Reports from Previous Years

Speaker Schedule for Current Year

Life Sciences Home

Brandeis University

Multiple Activity Dependent Mechanisms Control Visual System Development in Xenopus

Sensory input into the brain is essential for organizing brain connectivity and circuit function during development and for modifying neuronal circuits with learning in the mature nervous system. Dr. Cline’s lab is working on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that operate to establish and modify brain connections during development. Nervous system dysfunction may arise from failure of these mechanisms to operate during development or in the mature nervous system. Her lab addresses this issue by examining the structural and functional development of the visual system in amphibian tadpoles. These animals are transparent which allows one to observe directly the development of the brain in living animals. In addition, they assessed neuronal function using electrophysiological assays of synaptic connectivity and synaptic plasticity. They combined these studies with gene transfer methods, which allowed them to test the function of genes of interest in brain development. One of the highlights of Dr. Cline’s recent research was the demonstration that glutamate receptor activity following visual stimulation is required for the normal development of topographically organized connections from the eye to the central nervous system. She further demonstrated that visual experience enhances the growth rate of dendritic arbors and visual responsivity of postsynaptic optic tectal neurons. These studies laid the groundwork for their current work on specific mechanisms by which brain connectivity develops in the intact animal.

 

 

Speaker Schedule  |  Reports from Previous Years
Top of Page | Life Sciences | Brandeis University