Killam Seminar Series: Mechanisms and Roles of Fast Dopamine Signaling

The Killam Seminar Series presents Mechanisms and Roles of Fast Dopamine Signaling.

Registration available here.

Speaker: Pascal S. Kaeser, MD

Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

Abstract: Dopamine is a neuromodulator that codes information on various time scales. I will discuss recent progress on the identification of fast release mechanisms for dopamine in the mouse striatum. I will present data on triggering mechanisms of dopamine release and evaluate its roles in striatal regulation. In the long-term, our work will allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms and time scales of dopamine coding in health and disease.

Bio: Pascal Kaeser is a native of Switzerland. He obtained his MD degree at the University of Zurich. In the laboratory of Dr. Adriano Aguzzi, he studied how infectious prions invade the central nervous system during transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. His research on molecular mechanisms at the synapse started with his postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Dr. Thomas Südhof at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and at Stanford University. As a fellow, Pascal discovered mechanisms through which primed synaptic vesicles are coupled to presynaptic calcium channels at sites of exocytosis called active zones. In his own laboratory in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, Pascal studies how active zones are assembled and how they control neurotransmitter release.

Supported by the generosity of the Killam Trusts , The Neuro’s Killam Seminar series hosts outstanding guest speakers.