Christian Lüscher

Christian Lüscher

Function: Professeur ordinaire

Nom du groupe: Addiction and Dopamine System

Group type: Main

Affiliations: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Basic Neurosciences

Domaines: Development and Plasticity

Mot clés: addiction, dependence, dopamine system, drug, synaptic plasticity

Activités de recherche

Our lab is interested in cellular mechanisms that underlie drug reinforcement, dependence and addiction. We believe that the core of these diseases can be understood as neuroadaptive changes and pathological synaptic plasticity, which are initiated by the effects of addictive drugs on the mesolimbic dopamine system. We look at its origin, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), where we use electrophysiology (whole cell patch clamp) and imaging in acute slices of mice in combination with pharmacological, genetic and behavioral tools. Two lines of experiments are carried out in parallel: first, we characterize the role of Kir3/GIRK channels that are effectors of G protein coupled receptors (and therefore effectors of opioids, cannabinoids and g-hydoxybutyrate). Second, we test how addictive drugs such as cocaine affect synaptic plasticity in the VTA.

Dernières publications

See the complete list of the publications

Hide the members of the Lab

Prof. Christian Lüscher

Group leader

CMU - D08.1551.C
+41 22 37 95 423
christian.luscher@unige.ch

Jennifer Cand

Lab technician

CMU - D08.1555.A
+41 22 37 95 465
jennifer.cand@unige.ch

Fabrice Chaudun

Postdoc

CMU - D08.1555.A
+41 22 37 95 437
fabrice.chaudun@unige.ch

Agnès Hiver

Scientific collaborator

CMU - D08.1555.A
+41 22 37 95 437
agnes.hiver@unige.ch

Yue Li

Postdoc

CMU - D08.1549.A
+41 22 37 95 431
yue.li@unige.ch

Sylvia Yu Liu

Postdoc

CMU - D08.1555.A
+41 22 37 95 437
yu.liu@unige.ch

Lucile Marion-Poll

Scientific collaborator

CMU - D08.1555.A
+41 22 37 95 437
lucile.marion-poll@unige.ch

Vincent Pascoli

Scientific collaborator

CMU - D08.1555.B
+41 22 37 95 437
vincent.pascoli@unige.ch

Catherine Pham Ton That

Secretary

CMU – D08.1551.B
+41 22 37 95 444
catherine.pham@unige.ch

Laurena Python

Doctorante

CMU - C08.1535.A
+41 22 37 94 701
laurena.python@unige.ch

Anna Ramisch

Postdoc

CMU - E09.3351.A
+41 22 37 95 710
anna.ramisch@unige.ch

Videos

Contact

Faculté de médecine
Université de Genève
Email: Christian.Luscher@unige.ch