Featured Photos

	Circuits in the Drosophila Larval Ventral Nerve Cord. Just as in the human brain, the fruitfly Drosophila has complex arrangements of neurons interconnected by synapses to form circuits. The picture shows the Ventral Nerve Cord of a Drosophila larvae, a structure which shares some similarities of function to the human spinal cord. Motor neurons are in blue, interneurons are in red and a subset of motor neuron dendrites is labelled in green. see McCabe Lab
	Hippocampus from GFP reporter mice counterstained with VGLUT1 (red), a marker of excitatory synapses. Hypofunction of these synapses has been proposed to be involved in the pathogenesis underlying several psychiatric disorders. see Joseph A. Gogos, M.D., Ph.D.
	"Steroids modulate potassium channels" Cortisone, a common drug treating inflammation, was found to interact with beta subunit of voltage-dependent potassium channels. A high resolution crystal structure of cortisone in complex with the beta subunit reveals a novel regulation site. The beta subunit is shown as surface representation in green, and cortisone is shown as ball-and-stick, with carbon in yellow and oxygen in red. Potassium currents recorded before (black) and after (red) cortisone application are show in the lower right corner. Ongoing research in Dr. Zhou’s lab is aimed at understanding the physiological functions and pharmacological regulations of potassium channels. see Ming Zhou, Ph.D.
	Neuromuscular junction synaptic terminal of a Drosophila Larva (terminal in boutons in green, motor neurons in red, muscles in blue). Drosophila larval muscles are stereotypically innervated by individual identified motor neurons allowing single synapse experimental resolution and genetic manipulation. Larva grow at an extraordinary rate with the muscle surface area of muscles expanding by 100–fold during a five day period. This increase in muscle size is accompanied by a concomitant increase in the size, complexity and neurotransmitter output of neuromuscular synapses. Dynamic morphological growth, coupled with the ability to carry out electrophysiological studies makes this an ideal system to isolate and study genes required for synaptic development and to examine synaptic defects in Drosophila models of neurological disease. see McCabe Lab
	Connectivity patterns within a model neural network used to study how signals are propagated and routed from one region of the brain to another. Failure modes in this network are used to test theories of the role of interneurons in disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. see Larry Abbott, Ph.D.
	Live two-photon image of the lung shows microvascular network surrounding air-filled alveoli. Endothelial cells lining the vascular lumen show fluorescence in pseudocolor of the cytosolic dye, calcein (red) and the nuclear-staining dye, Hoechst 33342 (purple). The largest vessel is a venule (diameter, 20 microns) that collects blood from capillaries emanating from the inter-alveolar septum. Microvascular branches occurring normal to the image plane appear as circular structures. Such imaging is aimed at understanding the sites at which leukocytes cross the microvascular barrier and the routes they take to reach alveolar spaces. see Jahar Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D.
	Location and morphology of inhibitory neurons in the dorsal horn are revealed by immunohistochemistry. The red cell is an example of a biocytin-filled EGFP-positive inhibitory neuron from a postnatal day 30 mouse. The cell body is at the lamina I/II border within the spinal cord, with processes extending as far ventrally as lamina III. The dense band of PCKg-positive somata and puncta (blue) reveals inner lamina II. Other EGPF-positive inhibitory neurons are also visible (green). Scale bars is 50 mm. see Amy MacDermott, Ph.D.

	A neuron in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster labeled with a membrane-targeted green fluorescent protein. The cell body is in the center and is surrounded by exuberant dendritic processes. Ongoing research in the department is aimed at understanding how dendritic arbors develop their characterictic morphologies that are critical for proper nervous system function. see Grueber Lab

Expression of Hensin and Galectin 3 in the Colon. Hensin is a protein involved in terminal differentiation of epithelia. In the stem cell compartment (the crypts, right) hensin is only present in intracellular vesicles. In the terminally differentiated cells (the surface cells
(left) hensin is present in an extracellular pattern where it colocalizes with galectin 3, a protein necessary for its polymerization. see Qais Al-Awqati, M.D, CH.B.