04/27/2017
BioSci Alumni are invited to attend the 2017 Stephen W. Kuffler Lectures will be given by UC San Diego faculty Nicholas C. Spitzer, and are collectively titled Neurotransmitter Switching:
Wednesday, May 17th at 4:00 pm
“The Path Forward: Three Stages of Discovery”
Liebow Auditorium, Basic Sciences Building, UCSD
Thursday, May 18th at 4:00 pm
“During Development: Vision and Olfaction”
Liebow Auditorium, Basic Sciences Building, UCSD
Friday, May 19th at 4:00 pm
“The Adult Brain: In Health and Disease”
Liebow Auditorium, Basic Sciences Building, UCSD
Dr. Nicholas C. Spitzer’s research seeks to elucidate the role of electrical activity in regulating the plasticity of the nervous system, including the differences between neural plasticity in the developing brain and the adult brain. In addition to his pioneering work on axon guidance, Dr. Spitzer’s work fundamentally changed our understanding of brain plasticity by demonstrating that neurons can switch their transmitter identity when exposed to sensory stimulus, such as different photoperiods. He also found that there were corresponding changes in the expression of postsynaptic transmitter receptors, which enable the continued function of synapses in both developing and adult nervous systems. Moreover, he showed that switches in transmitter identity, from dopamine to somatostatin, drive changes in behavior—work that has profound implications for the study of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Spitzer is a Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology and holds the Atkinson Family Chair in Neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego. He received his PhD in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, amongst the stellar trainees influenced by Steven Kuffler. He is an exemplary leader in the Department of Biology (now known as Division of Biological Sciences), a founding member of UCSD Neurobiology, and co-director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind at UCSD. He was a founding editor-in-chief of BrainFacts.org, a public neuroscience resource created by the Society for Neuroscience, the Kavli Foundation, and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. In addition to receiving many awards and honors, he is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The lectures are free for UCSD BioSci alumni. We hope to see you at what is certain to be a spectacular series of lectures!