Ashley L. Comer

My research is focused on understanding how the immune and nervous system interact to shape brain development and function in healthy and diseased states. As part of my thesis research project in the Cruz-Martín lab, I have sought to understand the role of a schizophrenia-associated immune gene, called Complement component 4 (C4), in the brain. Specifically, I have studied the impact of increased C4 expression on the wiring of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region implicated in schizophrenia, by assaying neuronal connectivity during early postnatal development. Our lab has found that increased C4 expression disrupts synaptic development of the prefrontal cortex through microglia-mediated synapse elimination which leads to deficits in the social behavior of mice.