Date of Award

Spring 5-2017

Author's School

College of Arts & Sciences

Author's Program

Biology

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (A.B.)

Restricted/Unrestricted

Unrestricted

Abstract

Over the past two and a half years, I have studied fundamental aspects of astrocyte biology by investigating the existence and mechanism of astrocyte local translation peripherally around tripartite synapses consisting of pre- and post-synaptic neuron terminals and an associated astrocyte. Astrocytes are critical components of central nervous system synapses (which are predominately tripartite in nature); thus, it is important to consider how astrocyte dysregulation and dysfunction could contribute to the pathogenesis of diseases of synaptic connectivity such as autism spectrum disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, seizure disorders, and more. Overall, my projects involved the development of novel methods to identify astrocyte-specific mRNA targets and to visualize and measure local translation.

Mentor

Joseph Dougherty, Ph.D., & Kristina Sakers

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