David Sulzer is an American neuroscientist and Professor at Columbia University Medical Center in the Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology and Pharmacology. Sulzer's lab investigates the interaction between the synapses of the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia, including the dopamine system, in habit formation, planning, decision making, and diseases of the system. His lab has developed the first means to optically measure neurotransmission methods, and has introduced new hypotheses of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease and habit learning. Additionally, as a musical artist, he is known as Dave Soldier.

The Sulzer laboratory has made contributions to understanding the basal ganglia and dopamine neurons, brain cells of central importance in translating will to action. They have introduced new methods to demonstrate how the synapses work, including the first means to measure the fundamental "quantal" unit of neurotransmitter release from central synapses and the first video means to observe release of neurotransmitter from individual synapses.

Sulzer's lab, together with that of Dalibor Sames, a chemist at Columbia University, introduced "fluorescent false neurotransmitters," compounds that are accumulated like genuine neurotransmitters into neurons and synaptic vesicles. The use of fluorescent false neurotransmitters provides the first visual approach to observe neurotransmitter release and reuptake from individual synapsesin video.

Sulzer, along with his mentor Stephen Rayport, showed that the neurotransmitter glutamate is released from dopamine neurons, an important exception to the Dale's principle that a neuron releases the same transmitter from each of its synapses.

By introducing the "weak base hypothesis" of amphetamine action, means to measure amphetamine's effects on the quantal size of dopamine release, intracellular patch electrochemistry to measure dopamine levels in the cytosol, and providing real-time measurement of dopamine release by reverse transport, Sulzer's lab showed how amphetamine and methamphetamine release dopamine and other neurotransmitters and exert their synaptic and clinical effects.

The Sulzer lab has published over 120 papers on this research. For his work, Sulzer has received awards from the McKnight Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and NARSAD. He runs the Basic Neuroscience NIH / NIDA (T32) training program for postdoctoral research in basic neuroscience at Columbia. He received a Ph.D. in Biology from Columbia University in 1988.

Sulzer co-administers a long-running monthly Science & Art cafe series in Greenwich Village at the Cornelia Street Cafe, "Entertaining Science" with its founder, chemist and writer Roald Hoffmann.

Neuroscience, Pharmaceutical, Science, Medicine, Research & Exploration Technology,