On September 26, 2018, Prof. Nigel Emptage from the University of Oxford visited SCBB and gave a wonderful lecture that titled “Activity-Dependent Exocytosis of Lysosomes Regulates the Structural Plasticity of Dendritic Spines”. During this vivid lecture, teachers and students of our school actively participated in the academic discussions and exchanged their understandings.

       Lysosomes have been viewed as degradative organelles. Recently, an emerging role of lysosome has been identified in modulating the dynamic Ca2+storage. In this lecture, Prof. Nigel Emptage introduced his work published on Neuron titled “Activity-Dependent Exocytosis of Lysosomes Regulates the Structural Plasticity of Dendritic Spines”. Prof. Nigel Emptage demonstrated that back propagating action potentials (bpAPs) could elicit Ca2+ release from lysosomes in the dendrites. This Ca2+ release thereby contributed to the fusion of lysosomes with the plasma membrane. Consequently, this fusion causes the release of Cathepsin B which increased the activity of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), an enzyme involved synaptic plasticity. Inhibition of either lysosomal Ca2+ or Cathepsin B release impaired dendritic spine growth induced by Hebbian LTP. This machinery could be reversed by application of active MMP-9.

       Finally, Prof. Ye presented the award to Prof. Nigel Emptage. (Written by Zongliang Wang)

Brief introduction of speaker:

Holding a first degree in Biophysics Prof. Nigel Emptage joined the group of Professor Malcolm Burrows, FRS in the Department of Zoology, Cambridge. Following the completion of PhD Prof.  Emptage received a SERC-NATO fellowship, held in the laboratory of Professor Tom Carew at Yale University, USA. Prof. Nigel Emptage thereafter joined the University of Oxdord in 2000 from the National Institute for Medical Research, London.