Skip to main content
The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia
Faculty of Science Department of Zoology

Main navigation

  • About
    • Department History
    • Departmental Announcements
    • Buildings
    • Jobs
    • News
    • Contacts and Information
    • Parking
  • People
    • Faculty - Research
    • Faculty - Educational leadership
    • Lecturers
    • Staff
    • Graduate Students
    • Postdoctoral Fellows
    • Associate Members
    • Adjunct Members
    • Affiliate Members
    • Research Associates
    • Research Lab staff
    • Emeriti
    • Alumni
    • Awards
  • Research
    • Facilities
    • Affiliated Research Centres
    • Graduate Theses
  • Undergraduate Program
    • Biology Program
    • UBC Sciences – Biology
  • Graduate Program
    • Current Students
    • Prospective Students
    • Funding
    • Apply to TA
    • Courses & Modules
    • Wellness Resources
    • Student Handbook & Forms
    • Zoology Graduate Student Association
    • Contact
  • Events
    • Weekly Seminars
    • Special Seminars
    • CELL seminars
    • Discussion Groups
    • Calendar
    • Past Recorded Seminars
    • Event Archive
  • Resources
    • Workday
    • Return to Work (private)
    • Zoology Webmail (log in)
    • Password Change (log in)
    • Room and Vehicle Bookings (log in)
    • Computing (ZCU)
    • Aquatics (private)
    • Finance
    • HR: Human Resources
    • Safety
    • EDI Resources
    • Zoology EDI Committee (private)
    • Major Zoology Committees (private)
    • Departmental Meeting Notes (private)
    • Zoology Policies (private)
    • Peer Review of Teaching (private)
    • Shipping & Receiving
    • Building access: keys and cards
    • Zoology Logo
    • Edit My Profile (private)
  • Log In

Breadcrumb

Home
»
Events

Main Menu: Secondary

  • Weekly Seminars
  • Special Seminars
    • Dennis H. Chitty Lecture
    • John M. Gosline Memorial Lecture
    • William S. Hoar Memorial Lecture
    • Peter W. Hochachka Memorial Lecture
    • Barbara McClintock Lecture
    • The David Randall Seminar
    • Geoffrey G.E. Scudder Lecture
  • CELL seminars
  • Discussion Groups
  • Calendar
  • Past Recorded Seminars
  • Event Archive

Insect Biotechnology Conference

Conference
When
June 2, 2021 06:00 pm
Host(s)
Andrew Donini and Jean-Paul Paluzzi, York University

Insect Biotechnology Conference

Plenary speaker: Prof. Karla Kaun, Brown University

Plenary title:  To drink or Not(ch) to drink: How alcohol molecularly influences memory circuits

Summary:  Investigating how drugs of abuse affect molecular mechanisms within reward memory circuits is key to understanding how cravings are acquired and expressed. Combining forward genetics, transcriptomic and detailed circuit mapping approaches in Drosophila, we’ve shown how alcohol influences the a highly conserved cell-signaling pathway, called Notch, to affect gene expression required for memory formation. Our work provides direct evidence that alcohol induces immediate changes in Notch signaling. This leads to gene expression changes required for neuronal plasticity in memory-encoding neurons. Activation of Notch signaling also correlates with expression of alternative transcript isoforms of key genes that regulate multiple forms of memory. This process was very dynamic, and appeared to result in different transcript isoforms of the same gene being expressed after formation of alcohol memory. This suggests that alcohol alters gene expression while memories are becoming encoded, potentially strengthening memories for alcohol. Using circuit mapping techniques, we are investigating how this molecular change can influence a dynamic shift from circuits that form memories to circuits that initiate cue-induced behavioral responses.

BC2021 Details: IBC2021 will be held virtually on Zoom on June 2-3, 2021

Registration link will be available soon (~mid January).

Department of Zoology
4200 - 6270 University Blvd.
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
604 822 2131
E-mail info@zoology.ubc.ca
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • UBC Copyright |
  • Accessibility