EAGER: A Novel Form of Intraneuronal Membrane Transport

与整个人体相似，细胞，生物体的组成部分，具有不均匀的组成，其中不同的成分-核酸，蛋白质和脂质-分离到细胞的不同部分来执行不同的功能。在神经元中，这些重要的功能包括形成稳定的连接，称为突触，它构成了认知的基础，包括记忆的形成。为了维持突触的正常功能，大量的蛋白质和核糖核酸从它们在细胞体中的合成位点被运送到远端突触。该项目提议重新研究这种传递的机制，旨在测试突触所需的许多组件是一起而不是单独传递的想法。这个过程类似于用独木舟载着许多乘客沿河而行，而不是让每个人都在水里游泳。最先进的技术将被用于可视化，通过实时成像显微镜，单个蛋白质在神经元内的同时运输，并用现代生物化学技术纯化和鉴定驱动这种运输的分子机制的组成部分。这些研究有望为突触成分的另一种运输形式提供证据，从而挑战目前关于神经元内运输的观点。研究细胞内运输的新工具将产生并免费提供给研究界。该研究将由高中生和硕士生组成的研究小组进行，因此将对下一代科学家的教育做出贡献。研究结果将主要通过出版物、会议报告和课程讲座进行传播。这项工作的成功完成将是理解大脑如何在细胞和分子水平上发育和功能的重要一步。

Similar to the human body as a whole, cells, the building blocks of organisms, have a nonhomogeneous composition, where the different components--nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids--segregate to different parts of the cell to perform different functions. In neurons, such vital functions include the formation of stable connections, called synapses, which constitute the basis of cognition, including memory formation. To maintain proper function of the synapse, a large number of proteins and ribonucleic acids are transported from their site of synthesis in the cell body to the remote synapse. This project proposes to reinvestigate the mechanism of this transport, aiming to test the idea that many of the components needed at the synapse are transported together, rather than individually. This process would be analogous to carrying many passengers in a canoe along a river, instead of letting each of them swim in the water. State-of-the-art technologies will be used to visualize, with live imaging microscopy, the simultaneous transport of individual proteins within neurons and to purify and identify, with modern techniques of biochemistry, the components of the molecular machinery that powers this transport. These studies are expected to provide evidence for an alternate form of transport of synaptic components, thus challenging the current view of transport within neurons. Novel tools for the study of intracellular transport will be generated and made freely available to the research community. The study will be conducted with a research team that includes high school and Master's degree students, and will thus contribute to the education of future generations of scientists. The results will be largely disseminated via publications, meeting presentations, and inclusion in course lectures. The successful completion of this work will constitute a major step forward in understanding how brains develop and function at the cellular and molecular level.