Troy Littleton is the Menicon Professor in the Department of Biology at MIT, where he is a faculty member of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. His research focuses on the neuronal connections that form function and how neurological diseases disrupt synaptic communication. Using Drosophila as a model organism, he studies how neurons form synaptic connections and how synapses transmit information that underlies learning and memory. Furthermore, he investigates the alterations in neuronal signaling that are implicated in various neurological diseases, including epilepsy, autism, and Huntington’s Disease. His aim is to bridge the gap between these molecular components at the synapse and the physiological responses they mediate. He obtained his PhD in 1994 and MD in 1997 from Baylor College of Medicine after earning his BS in Biochemistry from Louisiana State University in 1989.