Abstract: Metal ions play fundamental roles in our central nervous system (CNS), including tasks as neurotransmitters, neuromod-ulators or secondary messengers. Because of the importance of these tasks, a dysregulation of metal ion homeostasis leads to fatal consequences: metal ions play an important role in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as well as ALS; however, the detailed underlying cellular processes are still elusive. This is, first, because of the complexity of the system, and second, because of the challenge to observe and de-tect spectroscopically silent metal ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. In the last decades, fluorescent sensors have emerged as powerful tools to monitor specific metal ions such as zinc, e.g. This talk highlights the role zinc ions play in synaptic transmission and presents strategies for the sensor design of fluorescent zinc sensors. 

Jun.- Prof. Dr. Sabine Becker, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern