Elizabeth J. Hong

Synapses are a fundamental unit of computation in the brain and vary widely in their structural and functional properties. Each synapse is a biochemically complex machine, comprised of hundreds of different proteins that vary in both identity and quantity across synapses. The functional significance for most of these differences in molecular composition are poorly understood. The goal of the Hong lab is to understand how molecular diversity at synapses gives rise to useful variation in synaptic physiology, and how this may reflect the specialization of synapses to perform specific useful computations in their respective circuits. The Hong lab asks these questions in the context of odor-driven behaviors in the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster.