(photo by Randi Radcliff
Serotonin to star in first Conte Center Symposium
The first Vanderbilt Silvio O. Conte Center for Neuroscience Research Symposium will be held next Friday, Nov. 21, from 1-5:30 p.m., in the Wyatt Hall Rotunda on Vanderbilt's Peabody campus.
The symposium, “How the brain got its groove back,” will focus on the neurotransmitter serotonin and its key roles in the foundations of behavior and brain disorders. Serotonin is central to brain biology: it participates in systems that control sleep, aggression, reward and mood, and it has been implicated in a range of disorders including depression, schizophrenia and autism.
The afternoon's featured speakers and their topics are:
• Evan Deneris, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University, “Transcriptional Control of Serotonin Modulated Behaviors;”
• Susan Dymecki, Ph.D., Harvard University, “Redefining the Central Serotonergic System Based on Cell Lineage;”
• René Hen, Ph.D., Columbia University, “Hippocampal Neurogenesis: Regulation by Stress and Antidepressants;”
• Ahmad Hariri, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, “Impact of Serotonin Signaling on Individual Differences in Corticolimbic Circuit Function and Trait Anxiety,” and;
• Edwin Cook, M.D., University of Illinois, Chicago, “Hyperserotonemia and Autism: Biomarker, Mechanism or Both?”
Because space is limited, reservations are required (contact denise.malone@vanderbilt.edu, 936-1898). A reception and poster session in the Wyatt Hall lobby will follow the symposium lectures.