Distinguished neuroscientist Erin M. Schuman, PhD, will present the 21st Fredric S. Fay Memorial Lecture on Thursday, March 31, at 3 p.m. in the Albert Sherman Center. A reception will follow in the Cube.
Dr. Schuman, professor of synaptic plasticity and director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, will present “Protein Synthesis at Neuronal Synapses.”
Schuman has spearheaded seminal research elucidating the importance of widespread local translation in presynaptic boutons and in postsynaptic dendrites and spines. Her work addresses a long-standing question in neuroscience of how newly synthesized proteins are detected so quickly at synapses following nerve stimulation many microns away from mRNA in somata. Early in her career, she addressed this conundrum by visualizing local protein synthesis in dendrites near synapses to enhance synaptic transmission, a cellular correlate of memory.
The Schuman lab has continued to probe how protein synthesis occurs locally at synapses by identifying local translation machinery including ribosomes, ribosomal proteins that regulate ribosomal activity, and more than 2,500 different mRNAs. Along the way, the lab has pioneered new nanotechnologies, including expansion microscopy with super-resolution microscopy to visualize local protein synthesis and transcriptome analysis of mRNA dynamically regulated in synaptosomes.
Schuman has received numerous national and international awards, most recently a Vallee Visiting Professorship in 2021, and the ALBA-FKNE Diversity Prize and the Louis-Jeantet Prize in 2020. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences as well as several European scientific academies.
The Fred Fay lecture was established in remembrance of the late UMass Chan Medical School professor of physiology and his scientific contributions, particularly to the field of biomedical imaging. The purpose of the lecture is to host world caliber scientists in physiological research who are also great communicators and role models for the next generation of scientists.
The annual scientific seminar is resuming after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. Registration is requested.
