Molecular Basis of Neuronal Connectivity

The Ghosh Lab was established in 1995 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and brought together a group of scientists interested in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neural development and function. The lab moved to the University of California San Diego in 2003, and since 2011 has had people work in Basel, San Diego, and Boston.

Work from the Ghosh lab has been focused on understanding the molecular basis of neuronal connectivity. Early work from the lab was directed at identifying mechanisms that regulate axonal and dendritic patterning. A second major area of research in the lab was dedicated to identifying the molecular mechanisms of activity-dependent development, and led to the cloning of a number of new activity- dependent transcription factors, including CREST, a protein that regulates activity-dependent dendritic development. Most recently the lab has been focused on molecular mechanisms of synapse formation and synaptic specificity and identified Leucine Rich Repeat (LRR) proteins as major regulators of synapse organization. Alumni from the lab now lead research programs in the US, Europe, and Asia and continue to advance our understanding of Neural Circuits.