Aline Blunk, 2005-

Aline is studying the interaction of the Nervous Wreck FCH/SH3 adapter protein with sorting nexins.  Nwk mutants alter synapse development and terminal branching, but the underlying mechansim is unknown.  Aline is identify additional components of the Nwk signaling machinery to better understand how Nwk is regulated and how it modifys synpatic growth and function. In addition, Aline is characterizing SNARE-dependent mechanisms that regulate vesicle trafficking pathways in the presynaptic terminal that mediate activity-dependent synaptic growth signals.