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Robert Renden, Ph.D.
Robert Renden, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Physiology and Cell Biology
Dr. Renden obtained his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Utah in 2003 studying synaptic transmission at Drosophila neuromuscular junction. During his post-doc work at the Vollum Institute in Portland, he switched to mammalian brain slice preperation investigating synaptic transmission and vesicle reclyling of the calyx Held.
Dr. Renden then continued his studies of the calyx in Heidelberg, Germany before being recruited to UCB, a pharmaceutical company in Belgium, to research drug targets for neurological diseases. In 2011, he relocated to the University of Nevada, Reno and is now an associate professor of Physiology and Cell Biology.
Sarpras Swain, Ph.D.
Sarpras Swain, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Scholar
Sarpras received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from India Institute of Technology (Hyderbad) in 2019. His experience imaging neuronal cell cultures and 3D printed microfluidics will be a useful addition of expertise to the lab.
Ryan Durbin
Ryan Durbin
Post-Doctoral Scholar
Ryan received his BS at UNR ( Neuroscience) in 2020, and joined the lab in 2021. He earned his Ph.D. in Integrative Neuroscience in Spring 2025, and is continuing his studies using fluorescence imaging at the mouse NMJ to monitor activity dependent pH shifts in the synaptic cleft in healthy and mice that genetically model ALS.
Matheus Hofner, PhD.
Matheus Hofner, PhD.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Matheus comes to us from the lab of Dr. Christopher Kushmerick (Federal University of Minas Gerais; Belo Horizonte, Brazil) where he completed his Ph.D. (Physiology and Pharmacology) in 2023. Matheus brings expertise in recording from the postsynaptic MNTB neurons in mouse brian slice, and is pursuing projects to examin ethe role of mitochondrial fission proteins at the calyx synapse. [Coincidentally, Chris Kushmerick is the one who taught Bob to record from the MNTB, so this closes a professional loop.]
Lab Alumni
Lab Alumni
Peng Xu, M.S.
Peng Xu, M.S.
Research Scientist
Peng joined the lab in December 2020, and was our resident electrophysiologist until Summer 2024. He performed slice recordings at the calyx of Held synapse, to discern the role of MCU at the presynaptic terminal, among other projects.
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