Welcome to the Lawal Lab!

Our lab comprises a diverse set of individuals who are working together to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience. We combine molecular, behavioral, genetic and electrophysiological approaches to understand both the mechanisms underyling synaptic neurotransmission and the etiology of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. We invite you to explore our website, and to reach out to us with any questions or comments!
Our Big Picture 
To foster scientific discovery through the creation of a diverse, friendly and intellectually rigorous space that equips members with the resources they need to reach their highest potential.

                     HIGHLIGHTS
2021
- August.  Sophia joined the lab as Laboratory Technician. Welcome back, Sophia!
- May.   Congratulations Sophia Gondolfo and Rubi Guadarrama on your undergraduate graduation from DSU. Great job and great success to you both!
- March. Yelyzaveta Bessonova (DSU class of 2019, lab alum ) accepted into the Biomedical Engineering PhD program at Washington University in St. Louis. Congrats Liza!
2020
- December. Sophia Gondolfo received the prestigious Delaware Governors Biosciences Award which supports outstanding biosciences undergraduate students from Delaware. Congrats Sophia!
- November. Shardae Showell successfully defended her PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Shardae!
- March. The lab published an interesting paper, this one demonstrates that decreases in VAChT accelerate behavioral decline that is normally associated with aging and argues for a key role for cholinergic neurotransmission during aging. Congratulations Daniel and Raquel (co-first authors) and colleagues for the excellent work. 
- March. The lab published another paper  on the effect of VAChT overexpression. One of the surprising findings is that increasing VAChT expression in Drosophila makes flies more stupid. Congratulations Shardae and colleagues!

We are very interested in synaptic neurotransmission!
Our research is focused on determining how changes in neurotransmitter release affects behavior and physiology in two neurotransmitter systems, the cholinergic and dopaminergic systems. This topic is both fundamental to neurobiology and important to public health because defects in cholinergic and dopaminergic signaling in part form the basis of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Moreover, defects in cholinergic synaptic regulation have been associated with behavioral decline seen during aging. Our ultimate objectives are to advance understanding of the mechanisms underlying synaptic neurotransmission and to contribute to the development of therapeutic strategies against neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and cognitive deficits associated with aging.

Hakeem Lawal, Ph.D
Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience
PI Lawal lab

Delaware State University
1200 N Dupont Hwy
Dover, DE 19977 
                                                                                       RECENT PUBLICATIONS

White, D., de Sousa Abreu R.P., Blake, A., Murphy, J., Showell, S., Kitamoto, T., Lawal, H.O. 2020. Deficits in the vesicular acetylcholine transporter alter lifespan and behavior in adult Drosophila melanogaster. Neurochem Int. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 32315665

Showell, S.S., Martinez, Y., Gondolfo, S., Boppana, S., Lawal, H.O. 2020. Overexpression of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter disrupts cognitive performance and causes age-dependent locomotion decline in Drosophila. Mol Cell Neurosci. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 32217162.

Deshpande, S.A., Freyberg, Z., Lawal, H.O., Krantz, D.E. 2020. Vesicular neurotransmitter transporters in Drosophila melanogaster. Biochim Biophys Acta Biomembr. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 32305263

More geeky stuff

The Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter and Synaptic Release
The vesicular acetylcholine transporter mediates the packaging and transport of the acetylcholine for exocytotic release. Below is a schematic of the predicted 12-transmembrane domain structure of that protein.
 
VAChT is expressed in the Mushroom Body the learning and memory center of the fly brain. VAChT is strongly expressed in Kenyon Cells (KCs) of the mushroom body. For details, see Lawal et al. 2017.
 
Drosophila models of Sporadic PD. Drosophila presents a very useful and convenient model to study the effect of environmental toxins on dopaminergic neuron and thus a useful way to measure the potential toxicity induced by environmental risk factors. For details, see Lawal et al. 2010].