The Brain is Plastic, yet Biodegradable - Lessons from the Cholinergic System
Wed, April 27, 2022 @ 6:30 @ Blake Street Tavern (Tailgate Room)
About the Topic
Acetylcholine is a major neurotransmitter in the brain and, coupled with receptors that bind it, forms the brain cholinergic system. Together, they mediate a number of behaviors related to attention, learning and memory. As a logical extension, they are thought to be involved in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and many of the drugs used in treating this disease are targeted at the cholinergic system.
Let us talk about how this system works and, in the process, understand the complexities and intellectual challenges we face as we navigate from neurons and receptors to behavior and brain disease.
Bio
Dr. Sukumar Vijayaraghavan is a Neuroscientist and Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical campus. He was a Botany major and received his doctorate in Plant Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. He then moved to the University of California, San Diego, for postdoctoral studies in Neuroscience following which he joined the University of Colorado as an Assistant Professor. His research focusses on how a subset of cholinergic receptors known as nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, participate in the regulation of synaptic function and thus regulate output of circuits in order to modulate behavior.