Meet Hanieh Falahati, PhD, a postdoc in the De Camilli lab whose preprint details her approach to solving a longstanding scientific mystery. What led to her exploring one of the strangest organelles?
“There is a peculiar organelle in neurons called the spine apparatus, with a weird morphology, that is placed strategically very close to the synapses,” Falahati said. “This organelle was seen by electron microscope over 60 years ago, yet we still do not know how it forms and what it does. This is mainly because we do not know its molecular composition.”
The spine apparatus is important for spatial memory and Hebbian synaptic plasticity. Its peculiar morphology has been shown to change in various pathological disorders. Yet, without knowledge of its components, the molecular mechanism of the spine apparatus’ functions could not be studied.
It was “a magical moment” when suddenly Falahati’s new approach allowed her to start solving this mystery. Through use of a novel proteomics approach, she was able to label and identify the proteins associated with the spine apparatus in a mouse brain.
“Our work finally gives us molecular handles to understand the role of the spine apparatus in health and disease.”
Born and raised in Iran, Falahati earned her master’s degree from University of Tehran, beginning her research journey.
“I learned about all the amazing new discoveries being made throughout the world and also how to contribute to them using resources and equipment built in the 1960s,” Falahati said. “It was hard! So, I traveled in space and time to the U.S. to see what I had only read about.”
As a scientist, she derived joy from taking interdisciplinary approaches to address challenging biological questions. She went on to get her PhD in Quantitative and Computational Biology at Princeton University. Her doctoral work included applying biophysical approaches to study biological phenomena ranging from membraneless organelle assembly to cell cycle regulation. For her postdoctoral work, Falahati decided to work on one of the most “fascinating and beautiful” biological systems: the neuron!
“There is no place better than the laboratory of Dr. De Camilli at Yale to learn about the cell biology of neurons,” Falahati said. “It has everything one can ask for: great science and a nurturing environment to get inspiration and support.”
Falahati feels very blessed to have had mentors who “provided all possible opportunities and guidance one could have asked for.” She said these mentors trusted her in her pursuit of ambitious dreams and ideas, while providing all the necessary tools to reach them.
“I love applying new approaches to challenging questions, which requires getting inspired by others who are at the forefront of pushing the boundaries of science,” Falahati said. “At Yale, there is so much amazing science going on that the limiting step was my time to take all that inspiration in!”
Now that Falahati’s work has established a molecular handle on the spine apparatus, she is in a unique position to address the longstanding questions about this mysterious organelle. For instance, how it forms, what its function is, and how its peculiar shape informs its function.
“Addressing these questions is essential to our understanding of brain function in health and disease,” Falahati said.
Falahati plans to leverage her interdisciplinary background to study the spine apparatus. Her long-term professional goal is to lead a research lab focused on applying novel interdisciplinary approaches to study complex biological systems.