Psychology and Neuroscience Seminar -- Dr Ying Zhang Subpopulations of V3 spinal interneurons that control state-dependent locomotor behaviors

This is an online seminar of the semester, with Dr Ying Zhang, Associate Professor at the Dalhousie University. Simon Sharples (Miles lab) kindly agreed to hosting a post-seminar discussion along the lines of the ‘Growing up in Science' discussions we started last year. Dr Zhang will be presenting her work on the neural circuits that control locomotion and the mechanisms underlying locomotor behaviors.

State-dependent limb movement and coordination allow animals to maintain stable locomotion under different circumstances. Interneuron networks in the spinal cord mediate incoming sensory and descending information as well as serve as central pattern generators to form and coordinate the final outgoing motor commands. My talk will focus on one of the excitatory spinal neuronal populations, V3 interneurons. I will demonstrate that subpopulations of V3 neurons play unique roles in state-dependent locomotor activity. Furthermore, I also will elucidate our current understanding of the molecular identity of some V3 subpopulations and their diversification across hierarchically-organised temporal and spatial developmental pathways.

MS Teams Link: https://tinyurl.com/pbxsa9rf