Speaker: Dorothy P. Schafer, associate professor in the Department of Nuerobiology, UMass Chan Medical School Endowed Chair in Biomedical Research I, Brudnick Neurosychiatric Institute, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Title: "Microglial signaling driving synapse loss and circuit dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease"

Abstract: Microglia are resident macrophages of the central nervous system, which are increasingly appreciated to play key roles in regulating synaptic connectivity and function. Our early work demonstrated roles for microglia in developmental synaptic pruning, whereby microglia engulf and remove excess synapses in the developing brain via complement-dependent phagocytic signaling. We are now asking how microglial function and immune signaling are impacted after eating cellular and protein aggregate substrates. In the process, we have identified roles for microglia in synapse loss in multiple sclerosis and a novel aging-related factor secreted by microglia that modules Alzheimer’s disease-related behavior.

Host: Anurag Das, graduate student in the Bai Lab in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology