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Neurophysiology of calcium channels

Gerald Obermair is a native from Salzburg and studied Zoology and Neuroscience in Salzburg and Ohio (Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA). In 1998 he graduated in Zoology (Mag.) from the University of Salzburg. His diploma thesis was awarded with the Sackler Research Award of the University of Salzburg. His PhD thesis (Dr. rer. nat. in 2003, Salzburg) entitled Localization and Targeting of Ca²⁺ Regulatory Proteins in Cultured Mouse Hippocampal Neurons: L-type Ca²⁺ channel a_1C (Ca_V1.2) and small conductance Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ channel SK3 was conducted at the University of Innsbruck (Advisor: Dr. Bernhard Flucher) in collaboration with the University of Salzburg. In 2004 he was received the Sanofi-Aventis award of the Medical University Innsbruck and from 2005-2008 he was Research Fellow in the FWF grant (Selbstantrag) Role of the Ca²⁺ channel α₂δ-1 in hippocampal neurons. In 2010 he completed his habilitation (Venia docendi) in Physiology at the Institute of Physiology at the Medical University Innsbruck entitled Voltage-gated calcium channels in nerve and muscle: Localization, targeting, and expression of individual calcium channel subunits. Since 2013 Gerald Obermair is Associate Professor at the Institute of Physiology, Medical University Innsbruck. In his current research Gerald aims at understanding the functional heterogeneity of neuronal calcium channel subunits with a special focus on α₂δ subunits and the involvement of Ca_V1.3 in Parkinson’s disease [link to projects]. With the latter project Gerald Obermair together with Prof. Bernhard Flucher [link] is a member of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) funded SFB F44 consortium (Cell signaling in chronic CNS disease). Gerald Obermair is teaching physiology as well as various special courses and seminars for students of Medicine and Pharmacy as well as graduate students. He is a current board member of the Austrian Neuroscience Association.

Ruslan Stanika, PhD

Phone: +43-512-9003-70828

Ruslan Stanika was born in Kherson, Ukraine. He graduated from Kyiv National University, Department of Medical Radiophysics (2001) and defended his PhD in Biophysics at Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology (2005) in Kyiv, Ukraine. He studied mechanisms of calcium dysregulation and neuronal cell death in neurodegenerative disorders during his postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Neurobiology, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA). Ruslan Stanika joined the Flucher/Obermair group in 2011 and focused on studying of the role of the Ca_V1.3 calcium channel in Parkinson’s disease using immunolabeling, fluorescent microscopy and electrophysiology.

  Connect with Ruslan Stanika on ResearchGate

Stefanie Geisler, MSc.

Phone: +43-512-9003-70856

Stefanie Geisler was born in Saalfelden, Austria and graduated in the bachelor’s program “Biology” in 2009 at the Leopold-Franzens University Innsbruck, Austria. This was followed by the participation in a master’s program of natural sciences with a main focus on Zoology, at the University of Salzburg, Austria. During her master thesis in the Department of Organismic Biology in collaboration with the Department of Forensic Medicine, she was interested in degradation processes within postmortem skeletal muscle.

She was awarded a scholarship for the funding of her master thesis from the University of Salzburg. After finishing her master studies in 2012 she went back to Innsbruck and joined the Research Group of Assoc.-Prof. Dr. Gerald Obermair at the Institute of Physiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck. In October 2013 she started her PhD in the “Molecular Cell Biology” program under the supervision of Prof. Obermair. Her study focuses on the neuronal calcium channel α₂δ subunits (α₂δ-1, -2 and -3). Currently, she is especially interested in characterizing their role for brain structure and development (see picture), thereby trying to obtain new insights in neuronal functions of auxiliary calcium channel α₂δ subunits.

Previous Lab-Member 

Clemens L. Schöpf was born in Innsbruck, Austria and graduated with a bachelor in Biology in 2009 from the Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck (LFU). Subsequently he enrolled in the Master Program Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology at the LFU Innsbruck together with an 8 month exchange at the ETH Zürich. Back in Innsbruck he performed his master thesis (CNTF induced translational regulation of Satb2 in sympathetic neurons) in the Institute of Neuroscience, Medical University Innsbruck supervised by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Dechant and graduated in 2012 with a Master of Science degree. In 2012 he started his PhD in the laboratory of Assoc.-Prof. Dr. Gerald Obermair at the Division of Physiology, Medical University Innsbruck. His research is currently focused on the neuronal functions of auxiliary calcium channel α₂δ subunits. He could present his findings at national and international conferences and recently submitted a Review to the Journal of General Physiology and Biophysics. Clemens is a member of the Austrian neuroscience association as well as member of the Society for Neuroscience.

Awards:

• ANA travel grant for the FENS featured regional meeting in Prague, 2013.

• Poster prize awardee, Neuroscience Day 2013 at the Medical University Innsbruck.