Avital Adah Rodal, Ph.D., M.O.S.

B.Sc., 1997  MIT

Ph.D., 2002  University of California, Berkeley

 

Cytoskeletal Dynamics at the Synapse  Neuronal activity can be modulated by changing cell morphology and connectivity, and by regulating localization of synaptic components. However, neither the precise function of the cytoskeleton in organizing the synapse nor the signaling pathways that lead from synaptic activity to cytoskeletal targets are well understood. I am approaching these problems by characterizing Drosophila mutants that are predicted to perturb cytoskeletal dynamics at the synapse. In particular, I am studying mutants of WASp (wsp1; Wiscott-Aldrich Syndrome protein) and SCAR, two proteins that promote actin polymerization, and NWK (nervous wreck), a conserved WASp-binding protein that is required in Drosophila for proper synapse assembly and function.