In Person Seminar: Mapping Connections in the Zebrafish Brain
![Marnie Halpern, Ph.D. Marnie Halpern, Ph.D.](/content/fbri_vtc_vt_edu/en/events/pioneers-in-biomedical-research/2024-01-26-halpern/_jcr_content/content/vtcontainer_copy/vtcontainer-content/vtcontainer/vtcontainer-content/vtmulticolumn/vt-items_0/adaptiveimage.transform/m-medium/image.jpg)
Marnie Halpern, Ph.D.
Chair and Andrew J. Thomson Professor
Molecular and Systems Biology
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar: Mapping Connections in the Zebrafish Brain
Date: Jan. 26, 2024
Time: 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
About this Seminar
Application of transgenic methods is a powerful way to identify and manipulate neural connections in the brain. Combining transcriptional profiling, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and computation strategies allows mapping of connectivity between diencephalic habenular neurons and their midbrain target, the interpeduncular nucleus. Dr. Halpern and her team have also adapted a genetic approach for transsynaptic tracing to a vertebrate nervous system, that of zebrafish, which provides genomic access to synaptically coupled neurons.
Additional Details
This is a free event hosted by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and co-sponsored by the institute's Center for Neurobiology Research. The Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series, which runs annually from September to May, has featured leading biomedical researchers from throughout the country since the program began in 2012. The lectures are also open to all members of the Virginia Tech community including graduate students, undergraduates, faculty, and staff, as well as the public.