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Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience
Student Sponsored Seminar Series

presents

Nicholas C. Spitzer, PhD

Professor of Biological Sciences
Co-Director, Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind
University of California , San Diego

"Making the match: calcium signaling regulates neurotransmitter specification and receptor selection"

Abstract:
The correct specification of neurotransmitters presynaptically and cognate transmitter receptors postsynaptically is fundamental to the establishment of neuronal circuits during development. Early electrical activity generates calcium transients that regulate the choice of neurotransmitter in the embryonic spinal cord and brain, which then selects the appropriate receptors from a preexisting postsynaptic repertoire. Recent experiments suggest the mechanism by which transmitter specification is achieved.

Innervation of larval frog skeletal musculature. Rows of muscle cells (blue nuclei) are innervated (red axons) during development. Neuromuscular junctions are anatomically detected by immunostaining of synaptic puncta (green). Classes of neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter receptors involved in these synaptic contacts depend on early neuronal activity. Image courtesy of Laura N. Borodinsky.

Biography:
Nicholas C. Spitzer is professor in the Neurobiology Section of the Division of Biological Sciences at UCSD. His research is focused neuronal differentiation and the role of electrical activity and calcium signaling in the assembly of the nervous system. He has been chairman of the Biology Department and the Neurobiology Section, a trustee of the Grass Foundation, and served as a Councilor of the Society for Neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Co-Director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind.