Wayne Sossin, PhD

Wayne Sossin is interested in the cellular and molecular events that shape brain function. Sossin has proposed that memories are stored using specialized synapses that can be distinguished by their molecular constituents. This proposal is being examined both in the simple nervous system of Aplysia, where behavioural memory is encoded by changes in the synaptic strength of identified neurons and in rodent models where powerful genetic tools allows for detailed correlations between molecular changes and behavior. Sossin also is interested in neurodevelopmental disorders and the role that local protein synthesis in neurons plays in the origin and regulation of these disorders.
Zha C, Farah CA, Holt RJ, Ceroni F, AlAbdi L, Thuriot F, Khan AO, Helaby R, Lévesque S, Alkuraya FS, Kraus A, Ragge N, Sossin WS. Biallelic variants in the small optic lobe calpain CAPN15 are associated with congenital eye anomalies, deafness and other neurodevelopmental deficits. Hum. Mol. Genet. 29: 3054-3063
Sossin WS and Costa-Mattioli M (2018) Translational Control in the Brain in Health and Disease. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a032912
Sossin WS (2018) Memory synapses are distinguished by distinct molecular complexes: A proposal. Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience doi: 10.3389/fnsyn.2018.00005.
Hu J, Ferguson L, Adler K, Farah CA, Hastings MH, Sossin WS, Schacher S. (2017) Selective erasure of distinct forms of long-term synaptic plasticity underlying different forms of memory in the same postsynaptic neuron. Current Biology, 27(13):1888-1899.e4.
Graber TE, Hebert-Seropian S, Khoutorsky A, David, A Yewdell JW, Lacaille J-C, Sossin WS. (2013) Reactivation of stalled polyribosomes in synaptic plasticity. PNAS. Oct 1;110(40):16205-10.