Columbia University in the City of New York

Jun 21, 20193:30 pm
Seminar

Zuckerman Institute Postdoctoral Seminar: June 21st

Featuring William Glassford, PhD (Mann lab) and Pia O’Neill, PhD (Salzman & Axel labs).

June 21st, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm at the Jerome L. Greene Science Center (L7-119)

This seminar will begin at 4:00 pm at the Jerome L. Greene Science Center on Columbia University’s Manhattanville campus (L7-119). Light refreshments will be available starting at 3:30 pm.

 

This month's speakers:

William Glassford (Mann lab): "In the genitalia of the beholder: the evolution of a cryptic female choice circuit in flies"

Female choice is a mechanism that drives the evolution of many sexually selected male traits, but it has been difficult to isolate and study the neural circuitry underlying this phenomenon. One potential model implicates neurons innervating the female genitalia of several Drosophilids that are correlated with a recently evolved male genital structure. I detail genetic tools for mapping a proposed cryptic female choice circuit and describe how this could be a useful system for studying female choice from an evolutionary developmental perspective.

 

Pia O’Neill (Salzman & Axel labs): "Neural correlates of emotional behavior in the amygdala"

Models of fear learning are based on the potentiation of sensory responses in the amygdala leading to behavior. These models do not however account for behavioral flexibility in response to cues. Appetitive or aversive cues can lead to a variety of approach and avoidance behaviors, respectively. We combined two photon imaging in the amygdala with a recently developed task, the virtual burrow assay, that allows measurement of approach and retreat movements in head-fixed mice in order to explore how neural activity in the amygdala corresponds to both sensory cues and ongoing behavior.

 

This seminar is part of the Zuckerman Institute Postdoctoral Seminar series. For questions about this or future seminars, please contact series organizers Chris Rodgers, PhD, or Amy Norovich, PhD.

Venue: the Jerome L. Greene Science Center (L7-119)
3227 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

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