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Event Detail (Archived)

The Cellular Basis for Somatosensation and Pain

The Nicholson Lecture

  • This event already took place in November 2019
  • Caspary Auditorium

Event Details

Type
Friday Lecture Series
Speaker(s)
Patrik Ernfors, Ph.D., professor of tissue biology, Karolinska Institutet
Speaker bio(s)

Some 150 years ago the ability to feel different bodily sensations such as touch, cold, heat, and pain was proposed to arise through the existence of unique “nerve energies.” Although today many mechanisms of sensation are known, the actual cell types conveying body senses are not completely understood. The integrated response of an assembly of different neuronal types makes pain particularly complex; as different assemblies may be recruited in different chronic pain disorders, the cellular basis for pain can vary.

In his Nicholson Lecture, Dr. Ernfors will discuss a system-wide approach to resolve the complexity of molecular cell types in the somatosensory system using single-cell RNA seq. He has shown that the identification of cell types and their transcriptomes can lead to functional predictions of gene-products that can be experimentally tested. Cell-type classification enables explorations of the transduction of pain and somatosensation using mouse genetics, with a goal of uncovering how different cell types are engaged in particular types of pain.

Dr. Ernfors received his Ph.D. in molecular neurobiology in 1991 at Karolinska Institutet, where he studied with Håkan Persson. After postdoctoral studies with Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Dr. Ernfors returned to Sweden as a member of the junior faculty at Karolinska Institutet. He was promoted to full professor in 1999. Among many roles, Dr. Ernfors has served as head of the department of medical biochemistry and biophysics, member of the Board of Research, and editor at Science Advances.

Open to
Public
Reception
Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge
Contact
Justin Sloboda
Phone
(212) 327-7785
Sponsor
Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu
Readings
https://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/index.php/2019/09/16/recommended-readings-patrik-ernfors-ph-d-friday-november-1-2019/







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