Larissa Rays Wahba

Program: Neurosciences

Current advisor: Bryan Copits, PhD

Undergraduate university: Washington University, 2023

Enrollment year: 2024

Research summary

Processing and integration of sensory stimuli is a core features of our nervous system that allows us to perceive the world around us. Furthermore, distinguishing between noxious and innocuous sensations is needed for survival. Sensory circuits can become aberrantly activated following injury, resulting in chronic pain. Plasticity within these circuits is central to this maladaptive response, but the molecular mechanisms that coordinate these changes remain poorly understood. Neurexins are synaptic adhesion molecules with well-established roles in neuronal circuit assembly and function, and recent work has revealed that they are also expressed in mouse and human spinal cord astrocytes. My project seeks to define the previously unknown functions of astrocytic neurexins and determine how they contribute to the assembly, organization, and plasticity of sensory circuits that govern sensory processing and chronic pain.

Graduate publications