Michael Akins

Biography

My interests are in the neural mechanisms mediating an organism’s interactions with its environment. My focus is on the formation of neural circuits, particularly sensory circuits, and how this process is disturbed in diseases such as autism and Fragile X syndrome. I am currently working to elucidate the distribution and function of presynaptic Fragile X proteins in the nervous system. This will entail a combination of histological, genetic, biochemical, molecular, and cell culture techniques. My training has provided me the expertise to oversee the appropriate conduct of the necessary experiments. I have a broad training in neuroscience as wellas cellular and molecular biology with a focus on development of the rodent brain. For my PhD work, I studied the development of the olfactory system in the laboratory of Dr. Charles Greer, accumulating expertise on histological techniques as well as the fine details of olfactory bulb anatomy. I then worked for two years in the lab of Dr. Thomas Biederer, where I used cell culture assays to elucidate synapse formation. I followed up these experiences with postdoctoral work in Dr. Justin Fallon’s lab, combining these areas of expertise to investigate how synapse formation is altered in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome, in particular utilizing the olfactory bulb as a model system.My work in the Fallon lab included the first descriptions of presynaptic Fragile X proteins; students working under my direct supervision carried out important components of this work. These studies provide the foundation for the proposed work. In short, my training has provided me with the requisite expertise to lead a project to characterize the localization and functions of presynaptic Fragile X proteins.

Research Interest

Experience-dependent plasticity in the mammalian nervous system; post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in neurons