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SUMMARY:“Genetic dissection of cortical circuit organization and assembl
 y - chandeliers light up the path”
DTSTART:20131029T163000
DTEND:20131029T173000
DTSTAMP:20260503T060459Z
UID:a8e52e6eb3eeb7bebf0f4dc09011ee9fc81a8aa8abc30d869b64cc21
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Josh Huang\, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory\, USA\nAbstra
 ct\nDespite its immense complexity and sophisticated operations that under
 lie mental functioning\, the fundamental plan for the cellular organizatio
 n of cerebral cortex is encoded in the genome\, which directs cascades of 
 developmental programs in each fetus. Therefore genetic approaches that en
 gage intrinsic biological mechanisms have the potential to penetrate corti
 cal complexity and achieve appropriate cellular and molecular specificity\
 , and analyses of circuits assembly will facilitate deciphering their func
 tional organization. I suggest that\, similar to “genetic screens” tha
 t so powerfully identified genes and principles underlying embryonic patte
 rning\, systematic genetic targeting of cell types and their progenitors\,
  basic units of circuit organization and construction\, will not only prov
 ide experimental entry points but also establish a paradigm that coherentl
 y link molecular\, developmental\, and systems studies of cortical circuit
 s. I will summarize our progress on the genetic targeting of GABAergic int
 erneurons\, an effort that has facilitated reliable identification and man
 ipulation of cell types and enabled comprehensive analysis from cell speci
 fication\, connectivity\, to their functional role in networks.  The chan
 delier cell (ChC) is arguably the most distinctive class of interneurons t
 hat may shape cortical ensembles by exerting decisive control over pyramid
 al cell firing. I will present results on the stringent genetic mechanisms
  that specify ChC identity and their laminar deployment\, evidence of a ma
 ssive postnatal pruning process that likely shapes their circuit integrati
 on\, and on-going studies on their local and long-range synaptic connectiv
 ity. I will end with a highlight of our recent project on systematic targe
 ting of pyramidal neuron subtypes\, cellular hardwares that constitute the
  myriad of cortical processing streams and output channels. With increasin
 g experimental access to multiple build blocks that make up the two cardin
 al cellular ingredients of the cortex\, we are poised to explore how stere
 otyped circuit motifs are assembled and organized\, how they are further m
 olded by neural activity\, and how their developmental trajectory might be
  altered in models of mental disorders.
LOCATION:SV 1717A http://plan.epfl.ch/?lang=fr&room=SV1717A
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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