FAW: Activity-Regulated Trophic Factor Expression

获得了英国皇家科学院女科学家和女工程师学院奖。 国家科学基金会，克莉丝汀加尔博士将继续 阐明活动依赖性神经元基因表达的作用 在塑造神经元回路的功能特性方面， 回应经验。 通过使用复杂的 神经解剖学和分子生物学技术，加尔博士 发现高频电刺激在定义 神经元通路改变了编码特定 神经肽和神经递质。 例如，她发现 这种活性诱导了基因组表达的变化， 海马内谷氨酸受体的主要亚类， 记忆形成的关键区域。 她现在是 开始解开 通过检测更快速的，转录的 事件 有了这个奖，她将集中精力去理解 这种生理活动是如何改变 即早期基因编码的蛋白质 神经肽调节 此外，她扩展了解剖学 通过开发电生理学方法， 她检查基因改变的功能后果， 神经肽在特定神经元回路中的表达， 神经递质和最近的亲神经因子。 这个奖项将使她能够探索的意义， 她开创性的发现是神经生长因子在 成年哺乳动物的大脑 这项工作导致一个更彻底的 对功能组织和可塑性的理解 的神经系统。

With a Faculty Award for Women Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Christine Gall will continue to elucidate the role of activity-dependent neuronal gene expression in shaping the functional properties of neuronal circuities in response to experience. By using a combination of sophisticated neuroanatomical and molecular biological techniques, Dr. Gall discovered that high frequency electrical stimulation in defined neuronal pathways alter the expression of genes encoding specific neuropeptides and neurotransmitters. For example, she has found that this activity induces changes in the genomic expression of a major subclass of glutamate receptors within the hippocampus, an area critical for the formation of memories. She is now beginning to unravel the clues about the mechanisms of neuropeptide regulation by examining more rapid, transcriptional events. With this award, she will concentrate on understanding how this physiological activity alters the regulation of immediate-early genes which then encode the proteins that mediate neuropeptide regulation. Moreover, she extend the anatomical work by developing electrophysiological approaches which enable her to examine the functional consequences of the change in gene expression within specific neuronal circuitry for neuropeptides, neurotransmitters and, more recently, neurotropic factors. Indeed this Award will permit her to explore the significance of her seminal finding that nerve growth factor is modulated in adult mammalian brain. This work leads to a more thorough understanding of the functional organization and the plasticity of the nervous system.