Professor Peter Wolynes
Chemistry
Rice University
Houston, TX
Webinar link below or attend in-person @ Beckman Institute - Room 3269

Postponed

Monday, October 11, 2021
3:00 pm (CT)
Hybrid webinar recording

Abstract

The brain is a molecular computer. How the brain computes, and feels and learns and remembers remain great mysteries. Neurobiologists have, however, identified some key protein actors in the mechanisms of learning and memory. I will describe some theoretical and computational efforts in understanding some of the molecular aspects of 1) Hebbian learning through the regulatable assembly of the actin cytoskeleton in dendritic spines, 2) the hypothesis that long-term memory involves a functional prion protein and 3) some aspects of the physical chemistry of aggregation processes that are involved in the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Peter Wolynes' lab: https://wolynes.rice.edu/