Close on the heels of his successful doctoral thesis defense, Ravi Das, our newest PhD, made the cover of the December 7, 2016 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience. The cover image is his picture of the dendritic arbor of a Drosophila class-IV (C-IV) da sensory neuron. Ravi is a co-first author of an article appearing in the same edition: “The Proteome of BLOC-1 Genetic Defects Identifies the Arp2/3 Actin Polymerization Complex to Function Downstream of the Schizophrenia Susceptibility Factor Dysbindin at the Synapse”.
An excerpt from the article describes the significance of the work. “The mechanisms associated with schizophrenia are mostly unknown despite the increasing number of genetic loci identified that increase disease risk. …. Our studies indicate that a central cellular structure affected by schizophrenia susceptibility loci is the actin cytoskeleton, an organelle necessary for synaptic function in the presynaptic and postsynaptic compartment.”
Here is a link to the article: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/49/12393?iss=49