[Seminar] "How does a neuron grow?" by Prof. Mike Fainzilber

Speaker

Mike Fainzilber, Professor in Molecular Neuroscience, Head, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel [website]

Title

How does a neuron grow?

Abstract

Neurons are the longest known cells, with axons that can extend to lengths 3-4 orders of magnitude greater than their cell body diameters. How can neurons sense the lengths of such long processes and control their growth? The talk will describe how bidirectional intracellular communication, consisting of anterograde RNA transport, local translation at axon tips, and retrograde transport of the resulting proteins, enables neuron length sensing and growth control. Recent data expand the scope of this mechanism to regulation of stretch-induced interstitial growth in the mature nervous system, and to control of synapse composition in the mature CNS.

Biography

Mike Fainzilber was born in Tanzania, East Africa, where an early exposure to the wildlife of the Serengeti Plains and the Indian Ocean instilled in him a lifelong fascination with life sciences. In 1972, his family moved to Israel, where he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His postdoctoral training was at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He returned to Israel to join the faculty of the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1998, where he is currently the Chaya Professor in Molecular Neuroscience. The main focus of research in Mike’s group is on intrinsic mechanisms that control neuronal growth.