PP1/PP2A regulation of LTP
Dynamical systems models of hippocampal plasticity
Phenomenological Models of PP1/PP2A Regulation in LTP Formation: A Dynamical Systems Analysis M.S. thesis, Courant Institute, NYU. Advisor: Dr. David McLaughlin. Manuscript in preparation.
Long-term potentiation and depression are the cellular substrates of learning and memory, but the switch between them is governed by a kinase–phosphatase network whose dynamics are not fully characterized. This project builds phenomenological dynamical-systems models of PP1/PP2A regulation of CaMKII-dependent LTP formation.
Approach
- Developing reduced models of the CaMKII / PP1 / PP2A network that retain the bifurcation structure of the full biochemical system.
- Numerical bifurcation analysis — continuation and Jacobian spectral analysis — in Python and TensorFlow, sweeping kinase, phosphatase, and calcium parameters.
Findings
- Identified tristable regimes set by T286/T305 phosphorylation states.
- Characterized phosphatase thresholds governing calcium-driven switching between LTP and LTD.