This event will be in-person only for Columbia University Affiliates and will not offer a Zoom option
Viviana Gradinaru, PhD
Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering; Director, Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Caltech
Moving beyond barriers: Gene delivery across the blood-brain barrier for precise, noninvasive study and repair of nervous systems
Protein engineering and data science have helped overcome challenges in optogenetics and gene delivery, with microbial opsins tolerated by mammalian cells and viral capsids that cross the blood–brain barrier. These tools are applied to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders,for e.g. to understand circuits underlying locomotion and sleep for Parkinson’s disease. By understanding how engineered capsids work and leveraging them as vehicles for targeted gene delivery via the vasculature, we are now closer to precise noninvasive study and repair of nervous systems.
Relevant Publications:
Spatial transcriptomics for profiling the tropism of viral vectors in tissues
Host(s): Yasmine El-Shamayleh (Faculty) and Margaret Conde Paredes (Graduate student)
Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
The Columbia Neuroscience Seminar series is a collaborative effort of Columbia's Zuckerman Institute, the Department of Neuroscience, the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior and the Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative, and with support from the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.