Discovering Spatial Structures in the Astrocytes Cells of the Brain

Speaker: Will Morrison

When: December 19, 2012 (Wed), 10:00AM to 11:00AM (add to my calendar)
Location: SCI 352

This event is part of the Preliminary Oral Exam.

Examining Committee: HE Sanley, Robert Carey, Shyam Erramilli, Rama Bansil, William Skocpol Abstract:

By combining skill sets unique to each discipline, neuroscientists and physicists can measure properties of the brain neither could analyze alone. Among these properties are the spatial relationships between cells of the brain. I will first present the technology we have created to extract information from images of the brain, and enable collaboration between physicists and neuroscientists. This is an online system that includes tools for collaborative image markup, automated image analysis, and data processing and visualization. I will then present a previously unobserved spatial relationship between astrocytes, an important regulatory cell. I will show how aging effects astrocytes, and examine possible mechanisms to explain the observed relationship.