Abstract: In the nervous system, rapid and accurate information flow requires a complex web of properly connected neural circuits. To preserve the complex neural circuits required for function, we need to determine how circuits wire together, maintain the right connections, and change during plasticity and disease. However, each of these factors is made more complicated by the heterogeneous set of cellular characteristics that arise from the vast number of distinct neuronal cell types involved in each unique circuit. This diversity in neuronal cell types serves as a significant barrier to understanding two major processes important for preserving circuit function: (1) cell specification during development; and (2) cell susceptibility during disease. Developing a more complete understanding of these two major processes is the long-term goal of our lab’s investigations. To achieve this goal, we use the mouse retina. The retina is an ideal system for multiple reasons: it has a highly stereotyped organization; there are several genetic tools that allow for single-cell resolution; and the neuronal outputs are associated with specific visual functions. For these reasons, our lab uses the mouse retina to address the most pressing questions in the field, including the neuronal specification and cell susceptibility underlying vision in health and disease.

Bio: Patrick Kerstein, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the School of Health Sciences and the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience at Purdue University. The research in his lab is focused on the development and degeneration of retinal circuitswithin the mouse visual nervous system. He received a BA from Ripon College where he majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. In 2015, he received a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His thesis work focused on molecular mechanisms of axon guidance in developing neurons. As a postdoctoral fellow, he worked at the Vollum Institute at Oregon Health and Science University where he used mouse genetics to investigated cell specification and neural circuit formation in the mammalian retina. In 2021, he started his laboratory at Purdue and continued this line of research in retinal circuitry in health and disease.

The Seminar for Neurotrauma and Diseases is sponsored by Purdue's Center for Paralysis Research and Plexon.