Michael Hoppa, Ph.D.

Mike completed undergraduate work at Reed College, and completed his DPhil in 2009 at the University of Oxford under the mentorship of Dr. Patrik Rorsman studying insulin secretion. He went on to join Dr. Timothy Ryan at Cornell for his postdoctoral studies studying synaptic transmission. In 2014, Mike started his lab at Dartmouth. The Hoppa Laboratory seeks to identify the organization, function, and therapeutic potential for ion channels and their binding partners in the axons and synapses to control the flow of information in the brain. Our goal is to apply these insights to correct synaptic dysfunction in neurological disorders associated with aging and development. We utilize molecular biology, physiology, and pharmacology in combination with our methodological focus: optogenetics and quantitative fluorescent microscopy! Currently outside of Dartmouth, Mike is a Co-Director of the Neurobiology Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole.