Neuroscientists Talk Shop

On April 10th (I said April 4th, but it was the 10th), 2025 we spoke with Punam Pokam about the molecular mechanisms that control osmotic balance of neurons and glia, and their changes after brain injury. She also explained the pathological membrane potential changes and ionic currents that are associated with injury and their relation to cell swelling. Guest: Punam Pokam, Assistant Professor, Dep...

On April 3, 2025 we met with Lorena Saelices to talk about what we know about the structure of amyloids, how they form by misfolding and aggregation of proteins, and how they damage cells and tissues in a range of disorders (including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases). Guest: Lorena Saelices, Assistant Professor, Department of Biophysics and the Center for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Dis...

On March 27, 2025, we spoke with Nace Golding about the auditory pathways in the brainstem and midbrain. We focused on the inferior colliculus, and on identifying the key cell types that make up that essential but mysterious midbrain auditory nucleus. Guest: Nace Golding, Professor, Department of Neuroscience and the Center for Learning and Memory, University of Texas at Austin. Participating: Mar...

On March 20, 2025 we spoke with the speakers at our annual UTSA Neuroscience Symposium for 2025, entitled "Prefrontal Cortical Functions Beyond Fear". The panel talked about the contribution of medial prefrontal cortex in fear, threat and safety learning, cognitive flexibility, psychiatric disorders, recent and remote memory, and some other things. Guests Anthony Burgos-Robles, Departmen...

On February 27, 2025 we were joined by Xue Han about using genetically expressed fluorescent voltage sensors to measure transmembrane voltage simultaneously in multiple neurons in the brain of awake behaving animals over days or weeks. She explained how the genetic sequences for the voltage sensor molecules are found and perfected, how they are delivered to the neurons of interest, the challenges...

On February 13, 2025 we met with Yin Shen to discuss the contribution of cis-regulatory non-coding DNA sequences in controlling gene expression, and how variation of these regions in microglia may be risk factors in idiopathic brain diseases. Guest: Yin Shen, Professor in the Department of Neurology and the Institute for Human Genetics in the Weill Institute for Neurosciences at the University of...

On January 30, 2025 we spoke with Ekaterina (Katya) Likhtic about the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and the circuits responsible for fear conditioning and extinction. She informed us about the special contribution of the amygdala to emotion and emotional learning, and we discussed the special place of fear conditioning as a model for learning generally. Guest: Katya Likhtic, Associate Professor, De...

On December 13, 2024 we spoke with the speakers at our annual UTSA Neuroscience Symposium, on the Basal Ganglia Circuitry. Topics of discussion included the heterogeneity of cells and connections, the usefulness of the idea of cell types (or lack thereof), and the relationship between neuromodulators and fast synaptic transmission. Sorry about the sound quality on this one. Guests: Charles Gerfen,...

On December 5, 2024 we spoke with Jason Chen about G-protein signaling in the mammalian photoreceptors, and the G-protein regulator proteins that govern the speed of transduction and the temporal resolution of vision. Guest: Jason Chen, Professor in the Departments of Molecular Medicine and Ophthalmology, and Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Chair in Retinal Signaling at UT Health San Antonio. Partic...

On November 21, 2024 we spoke with Jonathan Fadok on the brain circuits that choose whether an animal will freeze or try to escape in the presence of a dangerous stimulus. Guest: Jonathan Fadok, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Brain Institute at Tulane University. Participating: Tony Burgos-Robles, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA...

On November 14, 2024 we spoke with Claudio Punzo on the metabolic interdependence of the retinal pigment epithelium and the photoreceptors of the retina, and its implications for the degenerative process in macular degeneration Guest: Claudio Punzo, Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Participating: Erika Tatia...

On November 7, 2024 we spoke with Carlos Bassetto about the relationship between molecular structure and functional states of the ion channels that underlie all electrical signals in the nervous system. Guest: Carlos Bassetto, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UTSA Participating: Fidel Santamaria, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA Host...

