2023 Prather Lecture Series: Thomas Südhof
Date and Time
Location
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
Adhesion-GPCRs in synapse formation
Abstract: In the last decade, two families of postsynaptic adhesion-GPCRs, latrophilins and BAI’s, have emerged as major drivers of synapse formation. However, how these adhesion-GPCRs orchestrate synapse assembly and other processes in brain remains unclear. Current data demonstrate that these adhesion-GPCRs interact with multiple ligands in synapse formation and function as true GPCRs, suggesting that synapse formation involves a classical signal transduction cascade pathway that is rendered specific for synapse assembly via defined extra- and intracellular interactions. In my talk, I will focus on recent results that illustrate facets of the function of these important molecules that constitute central regulators of how neural circuits are assembled and restructured continuously in brain.
Co-sponsored by The Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology