Jennifer Luebke

Dr. Luebke received her doctorate in Anatomy & Neurobiology from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed a first postdoctoral fellowship in neurophysiology at Harvard Medical School and a second postdoctoral fellowship in neurophysiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and then joined the Departments Anatomy & Neurobiology and of Psychiatry at BUSM. Dr. Luebke maintains a laboratory in which whole-cell patch-clamp and intracellular filling techniques are used to examine the electrophysiological and morphological properties of neurons in in vitro slices of monkey and transgenic mouse neocortex.  Research is focused on action potential firing patterns (and underlying ionic currents), glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic response properties and detailed dendritic architecture.  Data from single neurons are incorporated into computational models in collaboration with mathematicians at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.  In addition, collaborations are ongoing with investigators at BUSM who use molecular biological (single cell PCR and microarray) and electron microscopic (ultrastructural analysis) techniques to examine cells from which recordings are obtained. Overall goals include: 1) to examine the individual and network properties of cells in the prefrontal cortex; 2) to determine the effects of normal aging on these properties in the rhesus monkey, and; 3) to determine the effects of tau and amyloid on these properties in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.  Dr. Luebke’s research is funded by the NIH. Dr. Luebke is involved in teaching the Neuroscience course offered in the Medical School and several other graduate neuroscience courses at BUSM.

Dr. Luebke is the Director of the Graduate Program and PhD student advisor in the Department.