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For a long time we were taught that the neurons we were born with was all we were ever going to get. Join us as we find out that all this was a load of ...! You will hear tales of neurons appearing and disappearing when and where we weren't looking before. They are crafty little things!! We even throw in a poetry competition, where you could win some Pint of Science goodies!
Zombie neurons in fruit flies
Dr Darren Williams
(Reader in Developmental Neurobiology)
If you want to build something well, you need the right type of materials and the right quantities of them. For building a brain that means having the right type and number of neurons. How is that done? To explore this we use the fruit fly and have found that about half of the neurons die quickly after birth. We want to understand how such death shapes the nervous system and what happens if we block death to make ‘zombie’ neurons. By studying these amazing little creatures we hope to gain general insights into nervous system development.
New neurons in the adult brain: Really? What are they for and how can I make some more?
Dr Sandrine Thuret
(Principal Investigator in Neural Stem Cell Research)
During this talk we will revisit the long-standing dogma that the adult brain is incapable of producing new neurons and show you that on the contrary, new neurons are born in a privileged area of the adult brain. We will see that these new-born neurons have specific roles in memory formation and impact on our mood. We will also explore the daily activities and diets that have a significant impact on their production.
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