Caroline Wilson speaks on 'Using copepod crustaceans to understand the evolution of myelin' Feb. 25

Friday, Feb. 25, 3:30-4:45 p.m.
ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building, Room 120

The Biology Department is pleased to have Caroline Wilson from the Biological Sciences Department lecture on "Using copepod crustaceans to understand the evolution of myelin, a complex nervous system feature."

Myelin sheaths are known to greatly speed nerve conduction in most vertebrates, but myelin-like features can also be found in some invertebrates including oligochaete annelids, penaeid and caridean shrimp and calanoid copepods. In the first three invertebrate cases, myelin arises from glial cells as it does in vertebrates, but in copepods the origin of the myelin and the way in which it develops was previously undescribed.

This talk will outline how myelin arises in the different taxa and compare it to the novel way in which copepod myelin forms. Copepod myelin development is an instructive example of convergent evolution, with far-reaching consequences for nervous system functioning and the behavior that nervous systems subserve.

Parking on the UAA campus is free on Fridays.

For more information, please contact Audrey Malone at anajf@uaa.alaska.edu.