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Joshua M. Kaplan is a Professor in the Neurobiology department, focusing his research on understanding the signals in the brain that lead to specific patterns of behavior. His work involves a combination of behavioral, genetic, biochemical, imaging, and electrophysiological techniques to study signaling in the brain of the model organism C. elegans. Current projects in his lab investigate synaptic defects caused by mutations related to autism, notably the roles of synaptic adhesion molecules Neurexin and Neuroligin in synapse formation and maturation. He has demonstrated how these molecules mediate retrograde synaptic signaling that regulates neurotransmitter release kinetics and has proposed mechanisms for the regulation of exo- and endocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Kaplan's research also explores the regulation of insulin neuropeptide secretion, the interplay between neuropeptides and behavioral states such as quiescence during larval molts, and the activity-induced synaptic refinement associated with the transcription factor HBL-1. Through his lab's innovative genetic models, his work provides insights into critical-period plasticity in the nervous system.
Administered by the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).