A fundamental question in molecular neuroscience is: how the properties of dendritic spines and the adjoining shafts are tuned to support specialized function, e.g. synaptic plasticity? These plastic changes to synapses form the basis for cognitive learning and memory storage which are mostly triggered by transient rises in the cytosolic concentration of calcium ions [Ca2+]i. The precise signaling that supports architectural and functional tuning needs to be ascertained in order to identify irregularities in Ca2+ signaling that underlie etiologies of neurological disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASDs) and stroke. My research utilizes advanced imaging technologies and electrophysiology to examine the molecular signaling pathway(s) that underlie synaptic plasticity. In the lab, we induce synaptic plasticity in a single dendritic spine using laser uncaging of glutamate, while measuring Ca2+ and structural changes. From this, we discovered a mechanism implicating surface voltage-gated and ligand-gated Ca2+ channels to induce Ca2+ release from intracellular stores and activate the ER Ca2+ sensor, STIM. Ongoing research will test whether the shape of the Ca2+ signal and/or the physical interaction between activated STIM1 and LTCCs are required for support of homosynaptic plasticity, as well as other forms of plasticity like synaptic crosstalk, heterosynaptic plasticity or homeostatic scaling. In addition, my lab seeks to understand the molecular queues necessary for the long-term preservation of these functional and structural changes. It is reasonable to expect that an upsurge in local protein expression of nascent protein is required. Therefore, the obvious questions are; whether translation of local mRNA transcripts is sufficient to escalate synaptic proteins and support long-term potentiation (LTP) or whether new transcripts from the nucleus of synaptic genes are required for persistent LTP. Pharmacological and genetic manipulations are a few of the tools that my lab uses to intervene with the underlying mechanisms and synaptic circuitry.