People Behind the Science: Ege Kavalali

The scientist discusses making connections in the field of neurotransmission and synaptic signaling.

Ege Kavalali is a professor in the Departments of Physiology and Neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He is also the Effie Marie Cain Scholar in Medical Research and the Rosewood Corporation Chair in Biomedical Science. He received his PhD in biomedical engineering from Rutgers University and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in the department of molecular and cellular physiology.

Ege studies mechanisms of neurotransmission and synaptic signaling in the nervous system. His group focuses on the molecular basis and functional consequences of heterogeneity among synaptic vesicle recycling pathways present within individual synapses. Ege’s laboratory uses electrical and optical recording techniques to investigate the mechanisms that govern synaptic vesicle recycling. He also studies the role of neuronal activity in regulation of spatial organization and maturation of individual synaptic terminals. In particular, his work has uncovered the role and underlying mechanisms of spontaneous neurotransmitter release that holds it apart mechanistically and functionally from evoked neurotransmission.

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People Behind the Science