Virginia Tech® home

In Person Lecture: Synaptic Injury: A Link to the Past

Insert your title here

Your Text Here
Terrence Kummer, M.D., Ph.D.

Terrance Kummer, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Neurology
Washington University School of Medicine In St. Louis
Director of the Neurotrauma ICU
Neurological and Neurosurgical intensive Care Unit
Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Timothy A. Johnson Medical Scholar Lecture: Synaptic Injury: A Link to the Past

April 7, 2023

1 to 2 p.m.

View Profile
Download Flyer

Archived video

About this Seminar

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the number one global cause of neurological disability in the first half of life, while Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the primary cause of dementia in the latter half. TBI, moreover, is the best established epigenetic risk factor for AD. What is the source of this connection, and how can it be severed? This seminar will discuss the role of synapses—subcellular nodes of communication between neurons and the strongest pathological correlate of cognitive decline in AD—in acute and chronic forms of brain injury. Synapses are challenging to study in situ owing to their small size and dense packing in the brain. Techniques pushing the boundaries of the data spectrum at both ends, such as super-resolution imaging and big data analytics, are opening new windows on synapses and their molecular and nanostructural features. Such studies may shed light on the apparent vulnerability of synapses to injury. This seminar will touch on two potentially important synaptic injury mechanisms, neuroinflammation and synaptic proteinopathies, and discuss their role in TBI and AD. 

Additional Details

This is a free event hosted by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. The Timothy A. Johnson Medical Scholar Lecture Series hosts clinician scientists who are exploring frontiers of medicine. These lectures are principally intended for Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine students and Virginia Tech students in the Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health graduate program. Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic faculty, staff, and students may also attend.

fbri logo
VTCSOM logo

You May Also Be Interested In...

  • Home Item
    Social Learning in Borderline Personality Disorder
    Social Learning in Borderline Personality Disorder , home

    April 4, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Sarah Fineberg, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Human Neuroscience Research

  • Home Item
    Bringing Precision Medicine to Psychiatry
    Bringing Precision Medicine to Psychiatry , home

    April 10, 2025, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Jordan Smoller, M.D., Sc.D., MGH Trustees Endowed Chair in Psychiatric Neuroscience; Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Epidemiology, T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health; Director, Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Extracellular Vesicles in the Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment of the Heart
    Extracellular Vesicles in the Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment of the Heart , home

    April 11, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Susmita Sahoo, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Medicine and Cardiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Vascular and Heart Research

  • Home Item
    A Human-Centric View of Cerebellar Development
    A Human-Centric View of Cerebellar Development , home

    April 18, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Kathleen Millen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics/Genetics, Associate Director and Principal Investigator, Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, The University of Washington School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Center for Neurobiology Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

  • Home Item
    Molecular and Neurobiological Studies in Rett Syndrome and Other MECP2 Disorders
    Molecular and Neurobiological Studies in Rett Syndrome and Other MECP2 Disorders , home

    May 1, 2025, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Huda Zoghbi, M.D., Professor, Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neuroscience, and Neurology; Director, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine; Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    A Novel Bispecific Antibody to Target the Brain Tumor Microenvironment
    A Novel Bispecific Antibody to Target the Brain Tumor Microenvironment , home

    May 2, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Khuson Yun, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Chair, Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Cancer Research Center – Roanoke