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SUMMARY:"Retinal axon guidance in substrate-bound ephrin patterns.". - Pro
 f Martin Bastmeier\, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
DTSTART:20100322T113000Z
DTEND:20100322T123000Z
UID:TALK23404@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Duncan Simpson
DESCRIPTION:During the establishment of topographically organized connecti
 ons in the nervous system graded distributions of axon guidance molecules 
 play fundamental roles. In the retinotectal projection repulsive interacti
 ons of ephrins and Eph receptors guide the growth cones of retinal axons. 
 However\, it is still poorly understood how the growth cones read these gr
 adients of membrane bound guidance molecules and convert this information 
 into a meaningful cellular response. We use microcontact-printing and micr
 ofluidic networks to produce geometrically defined patterns of substrate b
 ound ephrinA and EphA receptors to study axonal responses in a defined in 
 vitro environment.\nI will first describe how retinal axons respond to mic
 rocontact printed gradients of ephrinA and how they read out this informat
 ion with respect to gradient steepness and protein coating. In the second 
 part I will provide experimental evidence that retinal growth cones are ab
 le to desensitize to this repulsive guidance factor and resensitize in res
 ponse to ephrinA under certain conditions. Finally\, I will present a theo
 retical model which implements all potentially relevant guidance cue inter
 actions involved in the development of the retinotectal projection. The mo
 del is used to predict the outcomes of in-vitro assays of axonal guidance\
 , which were then experimentally realized.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, Centre for Physics of Medicine (PoM)
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