Neural Stem Cells: From Development to Function

Speakers

Cheng-Yu Lee, PhD

University of Michigan
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Cheng-Yu Lee is a professor in the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which genes in Drosophila regulate self-renewal vs. differentiation in fly neuroblasts. His goal is to identify signaling pathways expressed in insect and vertebrate neural stem cells, and their role in birth defects, regenerative medicine, and cancer biology. Lee completed his graduate studies at the University of Maryland and postgraduate work at the University of Oregon. In 2006 he was the recipient of a Career Award in Biomedical Research from the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation.

Weimin Zhong, PhD

Yale University
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Weimin Zhong is an associate professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale University. He uses neurogenesis in mice as a model system to study how neural stem (progenitor) cells are maintained and how neuronal diversity is generated in the mammalian nervous system. In particular, his team is probing the behavior of stem cells by changing their patterns of division, examining how cell fates are assigned to maintain tissue homeostasis, and using embryonic stem cells to probe human developmental mechanisms. Zhong completed his PhD at the Rockefeller University.

Sally Temple, PhD

Albany Medical College
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Sally Temple is a professor at the Center for Neuropharmacology & Neuroscience at Albany Medical College and a member of the New York Neural Stem Cell Institute. She studies how embryonic neural progenitor cells generate various cell types of the adult central nervous system. Known for her work in designing systems for culturing neural progenitor cells and for designing innovative approaches to tracking how precursors divide and renew, she is currently studying how neural stem cells interact with their environment, particularly with the vascular system. Temple completed her PhD at University College London, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Columbia University and the University of Miami.

Oliver Hobert, PhD

Columbia University
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Oliver Hobert is associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University. His lab studies the developmental aspects of neural circuit generation as well as later aspects of maintenance and modification of neural circuits. Using C. elegans as a model system, he is working in particular to understand mechanisms that determine neuronal cell fate and axon patterning.

Jeremy Dasen, PhD

New York University
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Jeremy Dasen is an assistant professor at the Sackler Institute of New York University School of Medicine. Using genetic manipulations in chick and mouse models, his lab is exploring the relationships between the identity of neural cells and how they move to develop neural circuits. He has been particularly interested in a set of transcription factors in the Hox family and is investigating their role in the molecular interactions that control circuit assembly. Dasen completed his graduate studies in 1999 at the University of California, San Diego.

Stephen C. Noctor, PhD

University of California at Davis
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Stephen Noctor is an assistant professor in residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California at Davis. He studies development of cortical structures in the central nervous system with particular attention to the factors that control proliferation of the precursor cells that produce cortical neurons and glia, and how cortical cells migrate over long distances to reach their appropriate position in the developing brain. Noctor completed his graduate training at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1998.

René Hen, PhD

Columbia University
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René Hen is a professor of pharmacology in Columbia University's Department of Psychiatry and its Center for Neurobiology and Behavior. He studies the relationship between serotonin and behavior, with a particular interest in the role of serotonin in anxiety and mood disorders. In recent years he has been investigating the hypothesis that hippocampal neurogenesis is a requirement in order for antidepressant medications. Hen received his PhD in 1985 from the Université Louis Pasteur. His awards and honors include a 2003 Distinguished Investigator Grant from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, a 2000 Doctor Harold and Golden Lamport Award for Excellence in Basic Science Research, and a Bristol-Myers Squibb Neuroscience Award.

Tracey J. Shors, PhD

Rutgers University
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Tracey Shors is a professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University. Shors joined the Rutgers University faculty in 1997 from Princeton University after graduate and postdoctoral studies at the University of Southern California. Her research goals are to understand how the production of new neurons into adulthood relates to how memories are formed and stored in the brain. Her research efforts also address sex differences in the brain and how males and females differ in their ability to learn and respond to stressful experiences.

Fernando Nottebohm, PhD

The Rockefeller University
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Fernando Nottebohm is Dorothea L. Leonhardt Distinguished Professor at the Rockefeller University and director of the Rockefeller Field Research Center for Ethology and Ecology, where he studies bird behavior and brain function in a natural setting. Nottebohm is a pioneer in study of the neural control of birdsong and played an important role in proving that the vertebrate brain continues to produce new neurons into adulthood. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Megan Stephan

Megan Stephan studied transporters and ion channels at Yale University for nearly two decades before giving up the pipettor for the pen. She specializes in covering research at the interface between biology, chemistry and physics. Her work has appeared in The Scientist and Yale Medicine. Stephan holds a PhD in biology from Boston University.