Dr. Jeffrey Dason

Ph.D. Physiology and Neuroscience (University of Toronto)

M.Sc. Biology (York University)

B.Sc. (Honours) Neuroscience and Biological Sciences (University of Toronto at Scarborough)

Jeff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Windsor. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Physiology and the Collaborative Program in Neuroscience at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Professor Harold Atwood. During his Ph.D., Jeff discovered that two calcium-binding proteins, Frequenin1 and Frequenin2, regulate synaptic transmission and structure through an interaction with calcium channels. For his first postdoctoral fellowship, Jeff worked with Professor Milton Charlton in the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto and found that vesicular cholesterol is required for synaptic vesicle endocytosis, that vesicular and membrane cholesterol pools do not readily intermingle during synaptic vesicle recycling, and that vesicular cholesterol is required for synaptic vesicle protein clustering and sorting. For his second postdoctoral fellowship, Jeff worked with Professor Marla Sokolowski in the Departments of CSB and EEB at the University of Toronto. During his time in Marla’s lab, Jeff found that a cGMP-dependent protein kinase had distinct functions in synaptic vesicle exocytosis, endocytosis and synaptic growth. Furthermore, he found that this kinase regulated nociception and that altering synaptic activity in a nociceptive circuit during development changes nociceptive sensitivity.

Jeff is also actively involved in the Neuroscience community. He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience and the Canadian Association for Neuroscience. He is a CIHR committee member for the Behavioural Sciences A: Neurobiological Basis of Behavioural Processes (BSA) Project Grant panel and is the Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association Councillor for the University of Windsor. In addition, he established and organizes the Windsor chapter of the CIHR Canadian Brain Bee.

See Google Scholar or ORCiD for publications.