[BIC-announce] FW: Announcement for KAC Elliott Lecture - Tuesday, April 11/06 - Cellular mechanism of synapse assembly and function

[Jennifer Chew, Ms.]

PLEASE DISCARD IF THIS IS A DUPLICATE.  THANK YOU.  JENNIFER 

________________________________________
From: MNISTAFF - Montreal Neurological Institute Staff [mailto:MNISTAFF at LISTS.MCGILL.CA] On Behalf Of Enza Ferracane, Ms.
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 8:17 AM
To: MNISTAFF at LISTS.MCGILL.CA
Subject: Announcement for KAC Elliott Lecture - Tuesday, April 11/06

 

I am pleased to announce the KAC Elliott invited lecturer this year as Craig Garner who is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stanford University and Co-director, Stanford Down Syndrome Center.

Craig Garner is interested in the synaptic mechanisms that underlie normal behavior, learning and memory and their dysfunction in cognitive disorders such as mental retardation.  In cell culture models, he studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that guide the formation, maintenance and elimination of excitatory synapses in the vertebrate CNS. He has used multiple molecular and genetic approaches with imaging to identify the key structural and regulatory proteins of glutamatergic synapses.  Employing dynamic imaging approaches, he has shown in cultured hippocampal neurons that excitatory synapses form in about one hour with the functional presynapse being established before the postsynapse. The rapid formation (~20 min) of a presynaptic active zone is driven by a novel class of active zone precursor vesicles (AZV) that carry numerous components of the active zone including the machinery essential for synaptic vesicle exocytosis. Ongoing research in his laboratory is oriented around determining the contribution of these AZVs to the establishment of the active zone as well as their potential role in the differentiation of the postsynapse.

Craig Garner has published his work in multiple original articles in prominent journals and in recent reviews in TINS, Rev Nature Neurosci and Ann Rev Neurosci, where you might preview the exciting research he will present in his lecture.

Date:  Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Time:  4 pm
Place:  Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre
Title of talk:  Cellular mechanism of synapse assembly and function

I strongly encourage all to attend this honorary lecture which promises to be highly informative for clinical and basic neuroscientists alike.

Barbara E. Jones


Naomi Takeda
Administrative Assistant to:
Drs. Barbara E. Jones, David S. Ragsdale,
        Christopher C. Pack and T. Stroh
Montreal Neurological Institute
McGill University
3801 University Street, #896
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H3A 2B4
H  514-398-1913
  514-398-5871
  naomi.takeda at mcgill.ca