Thomas L. Schwarz
Children's Hospital
Center for Life Sciences Building 12120
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 919-2219
Fax: (617) 919-2771
Email: Thomas.schwarz@childrens.harvard.edu
5 postdoctoral fellows, 4 graduate students
The research interests of the Schwarz Lab include 1) the mechanism of secretion of neurotransmitters at synapses; 2) trafficking of membrane proteins and exocytosis; 3) axonal transport of organelles, particularly mitochondria, by kinesins; and 4) the development of synapses. Our primary experimental organism is Drosophila melanogaster, although we use mammalia cells as well. We therefore approach each of these questions through a combination of genetics, biochemistry, electrophysiology, cell biology, and microscopy.
Our interests thus center on the intersection of fundamental cell biology with the functioning of neurons in particular. How do membranes fuse? How do motors control the distribution of organelles? The neuron, because of its extraordinarily complex structure and highly regulated mode of exocytosis, offers special challenges to general cell biological processes. For example, every cell needs to regulate the number of mitochondria they contain and their distribution within the cell, but in neurons this task is particularly complex because axons may extend over a meter in length from the cell soma and because different regions of the neuron can have very different energetic demands. Similarly, while every cell has membrane traffic within the cell and exocytosis at its surface, the neuron needs to regulate the release of neurotransmitter with sub-millisecond timing and with precise control of the number of vesicles to fuse. Therefore, we move back and forth from neurons to non-neuronal cells to understand the fundamental processes of membrane traffic and their specializations in neurons. Recent projects have also caused us to examine the manner in which signals are communicated from the synapse to the nucleus and the cell biology and signaling events that are required to form a presynaptic nerve terminal.
References:
- Dickman, D.K, Horne, J.A., Meinertzhagen, I.A., and Schwarz, T.L. (2005) A slowed classical pathway rather than kiss-and-run mediates endocytosis at synapses lacking synaptojanin and endophilin. Cell 123:521-533.
- Pack-Chung, E., Kurshan, P.T., Dickman, D.K., and Schwarz, T.L. (2007) Immaculate Connections, a Drosophila Kinesin, is Required for Synaptic Bouton Formation and Synaptic Vesicle Transport. Nature Neuroscience. In press.
- Dickman, D.K., Kurshan, P.T., and Schwarz, T.L. (2008) Mutations in a Drosophila α2δ voltage-gated calcium channel subunit reveal a crucial synaptic function. J. Neurosci. 28:31-38.
- Wang, X. and Schwarz, T.L. (2009) The mechanism of Ca++ regulation of kinesin-mediated mitochondrial motility. Cell 136:163-174.
BBS webpage updated 12/02/2009