We are interested in understanding the contribution played by intracellular transport and membrane trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors, transporters and organelles for regulating neuronal activity and synapse function. Major directions of the lab include studying how neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity are regulated by the trafficking of GABAA receptors and glutamate transporters. Another major focus is to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate recruitment of mitochondria (and hence ATP production) to synapses during neuronal activity and in neurodegeneration. We use various approaches including molecular and cell biology, physiology and imaging to study these processes.

• Arancibia-Carcamo I.L., Kittler,J.T. (2009). Regulation of GABAA receptor membrane trafficking and synaptic localization. Pharmacology and Therapeutics.     
• MacAskill,A.F., Brickley,K., Stephenson,F.A., Kittler,J.T. (2009). GTPase dependent recruitment of Grif-1 by Miro1 regulates mitochondrial trafficking in hippocampal neurons.Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 40, 301-312.                                       
• MacAskill,A.F., Rinholm,J.E., Twelvetrees,A.E., Arancibia-Carcamo,I.L., Muir,J., Fransson,A., Aspenstrom,P., Attwell,D., Kittler,J.T., (2009). Miro1 Is a Calcium Sensor for Glutamate Receptor-Dependent Localization of Mitochondria at Synapses. Neuron 61(4), 541-555. 

• Kittler,J.T., Chen,G., Kukhtina,V., Vahedi-Faridi,A., Gu,Z., Tretter,V., Smith,K.R., McAinsh,K., Arancibia-Carcamo,I.L., Saenger,W., Haucke,V., Yan,Z., Moss,S.J. (2008).Regulation of synaptic inhibition by phospho-dependent binding of the AP2 complex to a YECL motif in the GABAA receptor gamma2 subunit. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, 3616-3621.                                                                                      
• Smith,K.R., McAinsh,K., Chen,G., Arancibia-Carcamo,I.L., Haucke,V., Yan,Z., Moss,S.J., Kittler,J.T. (2008). Regulation of inhibitory synaptic transmission by a conserved atypical interaction of GABAA receptor β and γ- subunits with the clathrin AP2 adaptor.Neuropharmacology 55, 844-850. 

• Kastning,K., Kukhtina,V., Kittler,J.T., Chen,G., Pechstein,A., Enders,S., Lee,S.H., Sheng,M., Yan,Z., Haucke,V. (2007). Molecular determinants for the interaction between AMPA receptors and the clathrin adaptor complex AP-2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104, 2991-2996. 

• Chen,G., Kittler,J.T.J., Moss,S.J., Yan,Z. (2006). Dopamine D3 receptors regulate GABAA receptor function through a phospho-dependent endocytosis mechanism in nucleus accumbens. Journal of Neuroscience 26(9), 2513-2521.                                 
• Kittler,J.T. (2006). Censoring the editor in transient forebrain ischemia. Neuron 49(5), 646-648. 

• Jacob,T.C., Bogdanov,Y.D., Magnus,C., Saliba,R.S., Kittler,J.T., Haydon,P.G., Moss,S.J.(2005). Gephyrin regulates the cell surface dynamics of synaptic GABAA receptors. Journal of Neuroscience 25(45), 10469-10478.                                          
• Kittler,J.T., Chen,G., Honing,S., Bogdanov,Y., McAinsh,K., Arancibia-Carcamo,I.L., Jovanovic,J.N., Pangalos,M.N., Haucke,V., Yan,Z., Moss,S.J. (2005). Phospho-dependent binding of the clathrin AP2 adaptor complex to GABAA receptors regulates the efficacy of inhibitory synaptic transmission. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102(41), 14871-14876. 

• Kittler,J.T., Thomas,P., Tretter,V., Bogdanov,Y.D., Haucke,V., Smart,T.G., Moss,S.J.(2004). Huntingtin-associated protein 1 regulates inhibitory synaptic transmission by modulating gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor membrane trafficking. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 101(34), 12736-12741. 

• Bedford,F.K., Kittler,J.T., Muller,E., Thomas,P., Uren,J.M., Merlo,D., Wisden,W., Triller,A., Smart,T.G., Moss,S.J. (2001). GABAA receptor cell surface number and subunit stability are regulated by the ubiquitin like protein Plic-1. Nature Neuroscience 4, 917-926.