Dr. Ben Cheyette is an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at UCSF. Ben and his lab focuses on signaling proteins that help neurons develop and communicate with each other.
In this week’s episode Dr. Cheyette explains how these signaling pathways originally discovered in the fruit fly relate to psychiatric disorders in humans. He discusses how he became interested in this family of proteins and the research his lab is currently conducting. Using the power of mouse genetics, his lab studies how a protein called Dapper can shape the way neurons form and function in the brain. He is also interested in how mutations in the Dapper gene relate to autism. Finally, at the end of our talk Ben provides some helpful advice to young listeners interested in pursuing a career in science.
Dr. Stavros Lomvardos, assistant professor in the department of anatomy at UCSF, is interested in olfactory receptor choice.
About 900 genes encode the receptor proteins in your nose that help you smell. However, each neuron in the olfactory epithelium expresses only one of those genes. Dr. Lomvardas is interested in how the nervous system “chooses” which receptor protein is expressed. In this episode, Stavros explores the cellular machinery that selectively enhances or silences the expression of genes and how these discoveries were made.
In conjunction with being a professor at UCSF, Dr. Patricia Janak heads a lab at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center. There, Patricia and her fellow scientists tackle questions related to drug and alcohol abuse.
In this week’s episode, she shares with us some of her work on alcohol and drug addiction. Learn why some addicts have sudden cravings for drugs or alcohol and about the brain regions that are necessary for a relapse to happen.
Our guest this weeks has been wondering the same thing. Dr. Takaki Komiyama is a postdoctoral fellow at Janelia Farms, currently working in the Svoboda Lab. He is interested in how the brain codes for flexible behaviors, such as learning to play tennis. With practice, you generally see an improvement in your game. Sooner or later, your swings become smoother and you become better at predicting where the ball will land. But how does your brain code for it all? Listen in to this week’s episode and find out.
Some people have to wake up really early. I’m talking 3am early. Everyday. And not because they want to.
In this week’s episode, Dr. Louis Ptacek, an HHMI investigator and UCSF professor, discusses how alterations in our genes (called “mutations”) can be blamed for this trait. Louis is interested in understanding certain aspects of normal brain function, such as sleep. In my chat with him, he talks about our body’s natural circadian rhythm and how it is controlled by a “feedback loop” that controls gene expression and protein construction.
In this week’s session, we learn about the meninges. These are the membranes that cover and protect our central nervous system (our brains and spinal cords). More specifically, we learn from Dr. Sam Pleasure that the meninges may also help our brains develop. He also describes the role of two brain regions that his work focuses on: the hippocampus and the neocortex.
Dr. Adam Gazzaley is interested in the interface between attention and memory. In this installment, he tells us about the tools he’s using to study how distractions affect our ability to remember. He’s recently discovered that older adults have a hard time ignoring irrelevant information, and that this may have a huge negative effect on their memory. Find out how he’s building a video game to help people ignore distractions, and hopefully remember better.
Adam is also an avid photographer. Make sure to check out his beautiful shots of nature @ www.comewander.com
Jeff explains what mechanosensitive ion channels are and their role in helping a cell sense forces such as touch. He’s using a genetic approach to understand how a mutation that causes cytoskeletal protein loss can lead to muscle death. Near the end, he shares with us how his interest in marine biology inspired him to study ion channels.
Dr. Steven Finkbeiner is a Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Physiology at the University of California – San Francisco and is also the Associate Director of the Gladstone Institute for Neurologic Diseases.
Here he explains some of his state-of-the-art techniques that he uses to understand the link between the mutation that causes Huntington’s disease and the deterioration of brain cells (called “neurodegeneration”). This is another example of the in-between steps on the road from scientific bench top research to a hopeful cure.
Dr. Paul Breslin is a Member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Rutger’s University. He is also a good friend of mine and has been my mentor for more than seven years during my time at Monell.
Here he shares with us a story about how extra virgin olive oil stings the back of the throat, and how that is connected with inflammation, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.
