Principal Investigator:

Vincent Pieribone
Associate Fellow
John B. Pierce Laboratory

Associate Professor of Cellular & Molecular Physiology and Neurobiology
Yale University School of Medicine

Research Interests

Changes in the strength of synaptic connections between neurons lie at the heart of information processing and storage in the central nervous system. While great insight into the mechanisms of synaptic transmission has emerged over the past decades, a unifying theory of the cellular mechanisms of vesicular release is still lacking. Dr. Pieribone uses electrophysiological and microscopic imaging techniques to observe and subtly alter the pre-synaptic vesicle release machinery in individual synapses to gain understanding into the workings of the synapse. Alterations in the minute details of synaptic structure are also examined using an electron microscope. He is also developing animals which contain genetically encoded reporters of neuronal activity that will allow him to simultaneously monitor the activity of ensembles of neurons in a functioning nervous system. These types of studies will allow a better understanding of the neuronal networks that encode information in the central nervous system.

Current Projects

Representative Publications