The septum is ventral forebrain structure responsible for the regulation of emotional states including anxiety, fear and depression. The septum contains an extremely diverse array of short- and long-range projecting GABAergic neurons distributed across its two histological subdivisions, the medial and lateral septal nuclei. It is currently unclear how septal neuron diversity and circuit wiring are specified during development. Using molecular genetics and single-cell/nuclei RNA-seq we have begun to unravel the developmental logic for producing diverse neural cell types in the septum. Our future work is focused on understanding the specific contribution of developmentally specified neural cell types to the regulation of internal states carried out by the septum.

Those who wish to meet the speaker should contact Luke Nunnelly, Au Lab

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.