Elizabeth Pollina, PhD

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Developmental Biology

WashU Medicine

Talk Title: Dynamic Genome Control Mechanisms in Nervous System Longevity

Abstract: A striking feature of the nervous system is its continual adaptation to environmental cues throughout life. Environmental stimuli trigger changes in neuronal activity that, in turn, induce transcriptional programs that drive adaptive modifications to neuronal circuits. However, during transcription, DNA can be cut, unwound, the reannealed in a process that has the potential to create mutations. How then do animals balance the necessity of activity for brain plasticity with the intrinsic risk it poses to the genetic code? Here, I discuss our lab’s ongoing efforts to uncover the molecular mechanisms that regulate stimulus-dependent transcription and DNA repair in the brain and the significance of these genome control mechanisms for cognitive aging and neurodegenerative disease.

Hosts: Drs. Lijuan Feng and Gabor Egervari