EDUCATION
RESEARCH
Speaker:
Asst Prof Scott Soderling
Assistant Professor in Cell Biology
Duke University Medical Center
Host:
Prof Patrick Casey
Senior Vice Dean of Research, Duke‐NUS Graduate Medical School
Date:
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Time:
4.00pm to 5.00pm
(Light refreshments will be served at 3.30pm)
Venue:
Amphitheatre, Level 2
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
8 College Road, Singapore 169857
(opposite Singapore General Hospital, Block 6/7)
Contact Person:
Ms Maria Isabella, Duke-NUS Research Affairs Department
Tel: 6516 7255 or Email: isabella.a@duke‐nus.edu.sg
Synopsis:
Regulation of the synaptic actin cytoskeleton is critical for normal development of neuronal networks. Signaling to actin is also intimately paired with synaptic activity and the remodeling of actin governs many aspects of synaptic plasticity. Genetic mutation of this pathway is associated with multiple neuropsychiatric disorders, including generalized intellectual disability in humans. The focus of this talk will be on signaling downstream of the GTPase Rac, via a WRP‐WAVE1‐Arp2/3 pathway that orchestrates early synaptogenesis and later synaptic plasticity. Analysis of mouse models indicates the disruption of this pathway results in significant behavioral abnormalities relevant to human disorders.
Biography:
Dr. Scott Soderling worked in the laboratory of Dr. John Scott as an HHMI postdoctoral fellow where he discovered a new signaling complex consisting of WAVE1 and WRP that is critical for dendritic spine formation, synaptic plasticity and normal behaviors. In the Cell Biology Department at Duke University, the Soderling Lab has expanded these studies to combine novel proteomic approaches to define actin signaling pathways and mouse transgenics to study their physiologic roles. The work of the laboratory has identified actin‐signaling deficits that lead to synaptic dysfunctions associated with generalized intellectual disability, autism, and schizophrenia.
Copyright © Duke-NUS 2012- All rights reserved.
