Kimberly E. Epley, Ph.D.

Kimberly Epley

Research Assistant Professor, Whitney Laboratory

Synaptogenesis and Synapse Physiology

Every movement we make, from something as simple as a smile to something as elaborate as dancing a tango, is made possible because our nervous system activates the correct muscles at exactly the right time, and for exactly the right amount of time. The critical link between a nerve cell and its muscle is called the neuromuscular junction. At these sites, the nerve cell releases the chemical acetyl choline that stimulates the muscle, making it contract. Many neuromuscular disorders such as myasthenia gravis and other muscular dystrophies are the result of poorly or improperly functioning neuromuscular junctions.

What if. . . we had a way to examine damaged neuromuscular junctions, identify which molecule(s) are missing or malfunctioning and then confirm the importance of those molecules by reintroducing them into the neuromuscular junction and showing that normal function is restored?

In my lab we are able to do this using the zebrafish, a small fish that produces transparent larvae, so transparent that we can easily see internal structures, including the nervous system and neuromuscular junctions, in living larvae. We select fish that are paralyzed or have otherwise malfunctioning neuromuscular junctions and identify which molecules are missing from the junction or are mutated. The eggs from these afflicted fish normally produce impaired larvae. However, by injecting the gene for the missing or mutated molecule into the eggs we can correct the damage and produce animals with fully functional neuromuscular junctions.

Imagine how these findings could be coupled with gene therapy to correct debilitating diseases such as myasthenia gravis.

Kim Epley earned her B.A. and Ph.D. in biology at Bowling Green State University. Her postdoctoral work was done with Barry Ache and Fumi Ono at the Whitney Laboratory.