RUI: Neurogenesis in adult brains: the vascular niche, glial progenitors, migratory streams and neuronal differentiation in the olfactory pathway of crustaceans

这个项目的重点是在成年生物的大脑中产生新的神经细胞（神经元）。在过去的十年里，人们发现，包括人类在内的各种无脊椎动物和脊椎动物在成年后的大脑回路中都有新的神经元；这些新神经元（神经发生）产生的过程尚不清楚。甲壳类动物（龙虾、小龙虾）的成体神经发生可以作为一个模型系统，并允许对基本潜在机制提出基本问题。在成年甲壳类动物大脑嗅觉通路中产生新神经元的整个细胞谱系已经被确定，因此可以对该谱系中的特定细胞进行针对性实验，以探索神经发生的基本控制。该项目将研究产生新神经元的前体细胞的细胞和分子特性，前体细胞向它们将分化的区域的迁移，以及这些成年细胞获得神经元特性的潜在过程。细胞生物学方法将用于探索，例如，激素（如血清素）对细胞系顶端前体细胞的细胞周期速率的影响，并寻找引导细胞迁移的分子。这些研究将涉及本科生，他们参与科学研究，作为他们在韦尔斯利学院教育的一部分。因此，除了获得与成人大脑中新神经元起源相关的基本问题的答案外，该项目还与培养将成为科学家、教师和临床医生的学生密切相关。

This project focuses on the birth of new nerve cells (neurons) in the brains of adult organisms. Over the past decade it has been discovered that a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate species, including humans, incorporate new neurons into brain circuits during adult life; the processes underlying the production of these new neurons (neurogenesis) are not well understood. Adult neurogenesis in crustaceans (lobster, crayfish) can be used as a model system, and allows fundamental questions to be asked about basic underlying mechanisms. The entire cellular lineage that produces the new neurons in the olfactory pathway of the adult crustacean brain has been identified, and therefore targeted experiments on particular cells in this lineage can be conducted in order to explore the basic controls involved in neurogenesis. This project will examine the cellular and molecular properties of precursor cells that produce the new neurons, the migration of the precursors to the regions where they will differentiate, and the processes underlying the acquisition of neuronal properties by these adult-born cells. Cell biological methods will be used to explore, for example, the influence of hormones (e.g., serotonin) on the rate of the cell cycle of the precursor cells at the top of the lineage and to search for the molecules that guide cell migration. These studies will involve undergraduate students, who participate in scientific research as part of their education at Wellesley College. Hence, in addition to obtaining answers to fundamental questions related to the genesis of new neurons in adult brains, this project also is closely tied to educating students who will become scientists, teachers and clinicians.