Psychedelics, Poker, Epigenetic’s & Chronobiology

How does the liver know whether the Sun is up or down? How does the brain know whether the liver is in a fed or fasted state? These questions have eluded researchers for decades, but Lauren has identified the hepatic vagus nerve as a bidirectional communicator of circadian and metabolic signals between the brain and liver. Tapping into the unique neurobiology of the hepatic vagus nerve could provide therapies for metabolic diseases exacerbated by jet lag and/or shift work.

Epigenetics can change phenotypes without changing the underlying DNA sequence. All female mammals with two X chromosomes are mosaic for X-linked gene expression because of an epigenetic process called ‘X-Chromosome Inactivation’. This process results in incredible diversity across female cells, including tortoise shell cats, and contributes towards sex differences with disease susceptibility between men and women. Dr. Anguera’s lab investigates how the X chromosome is responsible for enhancing female responses to pathogens, and how it contributes towards female-biased autoimmune diseases.

Genes provide recipes for making cellular proteins, but these recipes first get copied into RNA molecules that carry information throughout the cell. However, additional molecular processing steps impact the final RNA recipe. One of these steps, called splicing, can be used to encode multiple different versions of a protein from a single gene. Changes in splicing patterns in developing brain cells can affect the structure of these cells and how they interact with each other to transmit signals. Amanda investigates the functions and regulation of some not-yet-understood splicing changes in neuron development.

Psychedelics, once taboo and forbidden, are the answer to Michael Pollan’s now famous question How to Change Your Mind. Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, is thought to change your mind by growing new neural pathways in your brain. But how does it actually change patterns of brain activity driving emotions and behavior so rapidly and so lastingly? And how predictable are the effects? The answers lie in the sparkling seas of cortical neurons, captured in microscopic videos taken in healthy, awake mice over a whole week after psilocybin.

In her research, Emma explores human behavior through mathematics, with topics including fashion trends, how teams form, and the game of poker. Let's say you're a poker genius, an expert at counting cards who knows the probability of every hand - then what? Should you hold ’em? Should you fold ’em? Should you bet all your money? Emma uses math to provide insights into these questions by thinking about simplified poker games. Along the way, she’ll introduce some ideas from game theory, including the concept of Nash equilibrium.