Perturbations and Climate Change Shape Dynamics of Neurons and Circuits

A fundamental problem in neuroscience is understanding how the properties of individual neurons and synapses contribute to neuronal circuit dynamics and behavior. Computational and experimental studies demonstrate that the same physiological output can arise from multiple degenerate solutions, and individual animals with similar behavior can have different sets of underlying circuit parameters.

In this Presidential Lecture, Eve Marder will discuss her research into the resilience of individual animals to perturbations such as changes in temperature and high potassium concentrations. Her team aims to understand differential resilience in natural, wild-caught animals in response to climate change. The work shows the long-lasting influences of the animals’ temperature histories.

Marder is the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Biology at Brandeis University. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, before working in postdoctoral roles at the University of Oregon and the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. She previously served as president of the Society for Neuroscience and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the recipient of the Miriam Salpeter Award, the W.F. Gerard Prize, the George A. Miller Award, the Karl Spencer Lashley Prize, the Gruber Award, the Kavli Award, the NAS Award in Neuroscience, the Landis Mentoring Award, the Greengard Award for Women in Science and the 2023 National Medal for Science.