BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
NAME
POSITION TITLE
Attila Losonczy
Assistant Professor
eRA COMMONS USER NAME (credential, e.g., agency login)
ALOSONCZY
EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, include postdoctoral training and
residency training if applicable.)
DEGREE
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION
MM/YY
FIELD OF STUDY
(if applicable)
University Medical School of Pécs, Hungary
Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
LSU Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, USA
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, VA,
USA
M.D.
Ph.D.
Postdoc.
Postdoc.
09/93-09/99
10/99-10/04
08/03-07/06
08/06-04/07
General Medicine
Neurobiology
Neurophysiology
Neurophysiology
Postdoc.
05/07-10/09
Neurophysiology
A. Personal Statement
The goal of my research program is to provide a biophysically-based and mechanistic understanding of
learning and memory formation in the mammalian brain by linking elementary information processing and
storage mechanisms of individual neurons and microcircuits to memory behaviors in the rodent
hippocampus. I also aim to promote our understanding of how cognitive memory processing is impaired
under pathological conditions by using animal models of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. In
our current projects we focus on how excitatory, inhibitory and neuromodulatory microcircuits of the rodent
hippocampal area CA1 contribute to spatial and episodic memory formation. To address these questions,
we combine high-resolution functional imaging, electrophysiological, and cell type specific manipulation
techniques both in vivo and in vitro. I have established successful collaborations with molecular
neurobiologists (Rene Hen, Thomas Jessel, Joseph Gogos, Boris Zemelman, Scott Sternson), theoretical
and computational neuroscientists (Larry Abbott and Liam Paninski), and organic chemists (Frederic
Bolze), and physicists (Alipasha Vaziri) to develop and implement novel experimental tools and theoretical
frameworks for investigations into hippocampal learning and memory under both normal and pathological
conditions.
B. Positions and Honors
Positions and Employment
09/95-09/99
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Department of Anatomy, University Medical School
of Pécs, Hungary, (Prof. G. Lazar)
10/99-03/00
Graduate student, Department of Pharmacology, Univ. Med. School of Pécs, Hungary,
(Prof. L. Seress)
04/00-07/00
Visiting student, MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, Oxford, UK, (Prof. P.
Somogyi)
08/00- 07/03
Graduate student, Laboratory of Cellular Neurophysiology,
Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
(Prof. Z. Nusser)
08/03-07/06
Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuroscience Center, LSU Medical Center, New Orleans, LA,
USA, (Prof. J.C. Magee)
08/06-04/07
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Cell Biology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven,
CT, USA, (Prof. G. Miesenbock)
05/07-10/09
Research Specialist, HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, USA, (Prof.
J.C. Magee)
1
11/09 - present
Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY,
USA
Honors and Awards
2001 BIF Graduate Student Scholarship – Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation
2010 Member – Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University
2011 Searle Scholar – Searle Kinship Foundation
2012 HFSP Program Grant – Human Frontiers Science
2012 Harvey L. Karp Discovery Award
2013 Young Investigator Award – NARSAD
2013 Memory and Cognitive Disorders Award – McKnight Foundation
Reviewer for Journals and Funds
Science, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Neuron, The Journal of Neuroscience,
Journal of Physiology, European Journal of Neuroscience, Hippocampus, Cerebral Cortex, IEEE
Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, Journal of the Royal Society Interface
NIH: Molecular and Cellular Substrates of Complex Brain Disorders Special Emphasis Panel ZRG1 MDCNP(57), The Wellcome Trust, Royal Society (UK), The Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, Hungarian Brain
Project, Human Brain Project (EU)
Invited Speaker/Departmental Seminar
2014 Gordon Research Conferences – Synaptic transmission, Waterville Valley, New Hampshire
2014 FENS – In vivo functional recording of neuronal population activity, Milan, Italy
2014 Conference Jacques Monod – Optical imaging of brain structure and function on multiple spacial
scales, Roscoff, France
2014 Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven
2014 NIH/NIGMS, Bethesda
2014 Epilepsy Research Center Symposium, Irvine
2014 IBRO Workshop, Debrecen, Hungary
2013 Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary
2013 Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
2013 Gordon Research Conferences – Inhibition in the CNS, Les Diablerets, Switzerland
2013 Gordon Research Conferences – Dendrites, Les Diablerets, Switzerland
2013 Picower Institute, MIT, Boston
2012 HHMI Janelia Farm Conference – Neuron types in the hippocampal formation
2012 Department of Neurobiology, New York University, New York
2012 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience
2012 HHMI Janelia Farm Conference – Dendrites, substrates for information processing
2011 IBRO/FENS Conference, Ljubljana
2011 Department of Physiology, Columbia University, New York
2008 Department of Neuroscience, Yale, New Haven
2008 Picower Institute, MIT, Boston
2006 Department of Anatomy, UC Irvine
2005 Southern Photonics Conference, Atlanta
C. Selected Peer-reviewed Publications
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Kaifosh, P., Zaremba, J., Danielson, N., and Losonczy, A. (2014) SIMA: Python software for analysis
of dynamic fluorescence imaging data. Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, doi: 10.3389/fninf.2014.00077.
