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Spring 2010:
January
Jan 15th
Speaker : John Guzowski of UC Irvine.
"Immediate-Early Gene Expression in Hippocampus: A Window into the Cellular Mechanisms & Neural Circuit Dynamics of Memory"
Summary of Talk:
The ability of neurons to change gene expression patterns in response to synaptic input is critical for cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Following behavioral experience, expression of specific "immediate-early genes (IEGs)" is dramatically increased in discrete populations of neurons in hippocampus, neocortex, and subcortical brain regions. IEGs such as /Arc/ and /Homer 1a/ encode proteins capable of modifying synaptic function and are required for converting experience into lasting memory (i.e., memory consolidation). I will discuss past and ongoing research using sophisticated IEG imaging methods to study neural ensemble dynamics during learning and memory retrieval. In combining these imaging approaches with lesion, neuropharmacological, and vector-mediated gene knockdown/mutation methods, we are address long-standing and fundamental questions about the role of the hippocampus and associated neocortical regions in memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval.
