Jennifer I. Luebke, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: 617-638-4930
Fax: 617-638-5954
Laboratory of Cellular Neurobiology
Email: jluebke@bu.edu

Background

Dr. Luebke received her doctorate in Anatomy & Neurobiology from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian 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 Course Director for the Neuroscience course offered in the Medical School. In addition, Dr. Luebke is co-Course Director for the Methods in Neuroscience course and is involved in teaching other graduate neuroscience courses at BUSM.

Dr. Luebke’s current service commitments include service as an advisor in the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences Masters of Medical Science program and membership on the Dept. of Anatomy & Neurobiology’s “Portfolio” and “Qualifying Examination” committees.

Publications

Crimins JL, Rocher AB, Peters A, Shultz P, Lewis J, Luebke JI (2011) Homeostatic responses by surviving cortical pyramidal cells in neurodegenerative tauopathy. Acta Neuropath. 2011 Oct 4. [Epub ahead of print]

Kopeikina, K, Carlson G, Pitstick R, Ludvigson A, Peters A, Luebke J, Koffie R, Frosch M, Hyman B, Spires-Jones T, (2011) Tau accumulation causes mitochondrial distribution deficits in neurons in a mouse model of tauopathy and in human AD brain. Am J Pathol. 179(4): 2071-2082.

Ludvigson, A, Luebke, JI, Lewis, J, Peters A (2010) Structural abnormalities in the cortex of the rTg4510 mouse model of tauopathy: a light and electron microscopy study. Brain Structure and Function. 216(1):31-42.

Luebke, JI, Amatrudo, J (2010) Age-related increase of sIAHP in prefrontal pyramidal cells of monkeys: relationship to cognition. Neurobiology of Aging. Aug 18 E Pub ahead of print.

Luebke, J.I., Weaver, C.M., Rocher, A.B., Rodriguez, A., Crimins, J.L., Dickstein, D.L., Wearne, S.L., Hof, P.R. (2010) Dendritic vulnerability in neurodegenerative disease: insights from analyses of cortical pyramidal neurons in transgenic mouse models. Brain Structure and Function. 214:181-199.

Luebke, J.I., Barbas, H., Peters, A. (2010) Effects of normal aging on prefrontal area 46 in the rhesus monkey. Brain Research Reviews. 62:212-32.

Rocher, A.B., Crimins, J.I., Amatrudo, J.M., Kinson, M.S., Todd-Brown, M.A., Lewis, J., Luebke, J.I. (2010) Structural and functional changes in tau mutant mice neurons are not linked to the presence of NFTs. Experimental Neurology. 223(2):385-93.

Rocher, A.B., Kinson, M.S. and Luebke, J.I. (2008) Significant structural changes are not associated with functional electrophysiological changes in neocortical pyramidal cells in young Tg2576 APP mutant mice. Neurobiol. Dis. 32:309-318.

Peters, A., Sethares, C. and Luebke, J.I. (2008) Synapses are lost during aging in the primate prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience 152:970-981.