Uffe Kristiansen

Uffe Kristiansen

Associate Professor

Primary fields of research

Ionotropic receptors for inhibitory amino acids (GABA, glycine) with emphasis on the relation to epilepsy

Current research

Ionotropic receptors for inhibitory amino acids (GABA, glycine) with emphasis on the relation to epilepsy. The mechanism of activation of the receptors and structure-activity relationships of the ligands are studied in cultured neurons or in cell lines expressing recombinant wild type or mutant receptors using patch-clamp electrophysiology. Inhibition of neuronal activity is studied in vitro (electrophysiology in brain slices) and in vivo in the PTZ kindling model of epilepsy, where both the anticonvulsive and antiepileptogenic effects can be investigated. Using these metods, a current main theme of our research is to investigate whether selective ligands for extrasynaptic GABAA receptors are potential antiepileptic drugs.

Teaching

General physiology. Neurophysiology and -pharmacology. Biological standardization. Pharmacodynamics. Ion channel kinetics.

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