Cryptic (Hidden) Changes that Result from Perturbations and Climate Change Shape Future Dynamics of Degenerate Neurons and Circuits (2024-2025 WALS season)
Eve Marder, Ph.D.
University Professor
Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience in the Biology Department at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Eve Marder is a University Professor and the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis University. At Brandeis, Marder is also a member of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems. Dr. Marder is known for her pioneering work on small neuronal networks which her team has interrogated via a combination of complementary experimental and theoretical techniques.
Marder is particularly well known in the community for her work on neural circuits in the crustacean stomatogastric nervous system (STNS), a small network of 30 neurons. She discovered that circuits are not “hard-wired” to produce a single output or behavior, but can be reconfigured by neuromodulators to produce many outputs and behaviors while still maintaining the integrity of the circuit. Her work has revolutionized the way scientists approach the studies of neural circuits with respect to the study of structural and functional behavior. The general principles that have resulted from her work are thought to be generally applicable to other neural networks, including those in humans. Marder has published 190 original research papers in refereed journals, and 179 review articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces.
Marder has received numerous awards for her pioneering work in the field including the National Medal of Science in 2023 and the Kavli Prize in 2016. In 2024, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society, and currently holds memberships in the Institute of Medicine, and National Academy of Sciences.
Summary
A fundamental problem in neuroscience is understanding how the properties of individual neurons and synapses contribute to neuronal circuit dynamics and behavior. In recent years we have done both computational and experimental studies that demonstrate that the same physiological output can arise from multiple, degenerate solutions, and that individual animals with similar behavior can nonetheless have quite different sets of underlying circuit parameters. Most recently, we have been studying the resilience of individual animals to perturbations such as temperature and high potassium concentrations. This has revealed that extreme environmental experiences can produce long-term changes in circuit performance that can be hidden, or “cryptic” unless the animals are again challenged or perturbed. Our present work is designed to understand differential resilience in natural, wild-caught animals in response to climate change, and shows long-lasting influences of the animals’ temperature history.
Learning Objectives:
1. To understand why elevated temperature is potentially incompatible with normal brain function.
2. To understand why individuals with existing neurological or psychiatric disorders are potentially at higher risk for problems with elevated temperature.
3. To understand why cold-blooded animals may be more temperature resilient than humans, in terms of their ranges of tolerated temperatures.
https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=55003
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