I S S U E 8 NEURO TIMES Spring 2011 The newsletter of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Facts about t h e B R AI N : In the Spotlight The adult hu- learning disabilities, but impair harmful changes to DS dendritic man brain W ith so many talented memory. Among these structur- spines. weighs about 3 Fellows at the CNLM it is al- al abnormalities are changes in lbs (1,300- ways a pleasure to tell our the dendritic spines. Dendritic The more that is learned 1,400g) vs. a cat readers about one of them. In spines are small protrusions about the molecular mechanisms brain that this issue of Neuro Times we along the dendrites of neurons, that are involved in dendritic weighs 30g. are highlighting Dr. Jorge and are the primary site of excit- spine formation the closer we will Busciglio. Dr. Busciglio is an atory synapses, the gaps be- be to defining potential therapeu- It‟s not true that associate professor in the De- tween cells that are well-primed tic strategies to correct those humans use partment of Neurobiology and to relay electrical impulses. Bio- defects. In addition, defects in only 10% of their Behavior and came to UC Irvine logical changes in certain brain dendritic spine structure and brains; each part in 2003. He received his Ph.D. structures of DS patients include function have been widely re- of the brain has from the School of Chemical a decreased number and aber- ported in AD patients and have a purpose. Sciences at the National Uni- been linked to neuronal dys- versity of Cordoba, Argentina function and cognitive impair- When you sleep, and then obtained postdoctoral ment. If the possibility of re- you‟re virtually training at the Children‟s Hospi- pairing the spine structure paralyzed be- tal and Harvard Medical School exists, then it could be im- cause your brain in Boston, where he later be- portant to both disorders of brain development and for age creates a hor- came an instructor in neurosci- ence. His next move was to the -related diseases such as AD. mone to prevent Jorge greatly enjoyed hav- you from acting University of Connecticut Health Center where he was ing Holly Yeatman, the 2010 out your an assistant professor of neuro- CNLM Foreign Graduate Stu- dreams. science. dent Award and the Renée Jorge Busciglio Harwick Visiting Scholars Since arriving in Irvine, he Award recipient, work in his Inside this has been critical to the group of rant architecture of these den- lab this year. Holly is from the i s s u e : faculty and labs that study neu- dritic spines. Such changes are University of Melbourne, Austral- rodegenerative diseases. To seen in the hippocampus, which ia and conducted research in the In the Spotlight 1 put it simply, the Busciglio lab is is a structure known to be critical Busciglio lab for three months. interested in molecular and for short- and long-term memory. Jorge says Holly was a perfect CNLM Fellow 2 cellular mechanisms that are match for his lab because she Becomes Editor relevant to neurological diseas- The lab recently discovered has a background in behavioral es. The primary focus of their evidence that astrocytes, a type studies and incorporated that of glial cell that normally helps knowledge into their experi- Hard Work Pays 2 research is to understand the Off molecular bases of neuronal maintain the well-being of neu- ments. The lab, simultaneously, dysfunction and death in rons, are actually involved in the taught her many new molecular detrimental alterations of dendrit- techniques that she will be able CNLM Fellow 2 Down‟s syndrome (DS) and Alzheimer‟s disease (AD). ic spines in DS patients. Re- to bring back with her to her Receives Award Jorge is the only CNLM Fellow search from Jorge‟s lab has „home‟ lab. Both Jorge and whose research focuses on DS, shown abnormal spine develop- Holly have really benefitted from Director‟s 3 however, his results have been ment in neurons growing on top this experience and it would not Corner and continue to be beneficial to of and nurtured by DS astro- have been possible without our all that study neurological dis- cytes. Furthermore, they have Friends group, who funded the Ways to Give 3 eases. identified Trombospondin-1 (TSP award to bring a foreign student -1), an astrocyte-secreted pro- to the CNLM. Dates to 4 Jorge explains that there are tein, as a critical factor that mod- Remember structural abnormalities in the ulates dendritic spine develop- To learn more about Jorge‟s DS brain that not only cause ment and a possible culprit in the research please visit our web- site: www.cnlm.uci.edu/faculty. P a g e 2 CNLM Fellow Becomes Editor John received his Ph.D. in Mo- memories. In 2010 he was ap- lsevier, an international pub- lecular Biology and Biochemistry