Neuroscientists Talk Shop: Raju Metherate on nicotine and auditory processing On October 31, 2024 we spoke with Raju Metherate, on the sites of action of nicotine in the auditory pathway and the mechanism by which it enhances cortical responses to sound. Guest: Raju Metherate, Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine Participating: Alfonso Apicella, Depa...

On October 17, 2024 we talked with Eric Fortune about the electric field sensory system in weakly electric fish and its function in social communication, predation and spatial localization. Eric explained how his collaboration with engineers and application of control systems opened a window on the function of the animal's movement in this sensory system. Guest: Eric Fortune, Associate Professor o...

On October 10, 2024 we met with Ranmal Samarsinghe to talk about the use of cortical assembloids, three-dimensional cultures containing both excitatory and inhibitory neurons. to explore the development and function of the cerebral cortex. Guest: Ranmal Samarasinghe, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Participating: Sara Mirsadegi,...

On September 26, 2024 we spoke with Jones Parker about dopamine receptors, the changes in neuronal activity produced by various antipsychotic drugs, and their relationship to antipsychotic efficacy in humans. Guest: Jones Parker, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Participat...

On September 23, 2024 we met with Andy Groves to discuss the inner ear and hearing loss, why we can't regenerate our auditory receptors, and how we might someday be able to rebuild our auditory epithelium using gene therapy. Guest: Andy Groves, Professor and Vivian L Smith Endowed Chair in Neuroscience, Departments of Neuroscience and Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine. P...

On September 12, 2024 we got to talk with Brian Lundstrom about the origin of epilepsy, the use of electrical recordings in its diagnosis, and brain stimulation as a treatment. Brian explained the difficulties of inferring cortical network function from EEG signals, and the problem of studying a disease whose symptoms manifest rarely and intermittently. Guest: Brian Lundstrom, Associate Professor...

On September 9, 2024 we got to talk to Marina Silveira about the inferior colliculus, its place in the auditory pathway, and the effort to understand its cellular makeup, internal structure, and auditory functions. Guest: Marina Silveira, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA Host: Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and...

On August 29, 2024 we spoke with Melanie Carless about cellular models of Alzheimer's disease generated using direct programming of brain cells from fibroblasts derived from patients, which can be used to find epigenetic signatures of the disease. Guest: Melanie Carless, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA Participating: Uchit Bhaskar,...

On May 2, 2024 we spoke with Skirmantas Janusonis on the peculiar morphology and spatial distribution of the serotonin innervation of the brain, and his idea that it can be described using the mathematics of fractional Brownian motion. We consider the kind of developmental mechanisms that could be responsible. Guest: Skirmantas Janusonis, Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain...

On April 25, 2024, we met with the 5 speakers for this year's Annual Neuroscience Symposium at UTSA to discuss epigenetics and nervous system development. We discussed the best known molecular mechanisms that control patterns of gene expression and current limitations faced in studies of those mechanisms. We also discussed the promise of epigenetics to explain the differentiation of nervous sy...

On April 18, 2024 we spoke with Nancy Philp about the blood supply to the retina and the cells and membrane transporters that deliver glucose and lactate to photoreceptors and other cells for glycolytic and aerobic metabolism. Guest: Nancy Philp, Professor, Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical School, Thomas Jefferson University Participating: Erica Tatiana Camacho,...

On April 4, 2024 we had a chance to talk to Kara Marshall about the membrane protein PIEZO2, which is responsible for sensory transduction of many of the mechanical senses, including light touch, vibration, and proprioception. We especially focused on its function in sensing internal pressure and movement, including bladder pressure and blood pressure. Guest: Kara Marshall, Assistant Professor, De...

On March 21, 2024, we spoke with Dennis Sparta on the complexity of brain circuitry and strategies for dissecting out the contributions of different brain areas engaged in reward and in alcohol use. Guest: Dennis Sparta, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago. Participating: Marina Silveira, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology,...