Frontiers in Neuroscience Seminar: “Development and diversity of midbrain dopamine neurons”

Professor Thomas Perlmann
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm

“Development and diversity of midbrain dopamine neurons”

Thomas Perlmann is Professor in Developmental Biology at the Karolinska Institute and secretary of the Karolinska Institute Nobel committee. Thomas´ research unravels signaling and transcriptional mechanisms governing the specification, differentiation, and maintenance of dopamine neurons. Research by his group has resulted in the identification of several transcription factors with key roles in these processes, some of which were also found to be altered in Parkinson´s disease. His findings have moreover led to the generation of new genetic models of Parkinson´s disease that have been instrumental to important translational research in our field.  His current projects are focused on understanding both early specification events and maintenance of dopamine neurons in the adult brain, also addressing the response of these neurons during Parkinson´s like pathology and regenerative therapies.  

Lecture host: Professor Angela Cenci Nilsson

Light refreshments will be served after the lecture.