The Nedivi laboratory studies the cellular mechanisms that underlie activity-dependent plasticity in the developing and adult brain through studies of neuronal structural dynamics, identification of the participating genes, and characterization of the proteins they encode. The lab has identified and characterized a large number of candidate plasticity genes (CPGs). They have elucidated the neuronal and synaptic function of two previously unknown CPGs, CPG15 and CPG2, and characterized their very different activities, showing that each provides unique insight into diverse aspects of plasticity mechanisms. Motivated by the large number of CPGs that affect neuronal structure, the lab is also working to develop multi-photon microscopy for large volume, high resolution imaging of dendritic arbor and synaptic structural dynamics in vivo.