- This event has passed.
SCSB Colloquium Series: How Nature and Nurture Conspire to Regulate Brain Development and Plasticity [Michael Greenberg, Ph.D.]
March 20 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium). Please note this event is in person only
Speaker: Michael Greenberg, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: How Nature and Nurture Conspire to Regulate Brain Development and Plasticity
Abstract: Experience-dependent neuronal activity plays a critical role in shaping the connectivity and function of the central nervous system. These actions are mediated in part by the action of a program of neuronal activity-driven gene expression. Investigation of these gene expression programs has uncovered important roles in dendritic growth, the development of excitatory and inhibitory synapses, the composition of protein complexes at pre- and post-synaptic sites, and the production of neuropeptides that control neural circuit development. Moreover, defects in the activity-dependent gene program contribute to disorders of human cognition. Thus, study of this transcriptional response promises new insights into neuronal plasticity and disease.