University of Pittsburgh Department of Cell Biology

Vargas Lab

The Vargas Lab researches alpha-synuclein in hopes to find clues that can be used to generate new therapies for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases
  1. Vargas KJ, Colosi PL, Girardi E, Park JM, Harmon LE, Chandra SS. α-Synuclein colocalizes with AP180 and affects the size of clathrin lattices.. J Biol Chem. 2023 Jul 27;():105091. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105091. PubMed PMID: 37516240;
  2. Soll LG, Eisen JN, Vargas KJ, Medeiros AT, Hammar KM, Morgan JR. α-Synuclein-112 Impairs Synaptic Vesicle Recycling Consistent With Its Enhanced Membrane Binding Properties.. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020;8():405. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00405. PubMed PMID: 32548120;
  3. Vargas KJ. Kinetic Measurements of Endocytosis and Exocytosis in Cultured Neurons.. Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1948():23-33. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9124-2_3. PubMed PMID: 30771167;
  4. Vargas KJ, Schrod N, Davis T, Fernandez-Busnadiego R, Taguchi YV, Laugks U, Lucic V, Chandra SS. Synucleins Have Multiple Effects on Presynaptic Architecture.. Cell Rep. 2017 Jan 3;18(1):161-173. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.12.023. PubMed PMID: 28052246;
  5. Vargas KJ, Makani S, Davis T, Westphal CH, Castillo PE, Chandra SS. Synucleins regulate the kinetics of synaptic vesicle endocytosis.. J Neurosci. 2014 Jul 9;34(28):9364-76. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4787-13.2014. PubMed PMID: 25009269;
Postal Address:
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Cell Biology
S311 BST-South
Telephone:  412-648-9360  
Fax: 412-648-8330  
Email:  kvargas@pitt.edu