Avital Rodal (Brandeis)

Routing and remodeling membranes at synapses
Date
Nov 9, 2016, 12:00 pm12:00 pm
Location
Thomas Laboratory, 003
Audience
Free and open to the university community and the public.

Speakers

Avital Rodal
Assistant Professor of Biology
Brandeis University

Details

Event Description

Cells self-organize by continuously remodeling internal membrane compartments that move and sort signaling, structural, and metabolic cargo. Neurons in particular depend heavily on endocytic and endosomal membrane traffic to facilitate the rapid recycling of neurotransmitter-containing synaptic vesicles, to maintain their morphology and compartmentalization, and to sustain and regulate transport and growth factor signaling over long distances Our goal is to understand how membrane-remodeling machinery is harnessed to control the unique membrane structures that are tailored to the physiological functions of neurons. We use a combination of mechanistic biochemistry, in vivo imaging, and Drosophila genetics to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which the architecture of synapses is regulated by networks of interacting membrane remodeling proteins. We are also exploring the connection between neurodegenerative disease phenotypes and these membrane trafficking pathways, by manipulating and visualizing sub-cellular neuronal trafficking events in Drosophila models of ALS and Alzheimer's Disease.

Sponsor
Sabine Petry, Department of Molecular Biology
Event Category
Butler Seminar Series