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Conferencia sistema nervioso de Drosophila<br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Invitación a la conferencia del Dr.
Ian Meinertzhagen (Associate Editor of the Journal of Comparative
Neurology)<br>
Martes 13, 12 hs<br>
Aula de seminarios del LFBMC (2do piso)<br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times">"Synaptic circuits in the
Drosophila nervous system: the prospect of a wiring diagram for the fly's
brain"<br>
Summary<br>
A major task in neuroscience, to relate the brain's circuits to external
behaviour, has so far been largely frustrated by the anatomical
complexity of the former and the fluidity of the latter. Recent
technical advances have begun to provide access to both problems, at
least in some species. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster offers
genetic tools to label neurons and to perturb their function in
identified circuits, and the dimensions of its brain allow neurons to be
imaged in wholemounts, and its synaptic circuits to be reconstructed from
serial-section electron microscopy (ssEM). The visual system in
Drosophila is well suited to this task, because its component neurons are
morphologically determinate and its synaptic circuits are repeated as an
array of parallel columns. Hitherto, the analysis of circuits has
been blocked at the second neuropile, the medulla. I will present
recent our mostly ssEM findings on this, the largest neuropile of the
fly's brain, that begin to open up the visual system to functional
analysis. These herald, we hope, the possibility for parallel
approaches on other brain regions that will in the end help generate the
connectome of the fly's brain.<br>
</font>I.A. Meinertzhagen, Ph.D., D.Sc.<br>
University Research Professor<br>
Dalhousie University<br>
Life Sciences Centre<br>
Halifax, Nova Scotia<br>
Canada <br>
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Daniel Tomsic<br>
Laboratorio de Neurobiología de la Memoria<br>
Dpto. Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular<br>
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales - UBA<br>
Int. Güiraldes 2160 Pab.II Ciudad Universitaria<br>
C1428EHA Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires<br>
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Te: 45763348<br>
Fax: 45763447</blockquote></body>
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