Opening Session

Opening Lecture 1

Molecular and Neural Architecture of Social Behavior Circuits in the Mouse

Our group is interested in the cellular and molecular architecture of neural circuits underlying instinctive social behaviors in the mouse. We will describe our recent advances in uncovering the identity of sensory neurons detecting social cues, and of command circuits associated with specific social responses in males and females.

Biography

Catherine Dulac is Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She is recognized for her research on the molecular biology of olfactory signaling in mammals, particularly including pheromones. She developed a novel screening strategy based on screening cDNA libraries from single neurons and a new method of cloning genes from single neurons.

A Neandertal Perspective on Human Origins

We have sequenced the genomes of a Neandertal and a Denisovan (an Asian relative of Neandertals) to high quality. These two extinct human forms are the closest evolutionary relatives of all present-day humans. Analyses of these genomes in conjunction with present-day genomes show that both groups have mixed with modern humans after they spread out of Africa. As a consequence, up to 2.0% of the genomes of people living outside Africa derive from Neandertals while an additional ~4.8% of the genomes of people now living in Melanesia derive from Denisovans.

Biography

Svante Pääbo develops technical approaches that allow DNA sequences from extinct creatures such as mammoths, ground sloths and Neandertals to be determined. He directed the efforts to sequence the Neandertal genome and discovered Denisovans, a new hominin based on DNA sequences determined from a small Siberian bone. He also works on the comparative genomics of humans and apes, particularly the evolution of gene activity and genetic changes that may underlie aspects of traits specific to humans such as speech and language. Svante Pääbo has received several honorary doctorates and scientific prizes and is a member of numerous academines. He is currently a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and a Guest Professor at the University of Uppsala, Sweden.