Gabe Rosenhouse B.A. with honors University of Chicago email: gir at uchicago dot edu Advisor: Eric Schwartz

Neurotransmitters can be released a number of ways. In most neurons, before being released, transmitter molecules are pre-packaged into vesicles—small, spherical, intracellular containers. When triggered, those vesicles fuse with the cell surface membrane, emptying their contents into the synaptic cleft. But in some cases neurotransmitters are actively expelled from neurons without first entering a vesicle. Instead, specialized proteins called transporters can pump transmitters directly into the synaptic cleft. In the Schwartz lab, we study vesicle- and transporter-mediated synaptic transmission using a combination of electrical, optical, genetic, and mathematical techniques. Currently, we are developing a kinetic model of vesicle fusion, based on video recordings of fluorescently-labeled vesicles made with a total internal reflection microscope. We are also genetically targeting Channelrhodopsin, a light-sensitive cation channel, to zebrafish inhibitory interneurons to allow for optical stimulation of transport-mediated synapses that are difficult to control with electrical techniques.

Committee on Neurobiology  |  University of Chicago

04/04/08