Denny, C.A., Kheirbek, M.A., Alba, E.L., Tanaka, K.F., Brachman, R.A., Laughman, K.B., Tomm, N.K.,
Turi, G.F., Losonczy, A., and Hen, R. (2014). Hippocampal memory traces are differentially
modulated by experience, time, and adult neurogenesis. Neuron, 83:189-201., PMID: 24991962
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Lee, S-H., Marchionni, I., Bezaire, M., Varga, C., Danielson, N., Lovett-Barron, M., Losonczy, A., and
Soltesz, I. (2014). Parvalbumin-positive basket cells differentiate among hippocampal pyramidal cells.
Neuron, 82:1129-1144, PMID: 24836505
Lovett-Barron, M., Kaifosh, P., Kheirbek, M.A., Danielson, N., Zaremba, J.D., Reardon, T.R., Turi,
F.G., Hen, R., Zemelman, B.V., and Losonczy, A. (2014). Dendritic inhibition in the hippocampus
supports fear learning. Science, 21, 857-63., PMID: 24558155
Lovett-Barron, M., Losonczy, A. (2014). Behavioral consequences of GABAergic neuronal diversity.
Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 26, 27-33., PMID: 24650501
Kaifosh, P., Lovett-Barron, M., Turi, G., Reardon., T.T., and Losonczy, A. (2013). Septo-hippocampal
GABAergic signaling across multiple modalities in awake mouse. Nature Neuroscience, 16, 11821184., PMID: 23912949
Lovett-Barron, M., and Losonczy, A. (2013). Circuits supporting the grid. Nature Neuroscience, 16,
255-257., PMCID: PMC23434976
Royer, S., Zemelman, B.V., Losonczy, A., Kim, J., Chance, F., Magee, J.C., and Buzsáki, G., (2012).
Control of timing, rate and firing patterns of hippocampal place cells by dendritic and perisomatic
inhibition. Nature Neuroscience, 15, 769-775., PMCID: PMC22446878
Lovett-Barron, M., Turi, G.F., Kaifosh, P., Lee, P.H., Bolze, F., Sun X-H., Nicoud J-F., Zemelman, B.V.,
Sternson, S.M., and Losonczy, A. (2012) Regulation of neuronal input output transformation by
tunable dendritic inhibition. Nature Neuroscience, 15, 423-430., PMCID: PMC22246433
Oren, I., and Kullmann, D. (2012) New and Views, Nature Neuroscience, 15, 344-345.
Cover illustration
Bolze, F., Nicoud J.F., Bourgogne, C., Gug, S., Sun, X.H., Goeldner, M., Specht, A., Donato, L..
Warther, D., Turi, G.F., and Losonczy, A. (2012). Two-photon uncaging: the chemist point of view.
Optical Materials, 34, 1664-1669.
Losonczy, A., Zemelman, B.V., Vaziri, A. and Magee, J.C. (2010) Network mechanisms of theta
related neuronal activity in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Nature Neuroscience, 13, 967- 972.,
PCMID: PMC2921679
Royer, S., Zemelman. B.V., Losonczy, A., Buzsáki, G. and Magee, J.C. (2010) Optoelectronic neural
interface (ONI): light-assisted perturbation of silicon probe-monitored local circuits in the behaving
animal. European Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 2279-2291., PMCID: PMC2954764
Makara, J.K., Losonczy, A., Wen, Q., and Magee, J.C. (2009) Experience-dependent
compartmentalized dendritic plasticity in rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Nature
Neuroscience, 12, 1485-1487., PCMID: PMC2921679
Varga, V., Losonczy, A., Zemelman, B.V., Borhegyi, Z., Nyiri, G., Domonkos, G., Hangya, B.,
Holderith, B., Magee, J.C., and Freund, T.F. (2009) Fast synaptic subcortical control of hippocampal
circuits. Science, 326, 449–453., PCMID: PMC2921679
Losonczy, A., Makara, J.K., and Magee, J.C. (2008) Compartmentalized dendritic plasticity and
input feature storage in neurons. Nature, 452, 436-441., PCMID: PMC2921679
Spruston, N. (2008) News and Views. Nature, 452, 420-421.
Gasparini, S., Losonczy, A., Chen, X., Johnston, D., and Magee, J.C. (2007) Associative pairing
enhances action potential back-propagation in radial oblique branches of CA1 pyramidal neurons
Journal of Physiology, 580, 787-800., PCMID: PMC2075451
Losonczy, A., and Magee, J.C. (2006) Integrative properties of radial oblique dendrites in hippocampal
CA1 pyramidal neurons. Neuron, 50, 291-307., PMID: 16630839
Judkewitz, B., Roth, A., Häusser, M., (2006) News and Views. 50, 180-183.
Cover illustration
Losonczy, A., Biro, A.A., and Nusser, Z. (2004) Persistently active cannabinoid receptors mute
subpopulation of hippocampal interneurons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA,
101, 1362-1367., PMCID: PMC337058
Losonczy, A., Somogyi, P., and Nusser, Z. (2003) Reduction of excitatory postsynaptic responses by
persistently active metabotropic glutamate receptors in the hippocampus.. Journal of Neurophysiology,
89: 1910-1919., PMID: 12686572
Losonczy, A., Zhang, L., Shigemoto, R., Somogyi, P., and Nusser, Z. (2002) Cell type dependence
and variability in the short-term plasticity of EPSCs in identified mouse hippocampal interneurones.
Journal of Physiology, 542: 193-210., PMCID: PMC2290398
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