ICLM Journal Club
This Week
Tom O'Dell
Title: 'The calcium sensor synaptotagmin 7 is required for synaptic facilitation'
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v529/n7584/full/nature16507.html
Activity-dependent forms of short-term plasticity (STP), such as facilitation and depression, dynamically adjust the strength of synaptic transmission in response to different patterns of presynaptic activity. Although STP is thought to have a fundamental role in the ability of synapses to process information contained in patterns of presynaptic spike action potentials, it has been difficult to test this notion experimentally, as the molecular mechanisms underlying STP are poorly understood. Recent findings from Wade Regehr’s laboratory have, however, revealed a crucial role of the synaptotagmin isoform Syt7 in facilitation. These findings not only provide key new insights into the molecular mechanisms responsible for STP but also provide the basis for future studies examining the role of short-term facilitation in neuronal computation.
About Us
Introduction
The Integrative Center for Learning and Memory (ICLM) is a multidisciplinary center of UCLA labs devoted to understanding the neural basis of learning and memory and its disorders. This will require a unified approach across different levels of analysis, including;
1. Elucidating the molecular cellular and systems mechanisms that allow neurons and synapses to undergo the long-term changes that ultimately correspond to 'neural memories'.
2. Understanding how functional dynamics and computations emerge from complex circuits of neurons, and how plasticity governs these processes.
3. Describing the neural systems in which different forms of learning and memory take place, and how these systems interact to ultimately generate behavior and cognition.
History of ICLM
The Integrative Center for Learning and Memory formally LMP started in its current form in 1998, and has served as a platform for many interactions and collaborations within UCLA. A key event organized by the group is the weekly ICLM Journal Club. For more than 10 years, graduate students, postdocs, principal investigators, and invited speakers have presented on topics ranging from the molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, through computational models of learning, to behavior and cognition. Dean Buonomano oversees the ICLM journal club with help of student/post doctoral organizers. For other events organized by ICLM go to http://www.iclm.ucla.edu/Events.html.
Current Organizers:
Walt Babiec (O'Dell Lab) & Helen Motanis (Buonomano Lab)
Current Faculty Advisor:
Past Organizers:
i) Anna Matynia(Aug 2004 - Jun 2008) (Silva Lab)
ii) Robert Brown (Aug 2008 - Jun 2009) (Balleine Lab)
iii) Balaji Jayaprakash (Aug 2008 - Nov 2011) (Silva Lab)
iv) Justin Shobe & Thomas Rogerson (Dec 2011 - June 2013) (Silva Lab)
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