David L. Van Vactor
Harvard University, MA·Neuroscience
Learning and memory depend on synapses, the contact points where nerve cells pass signals, being able to change shape and strength when they are used repeatedly. Many genes that drive this remodeling have been linked to neurological and psychiatric disorders, so cells keep the process under tight control.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
synaptic plasticity
microRNA
miR-219
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Test how miR-219, a conserved microRNA, controls dRalGPS levels at the fly neuromuscular junction, using site-directed mutagenesis of its binding site and tissue-specific analysis in muscle.
- Determine where dRalGPS, an activator of the Ral switch protein, acts in the pathway that builds the subsynaptic reticulum, using genetic epistasis and protein localization studies in Drosophila larvae.
- Define the regulatory dependence of synaptic target genes on miR-219 and other postsynaptic microRNAs, including whether neural activity controls miR-219 loading into Argonaute 1 silencing complexes.
More about the research
This project studies one layer of that control: microRNAs, short RNA molecules that do not make proteins but instead turn down the production of specific target proteins.
Why it matters
Many genes that build and remodel synapses are associated with a wide range of neurological, psychiatric and other nervous system disorders. Mapping how conserved microRNAs such as miR-219 tune these genes adds basic understanding of how synapses adapt to repeated signals. This understanding could eventually inform how such disorders arise, since the fly microRNA and its target site are conserved in humans.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Robert Carrillo
University of Chicago, IL·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test how combinations of Dpr and DIP cell surface proteins tell Drosophila motor neurons which muscles to connect to, using single-cell genetic changes in motor neurons that express six DIPs.
Clarissa Henry
University of Maine, ME·Biology
Determine motor neuron- and muscle-specific roles for Dol-P-Man, a sugar building block made with the help of Dpm3, and dystroglycan (DG) at the neuromuscular junction, using cell-type-specific zebrafish genetic models.
Osvaldo Delbono
Wake Forest University, NC·Neuroscience
Define how brainstem A5 sympathetic neurons projecting to hindlimb muscles affect motor denervation, neuromuscular junction signaling and muscle mass and strength with aging, using optogenetics and retrograde labeling in living mice.
The school
Harvard University: 42 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 712 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.