June 2, 2005
How does activity in the brain control neuron
Dr. Hollis Cline, professor and associate director at Cold Spring Harbor Labs, will present the Einar Hille Memorial Lecture in Neurosciences, sponsored by the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. She will describe how “Activity-Dependent Mechanisms Govern Multiple Aspects of Visual System Development” at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday June 8, in room T-625 in the Health Sciences Building. The lecture is open to everyone.
Cline’s research focuses on understanding how sensory experience affects the development of brain structures and function. More specifically, her lab is identifying the cellular mechanisms by which activity in the brain controls the growth of neurons, synapse formation, and the development of organized projections between different brain regions.
Her approach is to study the development of a retinal projection in tadpoles using various imaging, genetic and electrophysiological techniques.
The Cline lab has discovered that neuronal activity regulates the development of the visual system through a variety of mechanisms, including changes in neuronal structure, synaptic strength, synapse formation, and gene expression.
Cline received her B.A. degree in biology from Bryn Mawr College, and a Ph.D. degree in neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She did postdoctoral work with Dr. Martha Constantine-Paton at Yale University, and with Dr. Richard Tsien at Stanford University Medical Center. Among many honors, she has received a McKnight Scholars Award and a Klingenstein Fellowship. She is also a Council member of the Society for Neuroscience.
The Einar Hille Memorial Lecture in Neurosciences was established by Kirsti Hille in honor of her late husband. Dr. Hille was a professor of mathematics at Yale University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Bertil Hille, son of Einar and Kirsti Hille, is a professor of physiology and biophysics at the UW.
