Home Page of Jesper Ericsson

Research Interests

My primary interest is to study the operation of the input nuclei of the basal ganglia, the striatum – a structure of critical importance for selection of behaviour and motor learning. We investigate the synaptic interaction within the striatum with simultaneous recordings of several neurons with whole-cell patch-clamp techniques to unravel the striatal microcircuitry and study the neuronal mechanisms of synaptic dynamics and plasticity in the input synapses to the striatum from cortex and thalamus. In addition, we will explore the role(s) of the histaminergic modulatory system that exhibits prominent striatal projections that are conserved throughout vertebrate evolution.

This is done with electrophysiological, neuropharmacological and morphological techniques while recording from neurons in rodent and lamprey striatal brain slices. Mathematical modelling and computer simulations will also be utilized in parallel with the experiments.

Education

2006 – present: Doctoral Studies in Neurophysiology, Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. Title of PhD Project: Cellular and synaptic mechanisms in the rodent and lamprey striatum.
Supervisor: Martin Wikström, Assistant Professor. Co-supervisor: Sten Grillner, Professor and Jeanette Hellgren, Associate Professor (Computational Biology and Neurocomputing group, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden)

1999 – 2005: Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, specialization in biomedicine, 180 weeks, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Specialization in Medical Technology and Electrophysiology. Awarded with distinction

09/2005 – 11/2005: Neuroscience – from Ion Channel to Behaviour, 10 weeks, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm

01/2005 – 06/2005: Research Preparatory Course in Neuroscience, 20 weeks, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm

09/2004 – 09/2005: Master Thesis, An electrophysiological investigation of the SNAP-25 isoforms as possible regulators of short-term synaptic plasticity, performed at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. Supervisors: Jeanette Hellgren, Christina Bark, and Martin Wikström

Other Education

2006 – present: Entrepreneurial courses at Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship and distance courses in economics

02/2003 – 07/2003: Exchange Studies, 20 weeks, University of Newcastle, Australia. Course program: Introduction to Cellular & Molecular Biology, Human Bioscience, Experimental Bases of Human Function, Academic Language Skills International

08/2002 – 12/2002: Basic Course in Spanish, 20 weeks, Stockholm University, Stockholm

01/2002 – 06/2002: Language Studies in Spanish, Academia Malaga Plus, Malaga, Spain

08/1998 – 06/1999: Military Service, Military Police Officer, K1, Stockholm – Awarded as Best Soldier of the Platoon

08/1995 – 06/1998: Upper secondary school, Science and Technology Program, Westerlundska gymnasiet, Enköping

Research Experience

Electrophysiology and imaging:

01/2006 – present: Morphological reconstruction of neurons using confocal fluorescence microscopy

12/2005 – present: Patch clamp recordings and intracellular injection of neurobiotin in vitro in lamprey striatal slices. Supervised by Professor Sten Grillner and Dr. Martin Wikström (Karolinska Institutet)

09/2004 – present: Short- and long-term plasticity protocols used for in vitro brain slice recordings. Patch-clamp and extracellular recordings in mouse and rat. Supervised by Dr. Martin Wikström (Karolinska Institutet)

09/2004 – 01/2006: Electrical stimulation of hippocampal slices combined with somatic patch-clamp recordings, in mouse, using infrared differential interference contrast microscopy. Supervised by Dr. Martin Wikström and Dr. Christina Bark (Karolinska Institutet)

Publications

Submitted Abstracts:

2006 - Wikstrom M.A., Ericsson J., Grillner S. Characterization of morphological, cellular and synaptic properties of lamprey striatal neurons. FENS 2006.

2006 - C. I. Bark, J. Ericsson, J. Janson, S. Beraki, D. Stanic, S. A. Mandic, M. A. Wikström, T. Hökfelt, S. O. Ögren, M. C. Wilson, B. Rozell, P. O. Berggren, and J. U. Johansson. Genetic Elimination of SNAP-25 Alternative Splicing Results in Changed Synaptic Plasticity, Seizures and Severe Memory Impairment. Neuroscience 2006.

Manuscript:

2006- Jenny U. Johansson, Jesper Ericsson, Juliette Janson, Simret Beraki, Davor Stanic, Slavena A. Mandic, Martin A. Wikström, Tomas Hökfelt, Sven Ove Ögren, Björn Rozell, Per-Olof Berggren, and Christina Bark. Genetic Elimination of SNAP-25 Alternative Splicing Results in Changed Synaptic Plasticity, Seizures and Severe Memory Impairment

2006 - Jesper Ericsson, Brita Robertson, Martin A. Wikström. A brain slice preparation of the lamprey striatum for patch-clamp

Online Publication:

2006 - Ericsson J., Zheng M., Nygard M. Stockholm/Uppsala – Strengthening and Enhancing Its Position as an Emerging Neurotechnology Cluster Published online by NeuroInsights, http://www.neuroinsights.com/marketreports/neurotechnexus.html And Stockholm BioRegion, http://www.stockholmbioregion.se/templates/tjofflist____66.aspx

Boards and other Merits

2007 – present: Treasurer of the Graduate Students’ Association at Karolinska Institutet

2006 – present: Board member of the national organization SDok (Sveriges Doktorander) - Graduate Students in Sweden

2006 – 2007: Board member of the Graduate Students’ Association at Karolinska Institutet

2006 – present: Board member of the Recruitment Committee at Karolinska Institutet

2006 – present: Board member of the Departmental Advisory Board at the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet

05/2006 – 07/2006: Supervisor for undergraduate student (Erika von Heijne) from the Royal Institute of Technology

2006 – present: Involved in teaching at the department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet

Awards and Scholarships

2006: KID Scholarship (faculty funds for 4-year partial financing of postgraduate student) at Karolinska Institutet

2006: MSc in Engineering Degree Awarded with Distinction

2006: International Summer Course in Neuroscience at RIKEN BSI, Tokyo, Japan (full scholarship)

2004, 2005: Johan and Hjalmar Kallenbergs Stipend for Higher Education

1999: Awarded as Best Soldier of the Platoon as a Military Police Officer, K1, Stockholm

1998: High School Diploma Awarded with Special Distinction

 

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Last modified: 2009-06-02