Faculty:
Akira Chiba, Ph.D.
David Clayton, Ph.D.
Susan
Fahrbach, Ph.D.
Michael
Gabriel, Ph.D.
Paul
Gold, Ph.D.
William
T. Greenough, Ph.D.
William T. Greenough, Program Director, is interested in lifespan
brain development and has worked in areas ranging from prenatal brain
development to brain aging. Within this context the work focuses
particularly upon the roles of experience in molding the developing
brain. Past research has explored how experience and learning affect
brain structure, gene expression and function in development and
adulthood, including cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying
learning and memory.
"This work has led me to increasingly refer to plasticity of the
developing and adult brain as what I call 'brain adaptation,' the
remarkable ability of all components of the brain to alter their
function and organization in accord with the demands that the
organism places upon it. Neurons, glia, and vasculature are all
capable of adaptive plastic change. We study these changes using
morphological, molecular, electrophysiological and behavioral
approaches. Current specific interests include synaptic plasticity
in development and memory, molecular and morphological aspects of
fragile X mental retardation syndrome, therapeutic intervention for
the damaged brain, and compartmentalization of metabolism and
physiology in dendrites."
A more detailed description of the research can be found at: http://greenough.beckman.uiuc.edu.
Huey
Hing, Ph.D.
Have you ever wondered how we
know a rose from its scent, or smell the difference between cinnamon and thyme?
Our ability to recognize and discriminate diverse odors depends not only on
having olfactory neurons that are “tuned” to specific odorants, but also on
their precise connections with the correct synaptic targets (glomeruli) in the
brain (fig.A). This precise wiring pattern arises during development because
olfactory axons are genetically programmed to project to specific glomeruli.
The long-term goal of our lab is to understand the molecular and genetic basis
by which olfactory axons pathfind to their targets using Drosophila as a model system.
The
Drosophila antennal system offers
numerous advantages for studying the development of olfactory connectivity
(fig.B). First, its anatomy and development bears a close resemblance to that
of ours. But, the fly’s olfactory organ is much simpler, containing only ~40
types of antennal axons matched with an equal number of uniquely identifiable
glomeruli (fig.C,D). Second, it is beautiful and highly accessible. Third,
powerful genetic and molecular tools in Drosophila
permit manipulation of single genes and single cells in vivo.
We
have discovered that two signaling genes, dock
(encoding an adapter) and Pak
(encoding a kinase), function to steer antennal axons to their glomeruli. We
hypothesize that their gene products (i.e. Dock and Pak) form a biochemical
pathway that transmits signals from the extracellular environment to the actin
cytoskeleton allowing olfactory axon to navigate precisely. Our current
research is focused on finding answers to the following questions. What are the
extracellular signals that steer antennal axons? What are the receptors that
bind to these signals? How do the receptors signal to Dock and Pak, thus
regulating the cytoskeleton and motility? We are applying a number of tools to
tackle these questions. 1) We are using standard genetic screens to identify
novel genes required for antennal axon targeting. 2) We are using molecular
biology and transgenic technologies to alter the genetic programs of olfactory
neurons in vivo. 3) We are using live
imaging, single-cell visualization techniques, and immunocytochemistry to study
navigation of the altered antennal axons in
vivo. For more information: www.life.uiuc.edu/hing/.
Janice
Juraska, Ph.D.
Donna
Korol, Ph.D.
Tzumin
Lee, Ph.D.
Yuquing
Li, Ph.D.
Esmail
Meisami, Ph.D.
Gene Robinson, Ph.D.
Edward Roy, Ph.D.
James
Weyhenmeyer, Ph.D.
Bruce Wheeler, Ph.D.