BDRC SEMINAR SERIES
Steve Wilson, University College London
"Breaking symmetry in the brain: from genes to circuits and (eventually)
behaviour"
2nd October 2015, 1pm
June Lloyd Seminar Room, ICH
Although our nervous system is overtly symmetric, there are many functional
asymmetries between left and right sides.
Indeed although such asymmetry is
a feature of nervous systems of all bilaterally symmetric animals, we know little
about the developmental and genetic basis of nervous system asymmetry nor
about how asymmetries are encoded in circuits.
Zebrafish are currently the
leading vertebrate model to study the development of brain asymmetry and
we have shown that breaking of symmetry and allocation of handedness to the
asymmetry are separable processes and that Nodal, Wnt and Fgf pathways
together break symmetry and determine its laterality.
Complementing genetic
studies, we are analyzing the developmental neuroanatomy of asymmetric
circuitry.
For instance, we find that the left and right habenular nuclei project
to different regions of their target nucleus, and that for individual neurons, leftright asymmetry is manifest as differences in axon terminal morphology and
targeting.
These neuroanatomical studies underpin research that aims to link circuitry to
neuronal activity and behaviour.
One major challenge is to identify complex
behaviours that are sufficiently robust to be amenable to both genetic and
neuroanatomical interrogation. To this end, we, and others, are developing
assays for simple learning and fear responses and social interactions in young
fry.
Coupled to analysing behaviour, we are using genetic/optogenetic
approaches to interrogate neuronal activity in lateralised brain nuclei. We have
recently found that the left and right habenulae respond to different sensory
stimuli and that loss of brain asymmetry impairs the ability to respond to such
stimuli. The long-term goal of our research is to be able to move seamlessly
from genes through developmental mechanisms to circuits and behaviour in
the intact developing animal.
Biosketch
Steve Wilson is Professor of Developmental Genetics and Vice-dean for
Research at UCL in London. Ever since his post-doc at the University of
Michigan with Steve Easter, his research has been focused on brain
development using zebrafish as a model system.
He established an
independent research group in 1992 and moved to UCL in 1998 as a Wellcome
Trust Senior Research Fellow, was appointed Professor of Developmental
Genetics in 2002 and later Vice-Dean for Research.
Steve was elected to the
Academy of Medical Sciences in 2002 and to EMBO in 2005. He is Deputy
Editor in Chief for the journal Development and Chair of the Wellcome Trust
Basic Science Interview Committee. He won the Remedios Caro Almeida prize
in developmental neurobiology in 2009.