Dr Gülşen Sürmeli

Investigating cortical memory networks using advanced anatomical, electrophysiological, optogenetic and imaging methods.

Dr Gülşen Sürmeli 

Hugh Robson Building

15 George Square 

Edinburgh EH8 9XD

Contact details

 Work: +44 (0) 131 650 3254

 Email: gsurmeli@ed.ac.uk

 Web: Surmeli Lab

Personal profile

  • Present: Sir Henry Dale Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • 2017 - 2018: Wellcome Trust ISSF3 Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • 2012 - 2017: Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Edinburgh, UK
  • 2011 - 2012: HHMI Fellow, Janelia Research Campus, USA

Education

PhD, Columbia University, USA

Research Theme

Synapses, Circuits and Behaviour 

Research

Long-term memory involves interactions dispersed across cortical circuits, but how these interactions are coordinated is not known. Hippocampus and the medial entorhinal cortex are thought to play pivotal roles in the formation and coordination of cortical memory networks. However, organising principles for distribution of entorhinal and hippocampal projections to the cortex have not been established thoroughly and how these projections play roles in the formation and shaping of cortical network activity is unknown. The lab investigates these unknowns at a circuit level using advanced anatomical, electrophysiological, optogenetic and live calcium imaging methods.

Funding

Team members

Collaborations

Current PhD Opportunities

Please contact Dr. Surmeli: gsurmeli@exseed.ed.ac.uk to enquire about current job vacancies and PhD opportunities.

Publications

Tsoi, S.Y., Oncul, M., Svahn, E., Robertson, M., Bogdanowicz, Z., McClure, C., and Sürmeli, G. (2022). Telencephalic outputs from the medial entorhinal cortex are copied directly to the hippocampus. Elife 11. 

Gerlei, K.Z., Brown, C.M., Sürmeli, G., and Nolan, M.F. (2021). Deep entorhinal cortex: from circuit organization to spatial cognition and memory. Trends Neurosci. 44, 876–887.

Pastoll H1, Garden DL1, Papastathopoulos I2, Sürmeli G1, Nolan MF1. Inter- and intra-animal variation in the integrative properties of stellate cells in the medial entorhinal cortex.  2020 Feb 10;9. pii: e52258. doi: 10.7554/eLife.52258

Sürmeli, G., Cosmin-Marcu, D., McClure, C., Pastoll, H., Garden, D., Nolan, M.F., Molecularly defined circuitry reveals input-output segregation in deep layers of the medial entorhinal cortex. (2015) Neuron 88(5). PMCID: PMC4675718

Ramsden, H., Sürmeli, G., McDonagh, S. G., and Nolan, M.F., Laminar and Dorsoventral Molecular Organization of the Medial Entorhinal Cortex Revealed by Large-scale Anatomical Analysis of Gene Expression. (2015) PLOS Comp. Biol., 11(1). PMCID: PMC4304787

Gonzalez-Sulser, A., Parthier, D., Candela, A., McClure, C., Pastoll, H., Garden, D., Sürmeli, G., and Nolan, M. F., GABAergic projections from the medial septum selectively inhibit interneurons in the medial entorhinal cortex. (2014) J. Neurosci. 34(50). PMCID: PMC4261098.

Lacombe, J., Hanley, O., Jung, H., Philippidou, P., Surmeli, G., Grinstein., J, Dasen, J.S. Genetic and functional modularity of Hox activities in the specification of limb-innervating motor neurons. (2013). PLoS Genet. 9(1).

Jessell, T.M., Sürmeli, G., Kelley, J.S. Motor Neurons and the Sense of Place. (2011). Neuron 72, 1-6.

Sürmeli, G., Akay, T., Ippolito, G., Tucker, P.W. and Jessell, T.M. (2011). Patterns of Spinal Sensory-Motor Connectivity Prescribed by a Dorsoventral Positional Template. Cell 147, 653-665. PMCID: PMC3238499.