WMS Events Calendar
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BMS Seminar: A dopaminergic system - in sickness and in health, Professor Scott Waddell, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford
Abstract: Memory and motivation provide life with direction and purpose. Our studies using Drosophila have discovered that functional heterogeneity of the dopaminergic system is an organising principle of mnemonic networks. Identifiable parallel combinations of dopaminergic neurons reinforce valence and reward-specific memories. In addition, opponency in the system provides need-dependent control of memory expression, and update functions when learned expectations are not met. Overriding the system鈥檚 inherent reward-specificity produces inappropriate compulsive reward-seeking. I will discuss a recent study of malaise learning that informs of general mechanisms of memory, adds new functionality to the dopaminergic system, and may provide a novel inroad to understanding its vulnerability.
Biography: Scott Waddell is Professor of Neurobiology in the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford. He is currently Deputy Head of Department.
Scott studies molecular, cellular and neural circuit mechanisms of memory and motivation using genetic approaches in Drosophila. His work has revealed extensive heterogeneity in the structure and function of the dopaminergic system. His group found that different populations of dopaminergic neurons represent specific types of reward. They also demonstrated that opposing dopaminergic systems provide motivational control and update memories when learned expectations are unmet. Together his studies indicate that informed behaviour arises from a catalogue of parallel memories.
Scott read biochemistry in Dundee and obtained his PhD in cancer biology in London. He shifted field and continent for a postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After 10 years as a group leader at UMass Medical School, he relocated to Oxford as a Wellcome Senior and then Principal Research Fellow. Scott is Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a member of EMBO, and was awarded the 2014 Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences.