Jasmin Lalonde
Profile and Department: Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Research Interests:
The morphogenesis of neuronal cells and their organization into functional circuits is a tightly controlled process that follows a series of well-defined steps. Once differentiated and integrated into networks, mature neurons also retain a remarkable capacity to rapidly change the arrangement of their synaptic connections in response to activity—a feature that is believed to critically support cognition as well as our ability to learn and retain information for long periods of time. Importantly, accumulating evidence suggest that perturbation of the molecular interactions responsible for the growth of neurons, or the capacity of these cells to adequately respond to activity-dependent signals, contributes to the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of different brain disorders. One goal of our lab is to elucidate novel effectors and mechanisms involved in the development and/or plasticity of neuronal cells using primary neurons and mouse models. In parallel to these efforts, we apply our findings to different neurodevelopmental brain disorders using patient-derived stem cell models differentiated in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and neurons. We believe that our basic research into these questions will lead to new insights into the etiology of different brain disorders and potentially help recognize original targets for pharmacological intervention and treatment of these debilitating diseases