CCBScope Observatory: Growth and Transport in Primary Neurons

Neurons grow and maintain processes that can span up to a meter in length. Yet the genes encoding the proteins required for this growth are transcribed in the nucleus, often far from distal growth cones at the tips of elongating axons and dendrites. This raises a fundamental question: how do neurons build and maintain such extreme morphologies, and how do they achieve selective, long-range transport of molecular and cargo along axons and dendrites?

In a new line of investigation at the CCBScope, we combine long-term live-cell microscopy with quantitative analyses of cell morphology and cytoskeletal organization to develop a predictive framework for neuronal morphogenesis and cargo transport along axons and dendrites.