Title: Wiring Specificity of Neural Circuits

Speaker: Prof. Liqun LUO

Time: 15:10-16:10 PM, 2 Jul. , 2023

Venue: Room 111, Lynn Library

Introduction:

Liqun Luo grew up in Shanghai, China. He received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Science & Technology of China, PhD at Brandeis University, and postdoctoral training at UCSF. He has been on the faculty of Stanford since 1996, where he studies the development and function of neural circuits in fruit flies and mice. Dr. Luo was elected as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012. He has been teaching neurobiology to undergraduate and graduate students since 1997, from which he wrote the textbook “Principles of Neurobiology”, which is widely used for teaching around the world.

Abstract: Developing brains use a limited number of molecules to specify connection specificity of a much larger number of neurons and synapses. How is this feat achieved? I will first describe our work using the Drosophila olfactory circuit as a model to address this question. I will then discuss functions of homologs of wiring molecules we identified in the fly olfactory circuits in determining wiring specificity of the mouse hippocampal and other circuits.