The Mechanisms and Functions of Spontaneous Neurotransmitter Release
Abstract
In this lecture, the speaker will discuss his work on the mechanisms underlying spontaneous neurotransmission and also present his findings on how these spontaneous quantal release events impact neuronal signaling.
About the speaker
Prof. Ege T. Kavalali received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University in 1995. He began his career in Stanford University afterwards as a Postdoctoral Fellow and moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern) in 1999 as an Assistant Professor. He was eventually the Effie Marie Cain Scholar in Medical Research and the Rosewood Corporation Chair in Biomedical Science in UT Southwestern. In 2018, he joined the Vanderbilt University and is currently the Professor of Pharmacology.
Prof. Kavalali studies mechanisms of neurotransmission and synaptic signaling in the central nervous system. His research focuses on the molecular basis and functional consequences of heterogeneity among synaptic vesicle recycling pathways present within individual synapses. In particular, his work has uncovered the role and underlying mechanisms of spontaneous neurotransmitter release that holds it apart mechanistically and functionally from evoked neurotransmission.
Prof. Kavalali received the NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation in 2013, and the Established Investigator Award by the American Heart Association in 2006.
