Update Your ProfileAcademic Title:
Research Associate
Primary Appointment:
Pharmacology & Physiology
Location:
660 W Redwood St, HH582
Phone (Primary):
410-706-0515
Education and Training
My primary research interests lie in understanding how the interplay between the organization and function of synaptic proteins can support neuronal functions such as learning and memory, and how disruption of these mechanisms underlies psychiatric disease. I graduated from the University of Rochester with a BS in Neuroscience in 2011, where I worked in the lab of Dr. Ania Majewska studying how synapses in primary sensory cortices are changed by sensory deprivation of another modality. I obtained a PhD in Neuroscience from Yale University in 2017, where I studied novel mechanisms of NMDA receptor regulation by protein tyrosine kinases and phosphatases with Dr. Anthony Koleske. I then joined the lab of Dr. Thomas Blanpied at University of Maryland, Baltimore as a postdoctoral researcher, investigating the nanostructural organization of synaptic proteins. I have been a research associate in Dr. Blanpied's lab since 2021, continuing my research on the nanostructure of NMDA receptor subtypes, as well as the differential nanostructure at different types of excitatory synapses. I have extensive training in confocal (live and fixed) and single-molecule super-resolution (DNA-PAINT and dSTORM) microscopy and image analysis, immunocytochemistry, molecular biology and cloning techniques, protein biochemistry, western blotting, cell line and primary neuron culture, and mouse husbandry.
Research/Clinical Keywords
confocal microscopy, super-resolution microscopy, DNA-PAINT, synapse organization, neuronal cell biology, molecular biology, NMDA receptors, parvalbumin interneuron, nanostructure
Highlighted Publications
Anderson MC†, Dharmasri PA†, Damenti M, Metzbower SR, Laghaei R, Blanpied TA, Levy AD. Trans-synaptic molecular context of NMDA receptor nanodomains. Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 12(16). DOI: 10.10138/s41467-025-62766-y.
Pollitt SL, Levy AD, Anderson MC, Blanpied TA. Large donor CRISPR for whole-CDS replacement of cell adhesion molecule LRRTM2. J Neurosci. 2025 Jan 17;e1461242024. PMID: 39824639
Metzbower SR†, Levy AD†, Dharmasri PA, Anderson MC, Blanpied TA. Distinct SAP102 and PSD-95 nano-organization defines multiple types of synaptic scaffold protein domains at single synapses. J Neurosci. 2024 May 22;e1715232024. PMID: 38777601
Dharmasri PA†, Levy AD†, Blanpied TA. Differential nanoscale organization of excitatory synapses onto excitatory vs. inhibitory neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Apr 23;121(17):e2315379121. PMCID: PMC11047112
Additional Publication Citations
Barlow ST, Levy AD, Contreras M, Anderson MC, Blanpied TA. Dissecting the functional heterogeneity of glutamatergic synapses with high-throughput optical physiology. In revision at Nature Communications. 2024 Dec 23;2024.12.23.629904. PMCID: PMC11703220
Emperador-Melero J, Andersen JW, Metzbower SR, Levy AD, Dharmasri PA, de Nola G, et al. Distinct active zone protein machineries mediate Ca2+ channel clustering and vesicle priming at hippocampal synapses. Nat Neurosci. 2024 Aug 19;1–15. PMID: 39160372.
Dharmasri PA, DeMarco EM, Anderson MC, Levy AD, Blanpied TA. Loss of postsynaptic NMDARs drives nanoscale reorganization of Munc13-1 and PSD-95. bioRxiv. 2024 Jan 12;2024.01.12.574705. PMCID: PMC10802569
Levy AD†, Xiao X†, Shaw JE, Sudarsana Devi SP, Katrancha SM, Bennett AM, Greer CA, Howe JR, Machida K, Koleske AJ. Noonan Syndrome-Associated SHP2 Dephosphorylates GluN2B to Regulate NMDA Receptor Function. Cell Rep. 2018 Aug 7;24(6):1523–1535. PMCID: PMC6234505
Miller MB, Yan Y, Machida K, Kiraly DD, Levy AD, Wu YI, Lam TT, Abbott T, Koleske AJ, Eipper BA, Mains RE. Brain Region and Isoform-Specific Phosphorylation Alters Kalirin SH2 Domain Interaction Sites and Calpain Sensitivity. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2017 Jul 19;8(7):1554–1569. PMCID: PMC5517348
Matsumoto Y, La Rose J, Kent OA, Wagner MJ, Narimatsu M, Levy AD, Omar MH, Tong J, Krieger JR, Riggs E, Storozhuk Y, Pasquale J, Ventura M, Yeganeh B, Post M, Moran MF, Grynpas MD, Wrana JL, Superti-Furga G, Koleske AJ, Pendergast AM, Rottapel R. Reciprocal stabilization of ABL and TAZ regulates osteoblastogenesis through transcription factor RUNX2. J Clin Invest. 2016 Dec 1;126(12):4482–4496. PMCID: PMC5127668
Xiao X, Levy AD, Rosenberg BJ, Higley MJ, Koleske AJ. Disruption of Coordinated Presynaptic and Postsynaptic Maturation Underlies the Defects in Hippocampal Synapse Stability and Plasticity in Abl2/Arg-Deficient Mice. J Neurosci. 2016 Jun 22;36(25):6778–6791. PMCID: PMC4916252
Levy AD†, Omar MH†, Koleske AJ. Extracellular matrix control of dendritic spine and synapse structure and plasticity in adulthood. Front Neuroanat. 2014;8:116. PMCID: PMC4202714
McClure-Begley TD, Papke RL, Stone KL, Stokes C, Levy AD, Gelernter J, Xie P, Lindstrom J, Picciotto MR. Rare human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α4 subunit (CHRNA4) variants affect expression and function of high-affinity nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2014 Mar;348(3):410–420. PMCID: PMC3935145
Bogart LJ, Levy AD, Gladstone M, Allen PD, Zettel M, Ison JR, Luebke AE, Majewska AK. Loss of prestin does not alter the development of auditory cortical dendritic spines. Neural Plast. 2011;2011:305621. PMCID: PMC3134106
Grants and Contracts
R21-MH141559 "Identification and trans-synaptic molecular context of docked synaptic vesicles by fluorescence microscopy" (MPI Blanpied)
F32-MH119687 "Dissecting pre- vs postsynaptic actin dynamics in synapse structure and strength"
F31-MH105403 "Integrin-Arg-SHP2 signaling regulates NMDAR function and neuron morphology"