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Dr. Sabatini’s lab studies the biochemical signaling within spines and boutons in order to understand the pathways that trigger the formation of new synapses and the regulation of existing ones. Dr. Sabatini's overall goal is to understand synaptic plasticity—the changes in the strength of nerve signal transmission across synapses that are crucial to learning and memory. The challenge in these studies is that much of the relevant biochemical signaling occurs in very small subcellular compartments such as dendritic spines and axonal boutons. His lab combines molecular biology, electrophysiology, and microscopy to overcome this obstacle. Principal among these is the use of 2-photon laser scanning microscopy, which is ideally suited for measuring fluorescent signals from individual boutons or spines located within brain slices or in vivo. Dr. Sabatini has pioneered the development of optical techniques for observing the interactions of dendritic spines during synaptic events. Using these techniques, his research group has uncovered many of the mechanisms that enable individual synapses to control the consequences of their stimulation.
