Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Program Brain and Cognitive Sciences

The laboratory’s mission is to better understand the causes and mechanisms of brain tumors, such as glioblastomas, in order to provide more individualized treatment to patients today and develop innovative therapies for these aggressive cancers in the future. To investigate these questions we use multiple techniques such as electrophysiological recordings from neurons and dendrites in brain slices and cultures, PCR analysis of gene expression, histochemical analysis of protein expression and optogenetic manipulations. Our objectives are to define the principles underlying the normal and abnormal operation of the basal ganglia. Our hope is that this information will provide the foundation for the rational development of therapies that more effectively treat the symptoms or underlying causes of these disorders.

Unlocking the Brain: Peptide-Guided Nanoparticles Deliver mRNA to Neurons

In the absence of synaptic partners, each specialization has the intrinsic capacity to assemble morphological rudimentary structures. Which side initiates synaptic cross-talk in vivo depends on the neuronal types and specific synapses. Cell-surface proteins, such as neurexin and neuroligins, and secreted proteins, such as laminins, have long been studied for their roles in specifying synaptic connectivity. Four reviews in this series cover recent advance in understanding the molecular complexity of synaptogenetsis and synapse maintenance, and present complementary insights on the same molecule in distinct neuronal circuits and from different model organisms.

ActFlowMapping Code released as part of the project reported in Cole, Ito, et al. (

Sakers and Eroglu focus on the neuroligin protein family, which are ligands for neurexins and were previously thought to be only produced from neurons and reside in postsynaptic compartment. However, a series of NYU Klann Laboratory recent papers have demonstrated that astrocytes produce neuroligin 2 and that the glial produced neuroligins not only regulate synaptogenesis and synapse transmission but also contribute to disease pathogenesis and glioma. Lastly, Connor et al. provide a comprehensive review on how the vertebrate-specific immunoglobulin superfamily proteins known as MDGAs interact with neuroligins to suppress synapse development. MDGAs are tethered to the membrane through a GPI anchor, and MDGA–neuroligin interactions occlude neuroligin–neurexin binding. As accumulating evidence links mutations in these molecules to various neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, these reviews are timely and point to many questions for future investigation.

MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

My laboratory was just beginning to move to the use of rodent brain slices to study synaptic transmission. George had already made some initial inquires of possible publishers. On consideration, we decided that limiting the focus to invertebrates was much too narrow, and the result was the creation of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, which published its first issue in 1981. I was the Editor-in-Chief, a position I held until 1987 when my friend and colleague, Juan Saavedra, took over. And I’m delighted to find a manuscript in this issue from George Stefano and his colleagues 40 years later, now doing real molecular neurobiology in humans.

Yishi Jin is a Distinguished Professor in Neurobiology Section, Division of Biological Sciences and Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, the School of Medicine, at the University of California, San Diego. She is the inaugural holder of the Junior Seau Foundation Endowed Chair in Traumatic Brain Injury. She received her BS with honors in Cell Biology at Peking University and her PhD in Molecular Biology at University of California, Berkeley. She carried out postdoctoral work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr Jin’s lab has pioneered the use of in vivo labeling of synaptic components and employed the powerful genetic analysis in C. Elegans to elucidate conserved molecular pathways regulating synapse formation.

There are so many diverse opportunities to engage in neuroscience research at MIT that the options can be somewhat overwhelming. She completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan, where she developed a modular biomaterial system for gene, drug, and stem cell delivery to promote repair after spinal cord injury. In 2020, Dumont was awarded the inaugural Junior Frost Fellow Award in chemistry for her targeted drug delivery strategies following nerve injury. We use an interdisciplinary approach in this research, using a combination of behavioral, biomechanical, and neurophysiological techniques. Our current research examines the neural control of internal joint variables, evaluating the hypothesis that the nervous system actively regulates the stresses and strains within joints in order to minimize injury. We want to understand how neural circuits across many brain areas interact to support decision making.