Dr. Alexander Dityatev

Biography

Alexander Dityatev graduated in Mathematics at the Leningrad State University in 1985. In 1991 he accomplished his PhD in Biology with a thesis on quantal analysis of glutamate release at the Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry in Leningrad. In 1992-1996, he worked with Peter Clamann as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Physiology, University of Bern, where he studied relationships between the structure and function of synaptic connections in the spinal cord. He then worked with Melitta Schachner as a group leader at the Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg. There Dr. Dityatev with his colleagues uncovered synaptic functions of several cell adhesion and extracellular matrix molecules, such as tenascins, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, NCAM, L1, CHL1, and their associated glycans, including HNK-1 and PSA. Many of these functions turned out to involve interplay between recognition molecules and ligand- or voltage gated ion channels, resulting in regulation of perisomatic GABAergic inhibition, hippocampal long-term potentiation/depression and contextual memory. In 2004-2007, Alexander Dityatev was a German Research Foundation Fellow at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. In 2006-2009, he served as affiliated Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacal Sciences, Auburn University, while in 2007-2011 he was a Contract Professor at the University of Genova. In 2007-2012, being a Senior Researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Dr. Dityatev published several mechanistic studies uncovering how synaptic plasticity and learning are regulated by polysialylated form of NCAM and hyaluronic acid through regulation of extrasynaptic GluN2B receptors and L-type Ca2+ channels. Since 2010, he is a Chair of COST Action “Brain Extracellular Matrix in Health and Disease” and an Invited Leading Scientist of Russian Federation at the University of Nizhny Novgorod. Dr. Alexander Dityatev co-authored more than 100 papers and a patent, and co-edited with Alaa El-Husseini a book on “Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptogenesis”. Since 2012 Alexander Dityatev is the head of the Molecular Neuroplasticity research group at DZNE site Magdeburg.

Research Interest

Formation and activity of synaptic connections between neurons require adhesive interactions between cells and their extracellular environment, which involve cell adhesion and extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules. These molecules regulate synaptogenesis, synaptic and extrasynaptic transmission and plasticity. In fact, a synapse can be viewed as a tetrapartite system composed of pre- and postsynaptic specializations, glial terminals and (peri)synaptic ECM.  The Molecular Neuroplasticity research group aims (i) to uncover novel mechanisms by which the ECM and cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) control learning-induced synaptic plasticity and homeostatic regulations in the brain; (ii) to characterize how dysregulation in expression and posttranslational modifications of these molecules, their receptors and ectoproteases may induce neuroinflammation and synaptic dysfunctions in major neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases; (iii) to develop new CAM- and ECM-targeting  strategies for restoration of synaptic and cognitive functions in animal models of these diseases.