Reverse Engineering Wiring Principles of the Fly Eye: How Flies Avoid Double, Double, Double Vision
Event details
| Date | 16.09.2015 |
| Hour | 14:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Steven J. Altschuler, University of California, San Francicso, CA (USA) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Abstract:
How do complex neural circuits assemble during development? The wiring of compound eyes to the brain of flies provides a fascinating model system for studying this question: each point in visual space is captured by multiple photoreceptors, each in a different ommatidium, which wire to the same synaptic unit in the brain.
We will describe recent studies that combine intravital imaging and data-driven computational modeling to identify three simple self-organizing principles that underlie this wiring process.
Bio:
EDUCATION
University of Pennsylvania, BA, 1985, Mathematics
University of California, San Diego, MA, 1986, Mathematics
University of California, San Diego, PhD, 1990, Mathematics (Advisor: Richard Hamilton)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1990-1991
Research Fellow, University of Minnesota, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications Minneapolis, MN.
1991-1992
Research Associate, Australian National University, Centre for Mathematics and its Applications, Canberra, Australia.
1992-1993
Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.
1993-1994
Instructor, Mathematics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
1994-2000
Group Manager and Senior Researcher, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA.
2001-2005
Fellow, Bauer Center for Genomics Research, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
2000-2001
Director Research, Informatics, Rosetta Inpharmatics, Kirkland, WA.
2005-2009
Assistant Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
2005-2014
Associate Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
2014-present
Professor, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
Abstract:
How do complex neural circuits assemble during development? The wiring of compound eyes to the brain of flies provides a fascinating model system for studying this question: each point in visual space is captured by multiple photoreceptors, each in a different ommatidium, which wire to the same synaptic unit in the brain.
We will describe recent studies that combine intravital imaging and data-driven computational modeling to identify three simple self-organizing principles that underlie this wiring process.
Bio:
EDUCATION
University of Pennsylvania, BA, 1985, Mathematics
University of California, San Diego, MA, 1986, Mathematics
University of California, San Diego, PhD, 1990, Mathematics (Advisor: Richard Hamilton)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1990-1991
Research Fellow, University of Minnesota, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications Minneapolis, MN.
1991-1992
Research Associate, Australian National University, Centre for Mathematics and its Applications, Canberra, Australia.
1992-1993
Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.
1993-1994
Instructor, Mathematics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
1994-2000
Group Manager and Senior Researcher, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA.
2001-2005
Fellow, Bauer Center for Genomics Research, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
2000-2001
Director Research, Informatics, Rosetta Inpharmatics, Kirkland, WA.
2005-2009
Assistant Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
2005-2014
Associate Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
2014-present
Professor, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free