The Stewart Lab at Cold Spring Harbor, Neurobiology of Drosophila 2017
Bryan Stewart, PhD
Bryan finished his PhD in 1996, graduating from the University of Toronto's Department of Physiology under the supervision of Professor H.L. Atwood. Initially trained in classic electrophysiological analysis of synaptic transmission and the ultrastructure of synapses, postdoctoral training at Stanford University (1996-98) with Professor T.L. Schwarz and at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (1998-2001) with Dr. G.L. Boulianne expanded the research areas into molecular genetics and developmental biology.
Since establishing an independent laboratory at the University of Toronto in 2001, the group has continued to work at the interface of structure and function of synapses, examining the relationship between synaptic development and physiology, using the fruit fly as the main experimental system.
Bryan held the Canada Research Chair in Molecular Genetics of Neural Communication from 2002-2012 and was awarded the Genetics Society of Canada Young Scientist Award in 2005. He previously served as the Vice-Principal, Research for the University of Toronto Mississauga campus and as the Chair for the Department of Biology.
Katie Harris, PHD
Katie is a Senior Research Associate responsible for UTM’s Imaging Facility, who studies synaptic development and function, focusing primarily on the postynaptic elements and the role scaffolding proteins and intracellular trafficking can play to shape the synapse. Katie joined the lab after a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Here are Katie's recent papers:
Postsynaptic Syntaxin 4 negatively regulates the efficiency of neurotransmitter release. Harris KP, Littleton JT, Stewart BA. J Neurogenet. 2018 Sep 3:1-9. doi: 10.1080/01677063.2018.1501372.
Shank Modulates Postsynaptic Wnt Signaling to Regulate Synaptic Development. Harris KP, Akbergenova Y, Cho RW, Baas-Thomas MS, Littleton JT. J Neurosci. 2016 May 25;36(21):5820-32. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4279-15.2016.PMID:27225771
The postsynaptic t-SNARE Syntaxin 4 controls traffic of Neuroligin 1 and Synaptotagmin 4 to regulate retrograde signaling. Harris KP, Zhang YV, Piccioli ZD, Perrimon N, Littleton JT. Elife. 2016 May 25;5. pii: e13881. doi: 10.7554/eLife.13881.PMID:27223326
ChristinE Nguyen Msc
After finishing an MSc in the lab on the role of postsynaptic structure and synaptic strength, Christine is continuing her PhD studies on two projects. She is further examining Drosophila neuromuscular synapses and the role of ubiquitin pathway in synaptic development and strength, while she is collaborating with The Gilbert Lab to advance our understanding of the electrophysiological properties of nerve and muscle cells in cultures derived from human stem cells.
Here is Christine's paper published from her MSc work:
The influence of postsynaptic structure on missing quanta at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. Nguyen CT, Stewart BA. BMC Neurosci. 2016 Jul 26;17(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s12868-016-0290-7.
abi Karunendiran MSc
Abi completed her undergraduate studies with a double major in biology and physics and she continues to work at the interface of these two disciplines. Abi completed her MSc studies on the use of non-linear optical methods to monitor development of the Drosophila compound eye. The unique structure of the eye, combined with the high concentration of rhodopsin make it excellent biological tissue for imaging nonlinear microscopy. Abi contibues her PhD work studying the structure and development of muscle.
Here is Abi's paper published from her MSc work:
Examination of Drosophila Eye Development with Third Harmonic Generation Microscopy Abiramy Karunendiran, Richard Cisek, Danielle Tokarz, Virginijus Barzda, and Bryan A. Stewart 2017. doi: 10.1364/BOE.8.004504
Gordana Scepanovic MSc
Gordana defended her MSc thesis in December 2017 and is now a PhD Student with Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez at UofT
After completing her undergraduate degree at UTM, Gordana joined the lab in the spring of 2016 as an MSc student. Her project focused on the potential impacts of early alcohol exposure on the developing nervous system. Her goal was to determine if Drosophila can be developed as a model for research into the effects of alcohol on neural development and use Drosophila genetics to understand the potential intracellular pathways affected by alcohol.
Gordana’s research in the lab was published here:
Analysis of Drosophila nervous system development following an early, brief exposure to ethanol. Scepanovic G, Stewart BA. Dev Neurobiol. 2019 Aug;79(8):780-793. doi: 10.1002/dneu.22718. Epub 2019 Sep 19.
Ashley Hogg MSc
Ashley just defended her MSc in August 2018. Congrats!
Ashley finished her undergraduate studies at the University of Guelph. After working in the lab for the summer, Ashley started her MSc project in September 2016. She is working towards understanding the roles that postsynaptic scaffolding proteins play in synapse development by looking for genetic modifiers of Shank alleles.
Lab Alumni
Postdocs / Research Associates
Dr. Xinping Qiu, 2005-2016
Dr. Marta Kisiel, 2013-2014
Dr. Melissa Massey, 2012-2013
Dr. Nicola Haines, 2004-2008
Visiting Scientists and Students
Megan O'Hare, 2013 PhD student from King's College London
Taro Kaneuchi, 2006, PhD student from Tokyo Metropolitan University
Prof. N. Reist, 2003, from Colorado State University
Prof. D. Deitcher, 2002, from Cornell University
Graduate Students
Marta Kisiel, PhD (2013)
Colin DeMill, PhD (2013)
Sara Seabrooke, PhD (2010)
Ashley Hogg MSc (2018)
Gordana Scepanovic MSc (2018)
Abi Karunendiran, MSc (2015)
Christine Nguyen, MSc (2015)
Marzena Serwin, MSc (2012)
Matthew Laviolette, MSc (2008)
Debolina Majumdar, MSc (2006)
Undergraduate Students
Shabir Hajii, Bio481 student
Daniel Bhatt, Bio481 student
Annika Traa, 2019 Summer Scholar
Arif Sarowar, NSERC USRA 2018 Summer Scholar and Bio481 student
Anuj Kushal, Bio481 student
Tamara Scepanovic, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Christine N. Nguyen, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Sam Nguyen, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Nathashi Jayawardena, NSERC USRA 2016 Summer Scholar
Mary Bautista, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Urfa Arain, Bio481 student
Rachelle Dinchong, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Miki Gams, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Alicja Nowicki, Bio481 student
Eunice Furtado, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Andrea Massey, Undergraduate Resesarch Assistant
Renuka Ramlogan, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Saba Haroon, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Julieta Lazarte, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Zara Ali, Undergrauate Research Assistant
Alanna Bolotta, Bio481 student
Kris McKenzie, Bio481 student
Abdullah Ishaque, Bio481 student
Jessica Monteiro, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Alexandra Quimby, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Marzena Serwin, Bio481 student
Farah Jazuli, Bio481 student
Nicole Novroski, Bio481 student
Ahmed Faress, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Marta Kisiel, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Owen Randlett, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Ann George, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Paula Nunes, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Matthew Laviolette
Jammie Tosevski, NSERC USRA Summer Scholar
Sara Seabrooke
Jesse McLean, 4th year thesis
Rhadika Khorana
Tina Khandihadia
Christelle Gideon
Manpreet Kaur