Professor of Zoology/Neurobiology



Joachim W. Deitmer Address: Abteilung für Allgemeine Zoologie Fachbereich Biologie Postfach 3049 Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße 13 Technische Universität Kaiserslautern 67663 Kaiserslautern Germany Phone: +49-631-205-2877 Fax: +49-631-205-3515 E-mail: deitmer@biologie.uni-kl.de Further information: www.uni-kl.de/ FB-Biologie/AG-Deitmer MEDLINE database search for Joachim W. Deitmer

1976 Dr. rer. nat., University of Konstanz
1976-1978 Postdoctoral fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft at the Medical School, University of Bristol, U.K.
1978-1985 Faculty of Biology, Ruhr-University, Bochum
1981 Habilitation, Ruhr-University Bochum
1982-1983 Max-Kade Fellow at the Department Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
1985-1989 Heisenberg-Fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, University of Düsseldorf
Since 1989 Professor of Zoology/Neurobiology at the Faculty of Biology, University of Kaiserslautern, Head of the General Zoology Group
1995-1997 Dean of the Department of Biology

Major Research Interest:

Nervous systems are made of two major cell types, neurons and glial cells. In the human brain, glial cells outnumber neurons by a factor of ten, nevertheless, little is still known about glial cells. We are interested in the properties and functions of glial cells and their contribution to the information processing in the brain. In particular, we study glia-neuron communication in rodent cerebellum, in isolated leech ganglia and during metamorphosis of the sphinx moth, using patch-clamp, conventional electrophysiological methods, confocal and two-photon laser scanning microscopy and calcium imaging. In addition, we are interested in glial membrane transport involved in shuttling metabolites between glial cells and neurons, and express glial transport proteins in frog oocytes to study their cooperation.

Selected Recent Publications:

Schneider, H.P., Bröer, S., Bröer, A. & Deitmer, J.W. (2007) Heterologous expression of the glutamine transporter SNAT3 in Xenopus oocytes is associated with four modes of transport. J. Biol. Chem. 282, 3788-3798.
Singaravelu, K., Lohr, C. & Deitmer, J.W. (2006) Regulation of store-operated calcium entry by calcium-independent phyospholipase A2 in rat cerebellar astrocytes. J. Neurosci. 26, 9579-9592.
Zur Nieden, R. & Deitmer, J.W. (2006) The role of metabotropic glutamate receptors for the generation of calcium oscillations in rat hippocampal astrocytes in situ. Cereb. Cortex 16, 676-687.
Becker, H.M., Hirnet, D., Fecher-Trost, C., Sültemeyer, D. & Deitmer, J.W. (2005) Transport activity of MCT1 expressed in Xenopus oocytes is increased by interactions with carbonic anhydrase. J. Biol. Chem. 280, 39882-39889.
Casel, D., Brockhaus, J. & Deitmer, J.W. (2005) Enhancement of spontaneous synaptic activity in rat Purkinje neurons by ATP during development. J. Physiol. 568.1, 111-122.
Britz, F.C., Hirth, I.C. & Deitmer, J.W. (2004) Second messenger cascade of glial responses evoked by interneuron activity and by a myomodulin peptide in the leech central nervous system. Eur. J. Neurosci. 19, 983-992.