Biophysical modeling of synaptic plasticity

Abstract

Neurotransmission occurs at different length scales. Experiments have shown that neuronal structure and function are tightly coupled across these scales. In this talk, I will discuss recent efforts to develop quantitative models to understand these structure-function relationships. One focus is how the shapes of dendritic spines and the presence of organelles within them affect calcium transients in spines and dendrites. I will also present an example at the scale of axons, focusing on how the mechanics of the neuronal membrane influence axonal morphology and how the organization of the membrane periodic skeleton affects tension propagation along axons.

Bio

Padmini Rangamani is a Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. Prior to this, she was a UC Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Osmania University (Hyderabad, India) and the Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively. She is the recipient of the PECASE, ARO, AFOSR, and ONR Young Investigator Awards, as well as a Sloan Research Fellowship in Computational and Molecular Evolutionary Biology. She was recently elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Biological and Medical Engineers and the American Physical Society.