Phil Haydon

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

The Haydon Lab was the first to observe astrocytic modulation of synaptic transmission. A central aspect of their research over the past 10 years has been the use of uncaging and imaging to study this interaction, at what they call the tripartite synapse. We have developed a cell-permeant, caged NO that can be loaded into astrocytes in the mouse cortex in vivo. Localised, 2-photon uncaging (at 720 nm) causes fluctuations in intracellular [Ca] in isolated astrocytes (imaged at 900 nm). This is the first example we know of in vivo 2-photon uncaging.

Phil is the PI of the Conte Center P20 grant, which we were awarded together in July 2004.