In mice, the detection of motion begins in the retina, yet little is known about how the neural circuit that underlies this computation develops. Here we test whether the development of direction selectivity maps - a term used to describe the organization of direction selectivity across the retina - depends on visual experience. We also determine whether this map is established by the time mice first open their eyes.

Speaker

Alexandre Tiriac, PhD

Alexandre Tiriac is a postdoctoral researcher in Marla Feller's laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Tiriac earned his BS in chemistry and neurophysiology & Behavior at the University of California, Davis, and his PhD in Psychology at the University of Iowa. He currently studies how visual experience shapes the development of neural circuits in the retina.

Many largescale efforts are aimed at unraveling the cellular, molecular, and computational properties that underlie brain function. Yet, to date, many important insights into these problems have come from a humble part of the central nervous system – the retina. The retina is responsible for vision and. contains diverse neuron types that detect light. Because of its inherent organization, wiring, and experimental accessibility it has proven to be a uniquely approachable system for discovering neurobiology principles. In this lightening talk, we discuss our efforts to uncover new neural regulatory molecules and pathways using this small but consequential window into the brain.

Speaker

Melanie Samuel, PhD

Melanie Samuel is a CPRIT fellow and assistant professor of neuroscience in the Huffington Center on Aging and department of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. Samuel earned her PhD from Washington University and completed her postdoctoral work at Harvard University. Her interdisciplinary research group leverages high-throughput, in vivo molecular studies, nanoscopic imaging, and genetic approaches to find novel neural regulatory molecules.

Single cell sequencing technology has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of cell types and the transcriptional landscapes underlying cellular function. Here, we present two major advances in the application of single cell approaches to spinal cord biology: (1) a harmonized atlas of cell types that unifies the work of six independent labs and (2) an example of how each cell type's gene expression changes after spinal cord injury.

Speakers

Kaya Matson

Kaya Matson is a PhD Candidate at Ariel Levine’s lab through the NIH-Johns Hopkins Graduate Partnership Program. Matson’s thesis work leverages sequencing at the single cell level to characterize cell types after spinal cord injury in mice. She has worked to optimize nuclei isolation from difficult-to-dissociate tissues, allowing for transcriptional profiling of the mouse and human spinal cord.

Ariel Levine, MD, PhD

Ariel Levine joined NINDS in 2015 where her lab studies how the molecules, neurons, and circuits of the spinal cord mediate normal behavior and learn. Levine received a PhD from The Rockefeller University, and an MD from Cornell University. During her graduate research with Ali Brivanlou, she studied the role of TGF-β signaling during embryonic development. Levine did postdoctoral research with Samuel Pfaff at The Salk Institute, where she identified a novel population of spinal neurons that encode “motor synergies” – modular neural programs for simple movements that are thought to underlie a wide variety of common behaviors.

In this video, Kai Liu discusses how directing neuronal lipid metabolism away from triglyceride synthesis and toward phospholipids synthesis may promote axon regeneration in adult nervous system.

Speaker

Kai Liu, PhD

Kai Liu is currently Cheng associate professor of Science in Division of Life Science at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Liu received his bachelor degree from School of Life Sciences at Peking University and received his PhD from Rutgers University at New Brunswick. Then he did his postdoc research at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School. His research interest focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating axonal regeneration.