Our research is focused on molecular and supramolecular structures that facilitate communication between neurons at the chemical synapse and how such structures are perturbed in neurological disease. We are particularly interested in the architectural arrangement of signaling molecules and enzymes, and characterizing the ways in which such molecular assemblies are formed and undergo changes during synaptic transmission and modulation. Our approach is to investigate individual proteins using cryoEM methods and to combine this information with cryoET reconstructions of the intact chemical synapse. Our long-term goal is to construct a dynamic molecular and architectural map for the chemical synapse that will help to understand synaptic formation, transmission and plasticity
