Wiring the Nervous System: Mechanisms of Axonal and Dendritic Remodelling in Health and Disease

Born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Dr. Tracy S. Tran earned her B.Sc. degree (with cum laude) in Neuroscience, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees (with summa cum laude) in Physiological Sciences and Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology, respectively, from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) with Dr. Patricia E. Phelps. Dr. Tran conducted her postdoctoral training in The Solomon H. Synder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with Drs. Alex Kolodkin and David Ginty. Currently, Dr. Tran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rutgers University, NJ, USA and the Director of the Undergraduate Program in Biology. Dr. Tran studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling neuronal morphogenesis and wiring of the mammalian nervous system. Her research investigates the molecular signaling involved in how neurons assume their diverse morphologies, the axons and dendrites, which enables the assembly of neural circuits required for complex behavior and cognitive function. Moreover, her lab is interested in better understanding and identifying the molecular and genetic correlates of developmental neurological disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder.

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Dr. Avraham Yaron earned a B.Sc. degree (with cum laude) in Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. degree (with summa cum laude) from Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School's Department of Immunology with Dr. Yinon Ben-Neriah, and conducted postdoctoral training with Dr. Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Dr. Yaron is currently a faculty member and incumbent of the Jack & Simon Djanogly Professorial Chair in Biochemistry in the Weizmann Institute. Dr. Yaron studies the mechanisms by which the wiring of the nervous system is established during development. His research concentrates on two aspects of the wiring process: the operation of chemical cues that guide axons to their targets, and the mechanisms that govern the elimination of certain axons during fetal development, a process termed axonal pruning. Moreover, his lab explores the functional and behavioral outcomes of miswiring, and examining how genetic wiring programs are modulated by experience.