QBI Neuroscience Seminar: 'Epigenetic and transgenerational mechanisms in immune-mediated neurodevelopmental disorders'
Event Details
- Date:
- Wednesday, 31 October 2018 - Wednesday, 31 October 2018
- Time:
- 11:00 am - 12:00 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):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Ms Deirdre Wilson
- Phone:
- 66300
- Email:
- d.wilson5@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Queensland Brain Institute
Event Description
- Full Description:
- Professor Urs Meyer
Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology
University of Zurich – Vetsuisse Faculty
Zurich, Switzerland
Title: 'Epigenetic and transgenerational mechanisms in immune-mediated neurodevelopmental disorders'
Abstract: Epidemiologic studies have implicated maternal immune activation in the aetiology of various neurodevelopmental disorders. Maternal infectious pathogens and inflammation are plausible risk factors for these outcomes and have been associated with schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, and bipolar disorder. Modelling this association in animals shows that maternal immune activation negatively affects foetal brain development and leads to the emergence of behavioral disturbances later in life. Recent discoveries in these preclinical models suggest that epigenetic modifications may be a critical molecular mechanism by which prenatal immune activation can mediate changes in brain development and functions, even across generations. This seminar discusses the potential epigenetic mechanisms underlying the effects of prenatal immune activation, thereby highlighting how immune-mediated epigenetic reprogramming may contribute to the transgenerational transmission of pathological traits. The identification of epigenetic and transgenerational effects of prenatal adversities such as in-utero immune exposure appears relevant to brain disorders independently of existing diagnostic classifications and may help identifying complex patterns of transgenerational disease transmission beyond genetic inheritance. The consideration of ancestral infectious histories may be of substantial clinical interest and may be pivotal for developing new preventive treatment strategies against infection-mediated neurodevelopmental disorders.
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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