Gwyneth Card, PhD

Associate Professor of Neuroscience

Principal Investigator at Columbia University Zuckerman Institute

Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Cracking circuits with connectomes: A reverse Neuroethology perspective

Recent advances in electron microscopy and computer-aided tracing capabilities have produced a new kind of Big Data:  Connectomes.  These maps of all the chemical synaptic connections between neurons in a brain are now publicly available for multiple species, including the entire worm nervous system, the fly brain and ventral nerve cord, and a patch of the mouse brain -- and maps in further species are forthcoming.  Connectomes let us see the detailed wiring structure of the brain as never before, but what can these static maps actually tell us about brain function?  I will discuss our lab’s recent work analyzing the fly connectome and using it together with genetic, electrophysiological, and behavioral experiments to understand how sensory signals are converted to behavioral output across the nervous system.  We find that connectomes are critical for understanding neural circuit implementation in the fly, but a wider knowledge of natural fly behaviors is still needed to fully interpret them.

Host(s): Melinda Miller and Ivy Elkins

Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

This event will be in-person only and will not offer a Zoom option.
Open only to Columbia University and Columbia University Affiliates.
Speaker Location: Jerome L. Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall

Tuesdays@10 is a signature Zuckerman Institute initiative that aims to expose researchers at all levels to high-quality science and stimulate scientific discourse. The speakers featured in this series represent various fields and techniques in neuroscience, and are either external to Columbia (Columbia Neuroscience Seminars and Special Seminars) or are Columbia faculty members (Local Circuits) invited through a combined, collaborative effort of one or more of the following: 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. 

More information and a full schedule can be found here.