Formation of lamina-specific neuronal connectivity in visual system Center for Developmental Biology

Home > Seminars and Events > Formation of lamina-specific neuronal connectivity in visual system

Category	Seminar
Date and Time	2006-12-25 15:00 - 16:00
Venue	Seminar Room A7F
Speaker	Masahito Yamagata
Affiliation	Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
Title	Formation of lamina-specific neuronal connectivity in visual system
Poster	click here to download(PDF)
Host	Masatoshi Takeichi
Summary	Neurons are connected with a remarkable degree of synaptic specificity in neuronal circuits. Many areas of the central nervous system consist of multiple neuronal cell layers, each of which bears a unique population of neuronal types. In such laminated areas, both axons and dendrites restrict their synaptic connections to particular laminae. Thus, lamina-specific synaptic connectivity is a major wiring principle of the brain. To understand cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie development of lamina-specific connectivity, retinal ganglion cells, sole projection neurons of the retina, are useful because their axons and dendrites make striking laminar choices in the central targets and retina, respectively. I am going to talk about our findings on immunoglobulin superfamily adhesion molecules that guide lamina-specific connectivity.