One physiological function of the human brain is adapting the organism to its environment. In the brain, a primary effect of sensory exposures during postnatal development is on the strength of the synaptic contacts between neurons. Dr. Dudek's main interest, therefore, has been to determine the molecular basis of long lasting synaptic plasticity. Her lab focuses on three aims 1) how signals are rapidly transmitted to the nucleus to consolidate synaptic strengthening, 2) how synapses are weakened and eliminated during critical periods of postnatal development, and 3) how the process of synaptic plasticity is regulated in different brain regions. Her lab uses a diverse collection of molecular, biochemical, electrophysiological, and imaging techniques, primarily in brain slice preparations and neuron cultures from rodents. Recently, her lab has focused their efforts on a single region of the hippocampus, Hippocampal Area CA2, as neurons in this area express a number of genes distinct from the other CA regions that we found to regulate synaptic plasticity such as long-term depression (LTD) and long-term potentiation (LTP).