Noreen Reist
Professor, Biomedical Sciences | Director, Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Neuroscience
Biomedical Sciences
About Noreen
During synaptic transmission, vesicles carrying a chemical neurotransmitter must dock at release sites, fuse with the presynaptic membrane upon Ca2+ influx, and be recycled back into synaptic vesicles. The Reist Lab is investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in these presynaptic processes using molecular, genetic, electrophysiological, ultrastructural, and behavioral techniques. As the molecular mechanisms of synaptic transmission are highly conserved, we can exploit the rapid, cost-effective genetic system of Drosophila to gain insights into the etiology of human neurological diseases such as myasthenic syndromes, mood disorders and learning disabilities.
Education
B.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1982Ph.D., Stanford University, 1990
Publications
Jung JH, Reist, NE and Doniach, SD (2023) Editorial: Structural and quantitative modeling of synapses. Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience. 15:1254416. Titus MB, Wright E, Poliakon AK, Goldstein BR, Super MK, Young LA, Manaj M, Bono JM, Killian DJ, Litchford M, Reist NE, and Olesnicky-Killian E. (2021) The conserved alternative splicing factor Caper regulates neuromuscular phenotypes during development and aging. Dev Bio 473:15-32. PMID: 33508255 Bowers MR and Reist, NE. (2020) Synaptotagmin: Mechanisms of an electrostatic switch. Neurosci Lett. 722:134834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2020.134834 PMID: 32057923 Bowers MR and Reist, NE. (2020) The C2A Domain of Synaptotagmin: an Essential Component of the Calcium Sensor for Synaptic Transmission. PLoS One 15(2): e0228348. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228348 PMID: 32032373 Shields MC, Bowers MR, Kramer HL, Fulcer MM, Perinet L, Metz M., Reist NE. (2020) The Role of the C2A Domain of Synaptotagmin in Asynchronous Neurotransmitter Release. BioRxiv MS ID#: BIORXIV/2020/973461. Plos One 15(5): e0232991. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232991 PMID: 32407359Shields MC, Bowers MR, Fulcer MM, Bollig MK, Rock PJ, Sutton BR, Vrailas-Mortimer AD, Lochmüller H, Whittaker RG, Horvath R, Reist NE. (2017) Drosophila studies support a role for a presynaptic synaptotagmin mutation in a human congenital myasthenic syndrome. PLoS One. 2017 Sep 27;12(9):e0184817. PMID: 28953919.
Research Specialty
Synaptic Function Synaptic Ultrastructure/Electron TomographyNeuroscience