Cori will work on a project which uses high resolution light microscopy to examine gene expression in neurons. The long-term objective of these studies is to understand how RNA processing, in particular alternative pre-mRNA splicing, is accomplished and regulated. Alternative pre-mRNA processing is important for generating diversity of gene products from single genes in all tissues, but this mechanism appears to be of particular importance in the nervous system where some of the most dramatic examples of the multiplicity of gene products produced by alternative splicing occur. In particular, she wants to understand how the alternative RNA splicing of the gene encoding both calcitonin and the neuropeptide CGRP. She will use a combination of in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry to co-localize the gene with known regulators in a variety of primary and immortalized cells. This work is at the cutting edge of molecular cell biology as well as molecular neurobiology. It is highly likely that the work will lead to authorship on a publication.