This seminar will be held in the Neurological Institute of New York's Auditorium (1st floor). Columbia University's Intercampus Shuttle Service is the best way to travel between campuses.
About Stephen Liberles
My lab at Harvard Medical School uses molecular and genetic approaches to study sensory neuroscience. We identified two new families of olfactory receptors in mice (Nature 2006, PNAS 2009), and also studied sweet taste receptors in different vertebrate species (Nature Neuroscience 2001, Science 2014). Furthermore, we made contributions towards understanding how the olfactory system controls complex behaviors, such as odor aversion, attraction, and pheromone responses (PNAS 2011, PNAS 2012, Current Biology 2013, PNAS 2013, Nature 2013). We characterized several ethological odors and pheromones, the receptors that detect them, and the downstream neural circuits that orchestrate responses.
Most of my lab is now studying internal sensory systems of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve contains a diversity of sensory neurons that detect peripheral stimuli such as blood pressure changes at the aortic arch, lung expansion during breathing, meal-induced stomach distension, and chemotherapeutics that induce nausea. Underlying vagal sensory mechanisms are largely unresolved at a molecular level, presenting tremendously important problems in sensory biology. We used a molecular approach to deconstruct the sensory vagus nerve into distinct cellular components, identifying novel cell surface receptors of the vagus nerve, and classifying several principal cell types. We then generated a collection of ires-Cre knock-in mice to target each neuron type, and adapted genetic tools for Cre-based anatomical mapping, in vivo imaging, and optogenetic control of vagal neuron activity. We found two sensory neuron types that innervate the lung and exert powerful effects on breathing (Cell, 2015), and two other sensory neuron types that monitor and control the digestive system (Cell, 2016). We also identified a critical role for the mechanoreceptor Piezo2 in the sensation of lung stretch, a sensation that underlies a classical protective respiratory reflex termed the Hering- Breuer inspiratory reflex (Nature, 2017).
Those who wish to meet the speaker during their visit should contact Yalda Moayedi-Esfahani, PhD (Lumpkin and Grueber labs). For general inquiries please contact [email protected].
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.