Topic: Cryo electron tomography of neuronal processes and synapses
Speaker: Dr. Vladan Lucic, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany (MPIB)
Date and time: 15:00, September 5
Venue: Auditorium, Y Building
Abstract:
Synaptic transmission, as well as many other cellular processes, is characterized by complex signaling pathways and a highly regulated molecular machinery that require a precise organization of protein complexes. We employed cryo-electron tomography to simultaneously image multiple presynaptic proteins and lipids at molecular resolution in their native environment, developed computational procedures for template-free detection and unsupervised classification, which allowed us to quantitatively characterize synaptic complexes and analyze their spatial organization. Our results advance the hypothesis that synaptic transmission is governed by precisely aligned, molecularly diverse complexes organized in large protein assemblies of variable architecture, and it provides a framework for high- resolution in situ explorations of non-periodic molecular assemblies in other cellular systems.
2002–Present
Project Group Leader, Senior postdoctoral fellow in the department of Prof. W. Baumeister at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
1998–2002
Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. M.B. Kennedy at California Institute of Technology
1988–1989
Scientific researcher in the group headed by Prof. Dj. Koruga at University of Belgrade