Dapper in the brain: Benjamin Cheyette

Dr. Ben Cheyette is an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at UCSF. Ben and his lab focuses on signaling proteins that help neurons develop and communicate with each other.

In this week’s episode Dr. Cheyette explains how these signaling pathways originally discovered in the fruit fly relate to psychiatric disorders in humans. He discusses how he became interested in this family of proteins and the research his lab is currently conducting. Using the power of mouse genetics, his lab studies how a protein called Dapper can shape the way neurons form and function in the brain. He is also interested in how mutations in the Dapper gene relate to autism. Finally, at the end of our talk Ben provides some helpful advice to young listeners interested in pursuing a career in science.

More on the Cheyette Lab's research

Hosted by Osama Ahmed

Repression of olfactory receptor genes: Stavros Lomvardas

Dr. Stavros Lomvardas, assistant professor in the department of anatomy at UCSF, is interested in olfactory receptor choice.

About 900 genes encode the receptor proteins in your nose that help you smell. However, each neuron in the olfactory epithelium expresses only one of those genes. Dr. Lomvardas is interested in how the nervous system “chooses” which receptor protein is expressed. In this episode, Stavros explores the cellular machinery that selectively enhances or silences the expression of genes and how these discoveries were made.

More on the Lomvardas Lab's research

Hosted and produced by Sama Ahmed