Michael Hart, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine. The Hart lab studies and models neurexin in C. elegans. As a postdoc working with Oliver Hobert at Columbia University, Michael identified and characterized novel roles for neurexin and neuroligin in controlling a form of neuronal plasticity. Previously, Michael obtained his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania working with Aaron Gitler on functional modeling of genetic variants associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Michael will combine the experience from his PhD and postdoc to utilize C. elegans to study disease genes and variants associated with Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders.