Speaker : Vassilis PACHNIS, Francis Crick Institute.
"Enteric nervous systems lineages in time and in space"
Innervation of the gastrointestinal tract is essential for health and survival. Although in invertebrates gut innervation is supplied predominantly by the central nervous system CNS, the advent of neural crest cells in vertebrates offered new regulatory opportunities and enabled the formation of elaborate gut-intrinsic neuroglia networks (called collectively the enteric nervous system-ENS), which are dedicated to the semi-autonomous regulation of gastrointestinal physiology. Research over several decades has uncovered fundamental principles that govern the colonisation of the gut by undifferentiated neural crest cells and their differentiation into neurons and glial cells that regulate fundamental gastrointestinal functions, such as motility and secretion. In addition, more recent studies have provided clear evidence that the ENS has broader roles in gastrointestinal and organismal physiology. Our work investigates mechanisms that govern the assembly of intestinal neural circuits during development and the role of ENS lineages (neurons and glial cells) in visceral organ homeostasis, host defence and disease pathogenesis.
Hosted by Dafni HADJIECONOMOU
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Conference location
Please join the conference in Paris Brain Institute auditorium.