We are interested in molecular aspects of signaling in Neurobiology, and are investigating a variety of molecules underlying the cell-cell communications which control central nervous system development and function.   

One avenue of study asks how a wide range neural growth factors, called neurotrophic factors, are recognized by a limited set of shared receptors and initiate diverse, often opposing, signaling functions for death or survival.

Other avenues of study focus on receptor systems that deliver instructive guidance cues mediating axonal pathfinding, synaptic communication, and that are critical for formation of mature neural circuits.  It is in these systems that we are engaged in attempts to ‘deorphanize’ orphan receptors using proteomic approaches, and subsequently determine their functions.