Do songbirds and humans have common biological hardwiring that shapes how they produce and perceive sounds?
Scientists who study birdsong have been intrigued for some time by the possibility that human speech and music may be rooted in biological processes shared across a variety of animals. Now, research by McGill University biologists provides new evidence to support this idea.
Prof. Lawrence Chen has agreed to serve as the first Academic Lead of the eLATE (enhancing learning and teaching in Engineering) initiative. Prof. Chen will work in collaboration with academic staff and the Pedagogical Coordinator towards meeting the initiative’s objectives, bringing the perspective of a faculty member. Professor Chen is one of our Faculty’s leaders in teaching and learning improvement, and has a growing record of advancing the state of education in our Faculty by implementing new teaching methodologies in FACC courses as well as undergraduate and graduate ECSE courses.
McGill researchers have discovered, for the first time, the importance of a key epigenetic regulator in the development of the hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with learning, memory and neural stem cells. Epigenetic regulators change the way specific genes function without altering their DNA sequence. By working with mutant mice as models, the research team, led by Prof. Xiang-Jiao Yang, of McGill’s Goodman Cancer Center & Department of Medicine, McGill University Health Center, was able to link the importance of a specific epigenetic regulator known as BRPF1 to the healthy development of a region in the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus.
Guidance proteins regulate brain plasticity
