Tomris Mustafa completed her doctoral studies at the Howard Florey Institute characterizing the human AT4/IRAP protein utilizing a number of molecular, cellular and pharmacological techniques that resulted in several publications (2000-2003). She then commenced her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Mental Health (Bethesda, Maryland, USA) in the Section on Molecular Neuroscience under the supervision of Dr Lee Eiden. During the first 3 years of her postdoctoral studies, she cloned and characterized the PAC1 receptor variant expressed in chromaffin cells responsible for mediating stress-induced catecholamine secretion. This extensive study involved the establishment and use of many cellular and molecular biology techniques investigating receptor pharmacology, signal transduction, gene expression (microarray analysis) and catecholamine secretion. These investigations resulted in a publication that made a considerable contribution to this field of research and in our understanding of G-protein coupled receptor GPCR-mediated Ca2+ signaling at the neuroadrenomedullary synapse. She was then awarded the first NIMH Julius Axelrod Memorial Fellowship on merit of this work and to pursue further studies characterizing the Ca2+ signaling pathways utilized by GPCRs required for neuronal secretion, differentiation and gene transcription. She then returned to Melbourne, Australia (November 2007) and joined Dr David Bowser’s laboratory on synaptic neurobiology at the Howard Florey Institute to learn new techniques such as total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy and investigate astrocytes vesicular release mechanisms and the complex and vital communication that occurs between different cells types in the brain (neurons and astrocytes) under both normal and pathological conditions. She was recently awarded the Ronald Phillip Griffith Research Fellowship from the University of Melbourne to conduct research into the causes or alleviation of schizophrenia focusing on the involvement of the neuropeptide, PACAP. Her scientific research interest lies in understanding the link between GPCRs and downstream signal transduction mechanisms in the central nervous system and how these are altered in neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression. She is particularly interested in GPCR-mediated calcium signaling required for neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity and how abnormal functioning and dysregulation of these pathways can result in susceptibility to mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Other research interests, in common with her current supervisor and mentor, Dr David Bowser, lies in understanding how astrocytes can be manipulated to release vesicular cargo such as BDNF to sites of neuronal injury to promote synaptic plasticity and neuronal repair.