Killam Seminar Series: Molecular Mechanisms Controlling Dopamine Neuron Biology in Health and Disease
Gr芒ce 脿 la g茅n茅rosit茅 des fiducies Killam, Le Neuro convoque lors d鈥檜ne s茅rie de s茅minaires des conf茅renciers d鈥檈xception dont les travaux passionnent ses chercheurs et ceux de l鈥橴niversit茅 缅北强奸.听
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Helen Bateup, PhD
Professeure associ茅e, D茅partement de biologie mol茅culaire et cellulaire, UC Berkely, 脡tats-Unis
贬么迟别:听j-francois.poulin [at] mcgill.ca (Jean-Fran莽ois Poulin)
Abstract:听Dopamine neurons represent a small fraction of neurons in the brain, yet they exert widespread influence over a variety of brain systems that control motor function, reward, motivation, and learning. Recent work from our lab and others has uncovered considerable diversity within the dopaminergic system, which likely underlies its pleotropic functions. Importantly, dysfunction of different classes of dopamine neurons contribute to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. In this talk, I will present our work investigating the molecular pathways that regulate dopaminergic function. In particular, I will discuss our findings showing that mTOR, a central regulator of cell growth and metabolism, is a key modulator of dopamine neuron structure and function. I will present data from mouse models showing that balanced mTOR activity is critical for proper dopaminergic output, as suppression or overactivation of mTOR has detrimental effects on multiple aspects of dopamine neuron biology. In addition, I will discuss our ongoing collaborative work to investigate the pathways that contribute to dopamine neuron degeneration in the context of Parkinson鈥檚 disease, using functional genomics approaches in human midbrain organoids.
