Stavros Niarchos Foundation Brain Insight Lecture

How does your brain know when you’re hungry, tired, or sick? And how do those signals shape decisions, behavior, and the body’s long-term health? This lecture explores these big questions with a small but scientifically powerful animal: the fruit fly. Although flies and humans exhibit obvious differences, we share a remarkable overlap when it comes to genes, including those involved in brain function, sleep, and disease. In this event, three experts bring together perspectives from neuroscience, genetics, and physiology to uncover what the fruit fly can tell us about our own brain-body connection.

Wes Grueber, PhD, Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and Neuroscience, at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, Co-Director of the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Assistant Dean of Career Development and Associate Director of Biomedical Graduate Training in the Vagelos Institute of Biomedical Research Education, will open our event by sharing his research on how the brain senses the body’s internal state. Even as larvae, fruit flies constantly monitor their bodies and surroundings to make decisions about finding food, balancing gas exchange when submerged in food, and evading threats. With relatively few neurons compared to the nervous system of humans, how does the fruit fly continually create a full picture of its current status and future needs? Identifying the key genes and cell types fruit flies use can reveal potential mechanisms behind the complex process of internal sensing in mammals.

Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, PhD, Professor of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Vice Chair of Education and the Assistant Dean of Mentoring for the Vagelos Institute of Biomedical Research Education PhD Pathway program, will then explore how circadian rhythms, or the body’s natural clock, impact an animal’s physiology. Like humans, flies go through natural ups and downs in activity throughout the 24-hour day and share many of the same molecular players that regulate their circadian rhythms. Fruit flies offer an opportunity to discover the molecular mechanisms involved in circadian regulation of fundamental processes like sleep, metabolism, and immunity, and how disruptions may impact disease, aging, and survival. By leveraging the fly’s rapid life cycle and well-described genome, Dr. Shirasu-Hiza’s work provides a close look at the physiological drivers shaping health and longevity.

Following the two talks, Amanda González-Segarra, PhD, Alan Kanzer Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, will moderate a discussion and Q&A with the speakers. Audience questions are welcomed, either submitted during registration or live at the event.

About the experts

Wes Grueber, PhD, is a Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and Neuroscience, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Grueber is involved in graduate training as Co-Director of the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior and Assistant Dean of Career Development in the Vagelos Institute for Biomedical Research Education (VIBRE). He grew up in the Central Valley of California appreciating its great diversity of fascinating flora and fauna. As an undergraduate at UC Irvine studying Biological Sciences, he got his start in research with Dr. Timothy Bradley. He completed his PhD in Zoology at the University of Washington, Seattle with Dr. Jim Truman. As a postdoc with Dr. Yuh-Nung Jan at UC San Francisco he first came to appreciate the many advantages of the fly system for studying the development and function of the nervous system. He moved to New York City and started his lab at Columbia in 2005. His group at the Zuckerman Institute focuses on the organization and function of sensory systems, primarily somatosensation and interoception. He and his trainees continue to use the fly as a model system for these studies.

Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, PhD, is a tenured Professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Department of Genetics and Development, where she is also the Vice Chair of Education and the Assistant Dean of Mentoring for the Vagelos Institute PhD Pathway program. She was born on the island of Oahu in Hawaii and came to the mainland for college, attending Yale University where she earned a B.A. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Timothy Mitchison at the University of California, San Francisco and Harvard Medical School. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. David Schneider at Stanford University before moving to Columbia University in New York City to start her independent faculty position. Her NIH-funded work focuses on using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to understand circadian-regulated physiologies and behaviors that contribute to disease. She has published in many high-impact journals, including PLoS Biology, eLife, and Nature. She is also passionate about research mentorship and training, not only in her own lab but also broadly in Columbia's graduate and undergraduate research programs.

Amanda González-Segarra, PhD, is an Alan Kanzer Postdoctoral Fellow in the Behnia lab at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute. She completed her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at University of California, Berkeley with Dr. Kristin Scott and her B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. For her graduate work, Dr. González-Segarra characterized a broad neural network that balances sugar and water ingestion in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster using a combination of connectomics, in vivo imaging and optogenetic behavioral assays. She then pursued a short post-doc in the Fernández lab at Barnard College, Columbia University studying the neural basis of sex differences in sleep in D. melanogaster. In her current position, Dr. González-Segarra investigates the neural circuit mechanisms of multisensory integration in learning and memory in D. melanogaster, focusing on how visual and olfactory signals interact during crossmodal memory enhancement. During her graduate studies, Dr. González-Segarra was awarded a Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research by NIGMS to complete her graduate studies. She was also awarded Excellence in Promoting Diversity at the Graduate Level by the Molecular and Cell Biology Dept. of University of California, Berkeley for her work developing and co-directing the Inclusive Excellence in Quals Prep Program and leading the Research Group of inclusiveMCB+.

This talk is part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Brain Insight Lecture series, offered free to the public to enhance understanding of the biology of the mind and the complexity of human behavior. The lectures are hosted by Columbia’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. When registering, please indicate whether you wish to attend in person or watch the livestream virtually. All registrants will receive a Zoom link for the livestream and a recording of the lecture afterwards.

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