Steven S. Carlson

ssc1@u.washington.edu
Professor, Department of Physiology & Biophysics

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Our lab is interested in the molecular recognition events between pre- and postsynaptic cells during synaptogenesis. This recognition allows the nervous system to wire itself correctly during development. We wish to know how the presynaptic axon initially identifies the correct target cell, then how the elements of the neurosecretory apparatus of the presynaptic cell become correctly aligned with the appropriate neurotransmitter receptors on the postsynaptic cell. To understand these events we must first identify the proteins that mediate them, the receptors of the presynaptic plasma membrane and their postsynaptic ligands. Using biochemical and molecular biological methods, we have found several potential receptors and ligands, for example, a synaptic vesicle proteoglycan SV2pg and the extracellular matrix protein laminin. By blocking the interaction between these proteins during synaptogenesis we will determine their precise roles. We have also investigated the central nervous system's extracellalar matrix, of which little was known. In non-neural tissues, the interaction between a cell and its adjacent extracellular matrix can cause a cell to specialize its membrane at the points of contact In order to study such interactions in neural tissue, we have begun to defme the CNS matrix. Unlike other tissues, it appears to be hyaluronan-based and lacks the major forms of collagen.