The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Monday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Erich Jarvis, Ph.D., professor and head, Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, The Rockefeller University; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Speaker bio(s)

Several hypotheses have been proposed on the anatomical neural differences that endow some species with the rare ability of vocal learning, a critical component of spoken language. One long-standing thus far untested hypothesis is that a robust direct projection from motor cortex layer 5 neurons to brainstem vocal motor neurons enables fine motor control of vocal laryngeal musculature in vocal learners. This connection has been proposed to form from specialized expression of axon guidance genes in human speech layer 5 neurons and the equivalent songbird neurons of the robust nucleus of the arcopallium. We have generated mice with conditional knock-down of an axon-guidance receptor PLXNA1 in motor cortex layer 5 neurons, to recapitulate the human and songbird brain expression patterns. These mice showed enhanced layer 5 cortical projections to brainstem vocal motor neurons, increased functional connectivity to phonatory muscles, and displayed a wider range of vocal abilities depending on developmental and social contexts. Our findings are consistent with the theory that direct vocal cortico-motoneuronal projections influence complexity of vocal behavior and the evolution of spoken-language.

Erich D. Jarvis, Ph.D. an alumnus of The Rockefeller University, returned to campus in 2016 as a tenured professor heading the new Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language. Dr. Jarvis investigates vocal learning in songbirds and other animals as a model for understanding spoken language in humans. He integrates computational, behavioral, physiological, and molecular techniques to explore the neural genetics of vocal learning and the evolution of this complex behavior. His research has led him to theorize that the brain pathways for vocal learning in both birds and humans likely evolved from a motor circuit common to all vertebrates. One of the Jarvis lab’s current interests is understanding mechanisms that guide the formation of neural circuits during learning.

In recent years, Dr. Jarvis’s interest in songbird learning has expanded into the parallel pursuit of genomics. As co-leader of an avian genomics consortium consisting of more than 200 scientists in 20 countries, he oversaw the sequencing of genomes from representative species of every avian order—48 genomes in all. The consortium’s findings led to an overhaul of the bird family tree and produced evidence that confirmed vocal learning evolved three time among birds: in songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds. Subsequent analysis also identified hundreds of genes that have similarly evolved in the vocal learning circuits of vocal learning birds and humans. The changes in these genes, which are not found in the brains of close bird and primate relatives, may be responsible, when mutated, for speech disorders in humans. Dr. Jarvis has also helped to organize an international Vertebrate Genomes Project, formed with the goal of assembling high-quality genomes for all 70,000 vertebrate species on Earth.

Born and raised in New York City, Dr. Jarvis received a bachelor’s degree in biology and mathematics from Hunter College. He earned his Rockefeller doctorate in 1995 for research conducted in the laboratory of Fernando Nottebohm, where he studied genes linked to vocalization in canaries. In 1998, he joined Duke University, where he ascended to a full professorship before coming back to Rockefeller.

An Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2008, Dr. Jarvis is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the 2015 Ernest Everett Just Award from the American Society for Cell Biology, and a 2019 NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award. He is also a member of the Hunter College Alumni Hall of Fame.

Open to

Campus Only