Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series

Speaker: Michael S. Bienkowski , Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience Director, USC Center for Integrative Connectomics USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute Keck School of Medicine of USC

Talk Title: Hippocampal cell types in health and disease: toward targeted treatment strategies

Abstract: Neurodegeneration of the hippocampus is a key hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive impairment. Previously, Dr. Bienkowski developed the mouse Hippocampus Gene Expression Atlas (HGEA), a foundational roadmap for understanding hippocampal cell types by integrating gene expression and connectivity data within the multiscale hierarchical hippocampal network. Using the HGEA as a guide, we have been investigating how hippocampal cell types change across the course of Alzheimer's disease both in humans and AD mouse models. Our data suggest that specific hippocampal cell types are more susceptible to AD and their neurodegenerative morphology changes across the disease timeline. As neuronal morphology is sensitive to electric fields and deep brain stimulation has been explored as an effective treatment for AD cognitive impairment, we are investigating how electrical stimulation treatment affects the dendritic morphology of vulnerable hippocampal cell types.
 

Biography: Dr. Bienkowski is Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience and the director of the USC Center for Integrative Connectomics within the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. Dr. Bienkowski's multi-disciplinary translational research program at USC investigates neuronal cell type susceptibility to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and retinal diseases with a focus on 3D neuronal morphology, connectomics, and spatial transcriptomics. The research team's collaborations with clinicians, engineers, and computer scientists explore how we can reliably identify vulnerable cell types within the changing diseased brain and develop targeted electrical stimulation treatment strategies to effectively slow, prevent, or reverse the neurodegenerative process.

Host: Qifa Zhou

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Carla Stanard