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Carla Shatz, Ph.D.

Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology
Head of the Department of Neurobiology

Harvard Medical School
Dept of Neurobiology
220 Longwood Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Telephone: 617-432-2510
Fax: 617- 432-3223
Email: Carla_Shatz@hms.harvard.edu
Predocs: 3 Postdocs: 6 Completed Ph.D’s: 8

 Carla Shatz

Research in my laboratory is directed at understanding how the adult pattern of precise and orderly connections in the central nervous system is achieved during development. A major aim of research is to understand the cellular and molecular interactions responsible for the emergence of connections in the mammalian visual system. One goal is to learn how neural function in utero, achieved via the spontaneous firing of neurons, can alter gene expression and the strength of synaptic connections. Another goal is to learn how the nervous system can construct huge neural networks such as the cerebral cortex: we wish to understand how a special scaffold of early-generated subplate neurons is involved in this process. We use a variety of experimental approaches to examine structural and physiological development. Optical imaging and mircoelectrode recordings from fetal retina, LGN and slices of cortex are made in vitro in order to examine the functional status of visual system connections and to assess synaptic transmission and changes in synaptic strength produced by neural activity. Molecular biological techniques including gene chips are being used to study activity-dependent regulation of gene expression in the developing CNS.

 

References:

  • Stellwagen, D., Shatz, C.J., and Feller, M.B. (1999) Dynamic processes of a developing retinal circuit are controlled by c-AMP, Neuron, 24: 673-685.
  • Lein, E.S. and Shatz, C.J. (2000) Rapid regulation of BDNF mRNA within eye-specific circuits during ocular dominance column formation, J. Neurosci. 20:1470-1483.
  • Huh, G.S., Du, H., Boulanger, L.M., Riquelme, P., Brotz, T.M., and Shatz, C.J. (2000) Functional requirement for Class I MHC in CNS development and plasticity. Science 290:2155-2159.
  • DeFreitas, M.F., McQuillen, P.S. and Shatz, C.J. (2001) p75 neurotrophin receptor signaling promotes survival, not death, of immunopurified neocortical subplate neurons. J. Neurosci. 21:5121-5129.
  • Stellwagen, D, Shatz, CJ (2002) An instructive role for retinal waves in the development of retinogeniculate connectivity. Neuron 33:357-367.
  • McQuillen, P.S., DeFreitas, M.F., Zada, G. and Shatz, C.J. (2002) Requirement for p75NTR in Subplate Neuron Growth Cone Guidance and Thalamocortical Pathway Formation. J. Neurosci. 22: 3580-3593.
    • McQuillen, P.S., Sheldon, R.A., Shatz, C.J. and Ferrario, D.M. (2003) Selective vulnerability of subplate neurons after early neonatal hypoxic-ischemia. J. Neurosci.23: 3308-3315.
  • Kanold, P.O., Kara, P., Reid, R.C., and Shatz, C.J. (2003) The subplate is required for functional maturation of visual cortical columns. Science 301:521-525.
  • Syken, J. and Shatz, C.J. (2003) Expression of T cell receptor ß locus in central nervous system neurons. PNAS 100: 13048-13053.
  • Boulanger, L.M. and Shatz, C.J. (2004) Immune Signaling in Neural Development, Synaptic Plasticity, and Disease. Nature Reviews Neurosci., 5: 521-531.