Dissecting synaptic and cellular physiology
Neurons primarily communicate through chemical synapses, and changes in the strength of those synaptic connections are the main mechanism for learning and memory in the brain. Synaptic dysfunction is also implicated in psychiatric disorders, as many risk alleles correspond to genes encoding for synaptic proteins. A major focus of our lab is to dissect the physiology of synapses, how changes in synaptic function contributes to disease, and the interplay between synaptic signaling and intracellular physiology.