Introduction
How do you see a GPCR leave the cell surface and come back, and turn what you see into numbers you can trust? This Masterclass is a practical session on using advanced microscopy to visualize receptor dynamics in living neurons, following receptor endocytosis and recycling as they happen.
Dr. Sposini covers how to design these imaging experiments, how to quantify receptor endocytosis and recycling, and how to interpret the data. Neurons are the working example, and the approaches carry over to other cellular systems.
A brief overview of receptor trafficking and its link to signaling sets the context. Selected examples of neuromodulator receptor trafficking show the methods at work, and the session closes on current challenges and future directions in the field.
Instructor
Silvia Sposini
Dr. Silvia Sposini is Assistant Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Bordeaux and Honorary Associate at Imperial College London. She completed her PhD with Prof. Aylin Hanyaloglu at Imperial College London, studying gonadotropin receptor recycling and endosomal signaling.
As a postdoc with Dr. David Perrais at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience in Bordeaux, she studied the molecular mechanisms of membrane receptor endocytosis using advanced microscopy. She now leads a research program on how neuromodulator GPCRs traffic and signal within neurons, and how these processes shape neural communication and brain function.