Chang, Karen T.
Associate Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience
Our lab is interested in understanding how neurons communicate with high fidelity to support complex brain functions. We aim to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms that enable precise synaptic signaling and to explore how disruptions in these processes contribute to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a genetically tractable model system, we integrate electrophysiology, molecular biology, confocal imaging, proteomics, and behavioral analysis to investigate synaptic function and plasticity.
Coba, Marcelo
Neurodevelopmental neurodegenerative and psychiatric disease are complex brain disorders, and a multitude of genes have been described to contribute to their pathology with different penetrance. Human genetic studies have discovered many genes associated with disease susceptibility that are usually described as risk factors. For each of these disorders, synaptic proteins have been implicated, in particular those involved in synaptic plasticity and protein complexes associated to the post-synaptic density (PSD). Despite these discoveries, there has been a gap in understanding the underlying mechanisms that contribute to cellular dysfunction in these disorders. Our long-term goal is to determine how candidate risk factors are functionally integrated and how mutations affect their function, not individually, but in developmental signaling networks.
Tabbaa, Manal
Research in the Tabbaa lab leverages genetically diverse mouse genetic reference panels to model individual differences in complex behaviors and susceptibility to a high-confidence autism risk gene. The goal of these projects is to better model genetically diverse populations in mice in order to address the challenging issue of developmental heterogeneity and genetic risk factor susceptibility in human neurodevelopmental disorders.
