henschlab.mcb.harvard.eduHensch Lab | How experience shapes brain development

Hensch Lab How experience shapes brain development Skip to content Welcome Research Current Lab Members Lab Alumni Papers Press Links Calendar Contact Us Welcome Much of our adult behavior reflects the neural circuits sculpted by experience in infancy and early childhood. At no other time in life does the surrounding environment so potently shape brain function – from basic motor skills, sensation or sleep to higher cognitive processes like language. How this plasticity waxes and wanes with age carries an impact far beyond neuroscience, including education policy, therapeutic approaches to developmental disorders or strategies for recovery from brain injury in adulthood. Our laboratory, housed in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Center for Brain Science at Harvard University and F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital , and part of the NIMH-funded Conte Center at Harvard , explores the mechanisms underlying critical periods of brain development. Research is aimed at the interface between cell biology and neuroscience – applying cellular/molecular techniques to elucidate complex neural systems. The Hensch lab has the distinct honor to grace both the front/back cover of the 2019 MCB brochure. We constantly strive for diversity; both in research interests and the people conducting it. Be sure to check out the list of MCB head tutors, advisors, contact info for outreach programs, and more here: MCB_undergraduates_brochure_2019 . The whole world is talking about us! “ C’est parti pour le lifting cérébral “, Science & Vie, June 2019, Elsa Abdoun writes about our exciting research over the summer. “NMDA 2A receptors in parvalbumin cells mediate sex-specific rapid ketamine response on cortical activity” has just been published by Drs. T. Hensch, N. Picard, A. Takesian, and M. Fagiolini in this month’s edition of Molecular Psychiatry. Read about it in Harvard MCB Department news along with the article. The Boston Children’s Hospital’s science and clinical innovation blog Vector (February 2019 by Nancy Fliesler), features the new paper titled “ NMDA 2A receptors in parvalbumin cells mediate sex-specific rapid ketamine response on cortical activity ”. Read the Vector blog entitled “ How the antidepressant ketamine rapidly awakens the brain and why its effects vary more in women ” A perineuronal nets image and explaining their role in learning, memory, plasticity, and more can be found in the October PNAS, Core Concepts article titled, ‘ Perineuronal nets gain prominence for their role in learning, memory, and plasticity ‘, written by Helen H. Shen. Curious about people who speak dozens of languages and if brain plasticity is involved? Check out the September 2018 edition of The New Yorker where Professor Takao K. Hensch has some input. (Judith Thurman The New Yorker staff writer) “Seizures may damage learning capacity of rodent brains” , by Jessica Wright in the July 2018 edition of Spectrumnews.org features and highlights the latest publication by Sun H, et al. Cell Rep. 23, 2533-2540 (2018) Takao K. Hensch who spoke at the AAAS in Austin, Texas meeting, lends critical research thinking to The Guardian article, “ Scientists seek drug to ‘rewire’ adult brain after stroke “ (Nicola Davis, Feb. 2018). Takao K. Hensch awarded the 2016 Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology. “How Early Life Experience Shapes Brain Function” Columbia University Medical Center Press Release Weill Cornell Press Release “ New Treatment for Rett Syndrome Targets Cerebrospinal Fluid “, by Nicholette Zeliadt, Nov. 15, 2016 SpectrumNews.org features Professor Hensch and his lab while at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in San Diego . The New York Times: “Return to the Teenage Brain” , by Richard Friedman, October 8, 2016. Photo courtesy of the The New York Times, Harry Campbell Scientific American features an article by Professor Hensch: “THE POWER OF THE INFANT BRAIN” An understanding of formative periods of intense learning during childhood suggests strategies for correcting neurological and psychiatric disorders later in life. Related Medscape Story: Harnessing the Childhood Brain to Treat Alzheimer Disease, Autism, and Mental Illness “Remodeling of retrotransposon elements during epigenetic induction of adult visual cortical plasticity by HDAC inhibitors” New collaborative study highlighting the importance of chromatin regulation in adult visual cortical plasticity. Featured in Active Motif January 2016 Epigenetics News. Originally published in Epigenetics & Chromatin , Dec 2015. “Instructing Perisomatic Inhibition by Direct Lineage Reprogramming of Neocortical Projection Neurons” New Collaborative Study with Arlotta Lab Published in Neuron November 2015 Featured in Harvard Gazette Story, “ Neurons reprogrammed in animals ” Header based on research image of Luke Bogart, Dawen Cai, Jeff Lichtman & Takao Hensch. Congratulations to Dr. Haneui Bae of the Molecules, Cells, Organisms (MCO) who defended her dissertation, "Modulation of Perineuronal Nets Regulating Parvalbumin Neuron Maturation in the Mouse Visual Cortex" on Jan. 15, 2020 Congratulations to Dr. Erin Diel of the Molecules, Cells, Organisms (MCO), who defended her dissertation, "Structural and Molecular Correlates of Auditory Plasticity" on Sept. 10, 2018 Congratulations to Dr. Zhanlei Ye of the Program in Neuroscience, who defended her dissertation, " Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors Impacting Local Circuit Inhibition in the Neocortex" on Dec. 2, 2016 Congratulations to Dr. Ryoma Hattori of the Molecules, Cells, Organisms (MCO) Program, who defended his dissertation, "Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Establishment of Unimodality in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex," on Nov 20th! Congratulations to Dr. Luke Bogart of the Program in Neuroscience, who defended his dissertation, "Synaptic specificity and plasticity in parvalbumin-basket cell circuits," on Aug 14th! Congratulations to Dr. Rebecca Reh of the Program in Neuroscience, who defended her dissertation, "A rapid peak in gamma power signals critical period plasticity in the developing mouse visual cortex," on July 16th! Blog at WordPress.com. Post to Cancel...