# 2023 Prather Lecture Series: Thomas Südhof #### calendar\_today Date and Time **April 13, 2023** 12:00PM - 12:00PM EDT #### pin\_drop Location **Northwest Building, B-103, 52 Oxford Street** [](https://med.stanford.edu/sudhoflab.html) ![Thomas Südhof](/sites/g/files/omnuum6811/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/oeb/files/thomas_sudhof.png?itok=syQ18HCB) Thomas Südhof Avram Goldstein Professor Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Professor, Dept. of Molecular & Cellular Physiology and of Neurosurgery; Professor, Dept. of Neurology & Neurological Sciences and of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science [Neurexins: Master switches of synapse organization](https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/news/thomas-sudhof-to-give-2023-john-m-prather-lectures-april-12-13-and-14/) **Abstract:** Neurexins are presynaptic adhesion molecules that are expressed in thousands of splice variants and interact with more than 30 extracellular ligands, often in a manner regulated by alternative splicing. Data emerging over the last decade revealed a central role for neurexins in organizing synapse properties. Dependent on the neurexin isoform, its splice variant, and its ligands involved, neurexins control critical pre- and postsynaptic features that span almost all of synapse organization. Among these features are the presynaptic release probability, presynaptic neuromodulator responses, and postsynaptic glutamate receptor levels. Instead of trying to describe in my talk the entirety of these results, I will focus on two key projects that illustrate the central role of neurexins in synapses and provide an example for how these multifaceted proteins function as master switches of synapse properties. Co-sponsored by The Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology See also:- [ Prather Lecture Series ](/event-type/prather-lecture-series) Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://www.oeb.harvard.edu/node/1493446/event-feed.ics) Copy link link