10/31 – Kim “Avrama” Blackwell, University of Iowa
Biomedical Engineering Seminar
October 31, 2025
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location
BME Seminar in SEO 236
Address
851 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60607
Calendar
Download iCal FileSpeaker:
Kim "Avrama" Blackwell, VMD, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa
Title: Sex Hormones and Control of Striatal Synaptic Plasticity
Abstract: The ability of neurons to respond differentially to specific temporal and spatial patterns of stimulation underlies the storage of memory and information in neural circuits. Synaptic plasticity, a stimulus-dependent change in synaptic strength, is one mechanism underlying memory storage. Brain slice plasticity experiments are widely used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity; however, most experiments exclude mature females. To address this limitation, we investigated the role of the sex hormone estradiol on long term synaptic potentiation (LTP). Our experiments demonstrate that striatal LTP is sensitive to temporal pattern and female sex hormones. To further investigate the underlying signaling pathways, we created computationally efficient software, NeuroRD, for stochastic modeling of large molecule populations in dendrites and interactions between dendritic spines. Using this software, we implemented a model of signaling pathways implicated in synaptic plasticity. Simulations demonstrate that a subset of molecules discriminate temporal pattern, and that molecules underlying LTP (but not LTD) exhibit spatial specificity. This model can predict the changes in synaptic plasticity due to alcohol withdrawal, and we have begun examining the effects of estradiol on the signaling pathways.
Date posted
Aug 14, 2025
Date updated
Oct 3, 2025