Seminars & Events
Attend one of our events. View the calendar below to see what’s coming up.
Sep
09
Pharmacology Seminar: Daniele Piomelli, Ph.D., MD (h.c)
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Daniele Piomelli, Ph.D., MD (h.c)Director, UCI Center for the Study of CannabisLouise Turner Arnold Chair in the NeurosciencesDistinguished Professor of Anatomy, Neurobiology and Biological ChemistryUniversity of California - Irvine
Sep
18
Narahashi Lecture: Nieng Yan, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Nieng Yan, Ph.D.Shirley M. Tilghman Professor of Molecular BiologyPrinceton University
Sep
23
Pharmacology Seminar: Madesh Muniswamy, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Madesh Muniswamy, Ph.D.Professor of NephrologyUniversity of Texas - San Antonio
Sep
30
Pharmacology Seminar: Stephen F. Traynelis, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Stephen F Traynelis, Ph.D.Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical BiologyEmory University School of Medicine
Oct
14
Pharmacology Seminar: Yibin Kang, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Yibin Kang, Ph.D.Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular BiologyPrinceton University
Oct
21
Pharmacology Seminar: Jean Ju Chung, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Jean Ju Chung, Ph.D.Assistant Professor of Cellular & Molecular PhysiologyYale School of Medicine
Nov
04
Pharmacology Seminar: Geoffrey W. Abbott, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Geoffrey W. Abbott, Ph.D.Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology and BiophysicsUniversity of California – Irvine
Nov
11
Pharmacology Seminar: Baron Chanda, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Baron Chanda, Ph.D.Professor of NeuroscienceUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
Nov
18
Pharmacology Seminar: Indira M. Raman, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Indira M. Raman, Ph.D.Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of NeurobiologyNorthwestern University
Nov
25
Serotonergic Monitoring of Peripheral Inflammation: Clues to an Autism Treatment?
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D.Executive Director of FAU Brain InstituteProfessor of Biomedical ScienceFlorida Atlantic University Epidemiological, post-mortem and gene network analyses have pointed to changes in inflammatory signaling pathways as a contribution to risk of autism. How such changes lead to alterations in brain development and function remain ill-defined. Previously, we identified an IL-1R activated p38α MAPK signaling pathway as central to the posttranslational control of serotonin signaling via modulation of presynaptic serotonin transporter (SERT) function, consistent with recent findings of significant expression of Il-1Rs by serotonin neurons. The possibility that an IL-1R/p38α MAPK/SERT signaling pathway might have disease relevance became of interest with our identification in subjects with autism of multiple, rare, hyperfunctional SERT coding variants that display constitutive p38α MAPK-dependent activation. With a knock-in mouse expressing the most common of these variants, SERT Ala56, we demonstrated elevated CNS serotonin clearance in vivo, and demonstrate changes in CNS and GI physiology and behavior consistent with constitutive-activation of SERT function. Recently, using brain penetrant, isoform-specific, p38α MAPK inhibitors, as well as conditional, serotonin neuron-specific elimination of p38α MAPK, we have been able to normalize multiple changes in these mice. Together, our studies point to the normal use of an IL-1R/p38α MAPK signaling pathway targeting SERT in serotonin neurons to modulate behavior in response to CNS and/or peripheral innate immune system activation. Inappropriate or excessive activation of this pathway during early life may contribute to one or more facets of autism that may be manipulated through pharmacological p38α MAPK inhibition.
May
11
Pharmacology Seminar: Jennifer K. Richer, Ph.D.
Chicago - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Jennifer K. Richer, Ph.D.Professor and Co-Director of the Cancer Center Pathology CoreUniversity of Colorado - Denver