Takao K Hensch - Critical Period Mechanisms of Visual Cortical Plasticity

http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?13781

Abstract: (CIT): With interests ranging from child development and human disease to brain circuitry, Dr. Hensch is best known for his studies of the interplay of sensory input and genetics early in mammalian brain development, when the unusual malleability of the nervous system allows experiences to shape the lifelong wiring of the brain. His research has employed techniques from systems and molecular neuroscience to probe the mechanisms of early neural wiring, the limits of early brain plasticity, and how such plasticity might be restored later in life. Such work could have profound implications for developmental disorders as well as learning and education. Dr. Hensch's group made the surprising finding that the maturation of inhibitory circuits - such as the stunted development of wiring in visual cortex from an eye deprived of vision - controls the timing of early brain plasticity. By directly manipulating the onset of such inhibitory transmission within the brain, Dr. Hensch and his colleagues have shown that neural plasticity mirrors this timing, a finding that has had a major impact on developmental neuroscience. He continues to investigate the structural and molecular mechanisms of these phenomena, as well as the role of rhythmic electrical activity that occurs in the brain during sleep, visual experience, and brain plasticity. NIH Neuroscience Seminar Series.