Biologist to discuss nervous system development on Tuesday, May 3

During the development of the nervous system, billions of nerve cells must grow to the right place at the right time in order to generate elaborate networks of neural connections. Find out how this process is orchestrated from UCSC's Lindsay Hinck, assistant professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology, who will give a talk next week on "Wiring the nervous system from tip to toe: how do neurons go to and fro?"

Hinck's talk, part of the Science & Engineering Library's Synergy Lecture Series, will take place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3, in the library's Current Periodicals Room. Light refreshments will be available.

Hinck's research focuses on the specialization of cells that create our nervous system. Over one hundred years ago, Spanish scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal proposed that neurons are guided to targets by diffusible cues in much the same way that white blood cells are guided to wound sites. Only in the last ten years, however, have these cues been identified. Hinck will discuss general features of guidance cues that organize the nervous system and describe her laboratory's investigation into how a neuron knows where to go.

Information on the S&E Library's Synergy Lecture Series is available at http://library.ucsc.edu/science/synergy.

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