2009 MS in Neuroscience, Saint Petersburg University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- 2016 PhD in Physiology and Neuroscience, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Fellowship:
- 2010 CIMO Fellowship, Centre for International Mobility
- 2011-2013 Doctoral Research Fellowship, Finnish Graduate School of Neuroscience
- 2016-Present Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School
- 2017-2018 Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Mental Health Research Fellowship, McLean Hospital
- 2019-2020 Eric Dorris Memorial Research Fellowship, McLean Hospital
Contact:
Email:
Phone:
617.855.3173
Office Address:
Belmont campus - Mailman Research Center, Room 208
