NEXT TALK: Next talk 31st of October, 7pm - Sesonal mood disorders
Cittie Of Yorke, 22 High Holborn, WC1V 6BN
Zombie neurons and the dark network
Tuesday, 14th of March 2017
This special event for Brain Awareness Week is co-organised by the centre for Developmental Neurobiology (KCL) and is supported by a Public Engagement Small Grant from King's College London and the Wellcome Trust.
There will be free food and drinks for the audience.
If you want to build something well it is essential to have the right materials to start with. In the case of constructing a neural network that means having the right number of neurons, of the right type. Most of the neurons that make up the nervous system of an adult fly are generated when it is a maggot, crawling around in liquid food. We have found that about half of the neurons that are born in the maggot undergo a stereotyped cell death. We would like to know how this neuronal death is orchestrated and what happens to ‘zombie neurons’ that have been kept alive using genetic tricks in the fruit fly Drosophila. By studying the development of strange creatures like flies we can gain insight into the design principles of all nervous systems.
Dr. Darren Williams is a reader at King's College London and works in the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology. His lab exploits the extreme biology of the fruit fly's metamorphosis to uncover novel cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal development.