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The rockefeller university

Timothy A. Ryan, Ph.D.

Tri-Institutional Professor
Senior Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine

Ryan’s laboratory is interested in the molecular basis of synaptic function, the essential point of communication between neurons. Ryan and his colleagues focus on presynaptic biology, in which neurotransmitter-containing synaptic vesicles fuse with the plasma membrane at the synapse in response to electrical stimulation. His lab develops optical techniques to measure synaptic function in real time. Combined with molecular and chemical tools, this approach allows them to address fundamental questions about how synaptic communication is controlled. Areas of interest include the metabolic vulnerability of the brain and the metabolic costs of synapse function, the processes that determine the abundance and control of synaptic voltage-gated calcium channels, and how synaptic vesicles are rebuilt after the release of a neurotransmitter.

Through his studies on synapse function, Ryan hopes to gain insight into how information is controlled both in normal and diseased states of brain function.

Ryan is a faculty member in the Tri-Institutional Ph.D. Program in Chemical Biology based at Weill Cornell Medicine [profile].

Selected Publications

Ashrafi, G. et al. Molecular tuning of the axonal mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uniporter ensures metabolic flexibility of neurotransmission. Neuron 105, 678–687 (2020).

Ashrafi, G. et al. GLUT4 mobilization supports energetic demands of active synapses. Neuron 93, 606–615 (2017).

De Juan-Sanz, J. et al. Axonal endoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ content controls release probability in CNS nerve terminals. Neuron 93, 867–881 (2017).

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