Stephen J Smith
Academic Appointments
- Professor, Molecular & Cellular Physiology
- Member, Bio-X
- Member, Stanford Cancer Institute
Key Documents
Contact Information
- Academic Offices
Personal Information Email Tel (650) 725-7785
Professional Overview
Internet Links
Industry Relationships
Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industrial and other commercial partners. It is our policy to disclose payments (exclusive of travel support) from, and/or equity in, companies or other commercial entities to Stanford faculty of $5,000 or more in total value, as well as any equity in a privately held company, when the faculty member also has institutional responsibilities related to his or her interactions with the company. View Full Information
Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
Prof. Smiths laboratory explores the development, structure, function and disorders of the brains neural circuitry. The labs experimental approach has typically begun with the invention of a new optical imaging method followed by applications of that method to attack important but previous untractable experimental challenges. Early on, Smith invented a novel fiber-optic spectrometer for calcium sensing that enabled the first detection and measurement of calcium transients in vertebrate neurons, the first quantitative measurements of presynaptic Ca transients, and the extraordinarily significant discovery of Ca influx through NMDA receptor channels. Later Smith lab imaging inventions led to numerous significant neuroscience discoveries, including retrograde actin flow within neuronal growth cones, intracellular Ca waves in astrocytes, the active role of dendritic filopodia in synaptogenesis, and the packeted delivery of synaptic protein components during synaptogenesis, and to the first optical measurements of single synaptic vesicle release, the first in vivo imaging of synaptotropic dendrite growth, and the first in vivo functional imaging measurements of visual receptive field development in a vertebrate animal. Most recently, they have invented a unique high-resolution proteomic imaging method called array tomography, and are now working to apply this novel method to explore the molecular architecture of cortical microcircuits in mouse and human. This work is currently focused on efforts to identify the circuit loci of the specific changes in synaptic connectivity associated with specific memory traces, i.e. the physical engrams of experience. This work is referenced more fully in the Smith Biosketch and CV documents to be found on this web page.
Publications
- Automated analysis of a diverse synapse population. PLoS Comput Biol. 2013; (3): e1002976
- Astrocyte glypicans 4 and 6 promote formation of excitatory synapses via GluA1 AMPA receptors. Nature. 2012; (7403): 410-4
- Deep molecular diversity of mammalian synapses: why it matters and how to measure it. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2012; (6): 365-79
- High-contrast en bloc staining of neuronal tissue for field emission scanning electron microscopy. Nat Protoc. 2012; (2): 193-206
- Sub-diffraction limit localization of proteins in volumetric space using Bayesian restoration of fluorescence images from ultrathin specimens. PLoS Comput Biol. 2012; (8): e1002671
- Three-dimensional microstructural changes in murine abdominal aortic aneurysms quantified using immunofluorescent array tomography. J Histochem Cytochem. 2012; (2): 97-109
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