Using Neurobiology to Overcome Genetic and Environmental Adversity

Session Date: 
Dec 2, 2016
Session Order: 
9
Speakers: 

Proper brain function requires the sculpting of connections between neurons during early postnatal life.  Synapses are formed and strengthened, weakened and lost, under the influence of sensory experience.  Over five decades of research have culminated in a deep understanding of the mechanisms responsible for this brain plasticity.  Insights derived from this line of research have recently suggested the remarkable possibility of developing treatments for developmental brain disorders previously believed to be intractable.  We are poised to fulfill the promise of molecular medicine in which corrective treatments are developed from the bottom up—from gene discovery to pathophysiology in animals to novel therapeutics in humans.  

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