• Home
• Academic Programs
  • Ph.D. Program
  • Genetic Counseling MS
  • Undergraduate
• Courses
• Faculty and Research
  • Ph.D. Trainers
  • Ph.D. Trainers by Field
  • Genetics Faculty
• Directory
• Student Resources
• Department Resources
• News and Events
• Contact

Akihiro Ikeda

Assistant Professor of Medical Genetics

Address:

5322 Genetics/Biotech

Telephone:

262-5477

Email:

aikeda@wisc.edu

Research Fields:

Mouse Genetics

Molecular Genetics

Neurogenetics

Research Interests

Mouse genetics, development and function of the synapse, sensory neuronal disease

Research Description

The synaptic junction is a key structure essential for the neuronal function. Pre-synaptically released neurotransmitters are captured by their receptors at the post-synaptic structure, triggering downstream signaling events and enabling interneuronal communications.

Our research goal is to understand the molecular basis of development and maintenance of the synaptic structure and function in the sensory neuron by using mouse genetics, which will also help us to reveal the mechanisms underlying human diseases such as blindness and deafness caused by the defect in neuronal transmission. The sensory neuron is an ideal model for studying synaptic development and function because the same type of cells using the same neurotransmitter are positioned in layers, so that morphological characteristics of the synaptic junction can be easily observed and correlated with phenotypic abnormalities. In addition, the neuronal activity in the sensory neuron is readily recorded by the electrophysiological methods in vivo. Our research focuses on answering specific questions: What is the signal to initiate the synaptogenesis? How are postsynaptic molecules properly positioned? How is the synaptic function maintained? In order to answer these questions, we conduct positional cloning of the mutant genes, modifier screening, characterization of gene targeted mice as well as molecular and biochemical studies.

Representative Publications

• Verdoni AM, Aoyama N, Ikeda A and Ikeda S. 2008. The effect of destrin mutations on the gene expression profile in vivo. Physiol. Genomics. (in press)
• Johnson BA, Aoyama N, Friedell NH, Ikeda S and Ikeda A. 2008. Genetic Modification of the Schisis Phenotype in a Mouse Model of X-Linked Retinoschisis. Genetics 178:1785-94.
• Hirasawa M, Xu X, Trask RB, Maddatu TP, Johnson BA, Naggert JK, Nishina PM and Ikeda A. 2007. Carbonic anhydrase related protein 8 mutation results in aberrant synaptic morphology and excitatory synaptic function in the cerebellum. Mol. Cell. Neurosci. 35:161-170.
• Johnson BA, Ikeda S, Pinto LH and Ikeda A. 2006. Reduced synaptic vesicle density and aberrant synaptic localization caused by a splice site mutation in the Rs1h gene. Vis Neurosci. 23:887-898.
• Ikeda A, Zheng QY, Zuberi AR, Johnson KR, Naggert JK and Nishina PM. 2002. Microtubule-associated protein 1A is a modifier of tubby hearing (moth1). Nat. Genet. 30:401-405.