Colloquium on the Brain & Cognition with Larry Zipursky, PhD, UCLA

• Date: Thursday, May 7, 2026
• Time: 4:00pm
• Location: Singleton Auditorium (46-3002, Third Fl of MIT Building 46)
• Faculty Host: Troy Littleton
• Reception to Follow

Talk Title: Strategies and Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Brain Wiring

Abstract: Neural circuits form in two general developmental epochs. Genetically hardwired programs specify patterns of connectivity during early development. At later stages of circuit assembly, genetic programs and experience come together to modify these patterns. By bringing together genetics, biochemistry, EM-based connectomics, single-cell mRNA sequencing, physiology and behavior, we have gained insights into the genetically hardwired cellular recognition mechanisms underlying circuit formation through studies of the Drosophila visual system. Immunoglobulin superfamily proteins play a prominent in role in regulating specificity in this system. This includes a vast array of thousands of proteins regulating self-non-self recognition and self-avoidance through homophilic binding, pairing of synaptic partners through matched expression of families of heterophilic recognition molecules on pre and post-synaptic neurons , and gradients of recognition molecules forming gradients of synaptic inputs and outputs. These gradients emerge from continua of cell types similar to continua of excitatory neurons in the mammalian brain. This raises the intriguing question of whether similar gradients of cell recognition molecules expressed in neurons across cortical depth regulate synaptic circuitry.

Bio: S. Lawrence (Larry) Zipursky is the Jerome J. Belzer Chair of Medical Research, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Chemistry (Active), Investigator Emeritus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Zipursky and his colleagues have established principles of neural development and their underlying molecular mechanisms. Their studies have provided insights into mechanisms of neural tissue specification, neuronal cell fate determination, pattern formation, mechanisms regulating synaptic connectivity and how postnatal experience influences neural circuit assembly. Zipursky is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.