QBI Seminar: The path from eye to brain: Genes encoding neurogenesis and wiring in the binocular circuit

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 02 December 2015 - Wednesday, 02 December 2015

Time:

3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Professor Carol Mason, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, College of Physicians, Columbia University, USA
Title: The path from eye to brain: Genes encoding neurogenesis and wiring in the binocular circuit

Abstract:
To implement binocular vision in higher vertebrates, retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons project ipsi- and contralaterally at the optic chiasm and terminate in eye-specific zones in the thalamus. We have identified guidance programs and transcription factors directing RGC axon navigation at the optic chiasm and cell fate of these two subpopulations.
Our new findings reveal additional facets distinguishing ipsi- and contralateral RGCs: 1) time and place of their generation; 2) eye-specific organization of axons between the optic chiasm and their targets.

I will also discuss the albino visual pathway, in which defects in melanogenesis in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) lead to fewer ipsilateral RGCs. Neurogenesis and RGC specification are aberrant in the albino retina, providing a good tool for studying cell fate, connectivity, and the role of the RPE in its modulation.