Invited by Serge Picaud, Clémence Bernard, PhD, Research Associate, (Marín & Rico labs, Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King’s College London, UK) will give a talk on Monday September 4th, 11.30 AM, in the conference room of the UCL, 13 Rue Moreau.

This talk will be dealing with "Cortical wiring by synapse type-specific control of local protein synthesis".

Abstract
Neurons use local protein synthesis to support their morphological complexity, which requires independent control across multiple subcellular compartments up to the level of individual synapses. However, to what extent local translation is differentially regulated at the level of specific synaptic connections remains largely unknown. Here, we identify a signalling pathway that regulates the local synthesis of proteins required to form excitatory synapses on parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) interneurons in the mouse cerebral cortex. This process involves the regulation of the mTORC1 inhibitor Tsc2 by the receptor tyrosine kinase ErbB4, which enables the local control of mRNA translation in a cell type-specific and synapse type-specific manner. Ribosome-associated mRNA profiling reveals a molecular programme of synaptic proteins that regulate the formation of excitatory inputs on PV+ interneurons downstream of ErbB4 signalling. Our work demonstrates that local protein synthesis is regulated at the level of specific types of connections to control wiring in the nervous system.

Bio
Born in Paris, she did her undergrad studies in Paris, London and Brittany. Her PhD work in the lab of Alain Prochiantz (Collège de France, Paris) focused on the role of homeoproteins in the maturation of cortical interneurons during critical periods of postnatal development. In 2015, she started a joint postdoc between the labs of Oscar Marin and Beatriz Rico, to study the molecular mechanisms underlying the exquisite connectivity between pyramidal cells and interneurons in cortical networks.