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
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