pointed the first James L. lisherE of more than 2,000 scien- from UC Irvine. After postdoctoral McGaugh Chair in the Neurobiol- tific, technical and medical jour- research at UC Irvine and Johns ogy of Learning & Memory, in nals, has named CNLM Fellow Hopkins University, he estab- recognition of his pioneering work and McGaugh Chair holder, Dr. lished an independent, funded examining the molecular and John Guzowski editor-in-chief of research program at the Universi- cellular network mechanisms of Neurobiology of Learning & ty of Arizona and subsequently at long-term memory. Coincidental- “Souvenirs Memory. Neurobiology of Learn- the University of New Mexico. ly Dr. McGaugh was the founding ing & Memory is a magazine that His research investigates the role editor of Neurobiology of Learn- are publishes articles concerned with of gene expression, induced by ing & Memory (formerly named neural and behavioral plasticity, synaptic activity associated with Behavioral and Neural Biology) including learning and memory. learning, in stabilizing neuronal and served in that position for perishable; networks subserving the encod- over 25 years. fortunately, ing or consolidation of long-term memories Hard Work Pays Off are not” Frostig lab, discovered that by whiskers spontaneously,” he C hris Lay, a CNLM docent mechanically stroking a single says. “So far, the technique is -Susan Spano and doctoral student in the la- whisker on sedated rats, the holding up: The stroke is re- boratory of CNLM Fellow Dr. effects of ischemic strokes – versed within minutes.” Ron Frostig, has been awarded which is the most common kind a $10,000 Public Impact Fellow- of stroke and is caused by The next big step is to learn ship established by the Gradu- blockage of a blood vessel – whether touching sensitive spots ate Division Dean, Frances were avoided. Chris is now test- can also reverse hemorrhagic Leslie. This award is intended to ing the technique in rats that are strokes – which is the other ma- support UCI gradu- conscious and wiggling their jor kind of stroke and is caused ate students whose whiskers themselves. by the bursting of a blood ves- work has the poten- sel. It‟s impossible for emergen- tial to make a critical “People don‟t walk around under cy responders to know which difference for Cali- anesthesia,” he says. “So while type of stroke has occurred, and fornians and others. this initial finding was great, we they don‟t want to cause more Chris is being recog- want to determine if someone in harm while trying to help. About nized for his work in the back of an ambulance can 750,000 Americans suffer stroke therapy re- be treated this way, while they‟re strokes each year, at a cost of search that could awake and experiencing a $74 billion and Chris is excited provide an inexpen- stroke.” to be able to contribute his work sive, drug-free and toward the field. To learn more effective way to To test post-stroke rats, Chris about stroke work in Dr. Frost- save lives. sets up play areas with tunnels, ig‟s lab, please visit our website: toys and treats that they explore www.cnlm.edu/faculty. Chris Lay Chris, with other with their whiskers. “Animals are members of the very inquisitive; they use their CNLM Fellow Receives Award tion honored Loftus for "the pro- work has been vindicated by the D istinguished CNLM Fellow, found impact that her pioneering finding - based on the more than Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, of Social research on human memory has 250 U.S. prisoners freed after sub- Ecology and Professor of Law and had on the administration of justice sequent DNA analysis - that the Cognitive Science, received the in the United States and abroad." most common reason for wrongful 2010 Scientific Freedom and Re- Loftus, who has testified at more conviction is faulty eyewitness sponsibility Award from the Ameri- than 200 civil and criminal trials, testimony. To learn more about can Association for the Advance- has demonstrated that memories Dr. Loftus‟s research please visit ment of Science at its 177th annu- can be implanted or manipulated our website: www.cnlm.edu/ al meeting Saturday, February 19, through a variety of means. Her faculty. in Washington, D.C. The associa- Director’s Corner P a g e 3 tion, schizophrenia, amnesia, and PTSD, of memory function and of the basis for dis- S everal months ago, Dr. Eric Reiman not to mention Alzheimer‟s Disease. There ease. Without this data, the field doesn‟t delivered a public lecture in our Distin- are researchers at the CNLM and across move forward. You can also help out by guished Lecture Series on Brain, Learning the world working on understanding learning more about memory and about re- and Memory at the Barclay Theatre.