Northwestern Events Calendar

Mar
5
2020

BMG Seminar: Remodeling of Genome Architecture in Brain Circuits Underlying Motor Behavior- Tomoko Yamada, PhD

When: Thursday, March 5, 2020
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CT

Where: Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center, Simpson Querrey Auditorium, 303 E. Superior Street, Chicago, IL 60611 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: Vanessa Hughes   (312) 503-5229

Group: Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics Seminar Series

Category: Academic

Description:

Precise control of gene expression plays a critical role in the patterning of the brain. Neuronal activity-dependent transcription couples sensory experience to adaptive responses of the brain including learning and memory. Using large-scale transcriptome and chromatin profiling, we have recently discovered that activation of a motor learning-linked neuronal circuit in the cerebellum reorganizes neuronal chromatin including through long-distance enhancer-promoter and transcriptionally active compartment interactions to orchestrate distinct activity-dependent gene expression modules. Conditional knockout of the chromatin architecture regulator Cohesin in cerebellar granule neurons in adult mice disrupts enhancer-promoter interactions, activity-dependent transcription, and motor learning. These findings define how sensory experience patterns chromatin architecture and neural circuit coding in the brain to drive motor learning. In addition to the refinement of neural circuits in adult mice, we find that developmental signals also reshape the neuronal genome architectural landscape in unexpected ways, independently of Cohesin. I will present some preliminary data that are uncovering the principles of neuronal genome organization in the wiring of neural circuits and behavior.

Tomoko Yamada, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology
Northwestern University, Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences

 

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