Prof. Mike Ludwig
- Personal Chair of Neurophysiology
Organisation Associations
Current research interests
We are currently studying novel populations of vasopressin cells in the olfactory bulb and the retina. In the olfactory system, vasopressin is involved in social recognition and vasopressin signaling in this system underlies the ability of these neurons to filter out social odour cues. We recently found that the retina also contains many vasopressin-expressing cells, and that, strikingly, these communicate mainly with the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the body’s biological clock, regulating circadian rhythms.
Research in a nutshell
We are interested in understanding the basic mechanisms by which peptides affect the functional properties of neuronal networks, and exactly how they can have apparently specific behavioural effects. Of these, the vasopressin and oxytocin neurons have proved to be good model systems for revealing important aspects of many neuronal functions, including neuropeptide release, leading to the understanding of the importance of peptide release from neuronal dendrites.
http://www.ed.ac.uk/integrative-physiology/staff-profiles/research-groups/mike-ludwig