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Faculty Candidate Talk: Jason Christie, PhD
February 18, 2019 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Speaker: Jason Christie, PhD
Talk Title: Inhibitory Regulation of Cerebellar Plasticity and Learning
About the Speaker:
Jason Christie received his BS in biology from the University of South Dakota and his PhD in neuroscience from the Oregon Health and Science University.
Christie is the group leader of the Cerebellar Circuit Function Group at the Max Planck Florida Institute. His research focuses on studying the cerebellum to better understand the cellular and network underpinnings of neural computation that give rise to motor behavior. The cerebellum is a key motor center implicated in the acquisition of adaptive movements and in disease models of motor impairment. He is specifically interested in how the dynamics of synaptic transmission, combined with the integrative features of dendrites and axons, are utilized by neurons in the cerebellum to control motor output and encode memories of motor learning.
About the Cluster Hire:
UW’s Cluster Hiring Initiative was launched in 1998 as an innovative partnership between the university, state and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). In its first phase, the initiative authorized nearly 50 “clusters” and nearly 150 new faculty through several rounds of hiring. In 2017, phase two of the Cluster Hiring Initiative was authorized with a goal of supporting at least 12 clusters.
A proposal by several Waisman Center investigators for a Functional Genetics/Genomics of Neurodevelopmental and Neurodegenerative Diseases cluster at the Waisman Center was selected by the UW-Madison Cluster Hire Initiative.
New faculty hires who are part of the Functional Genetics/Genomics of Neurodevelopmental and Neurodegenerative Diseases cluster at the Waisman Center will help develop a pipeline of discovery that begins with patients in the clinics and ends with new approaches for treatments or therapies. This cycle of translational research would start with identifying patient-specific genetic variants, and then continue through experimental studies to confirm whether these variants truly cause disease. Ultimately, new panels for diagnosis and new approaches for treatment may be discovered.
