Observing Brain Synapses in Action

Sacramento, Calif.- Lin Tian’s fascination with neuroscience stems from a deep curiosity about the complexity and elegance of the human brain. As one of only five scientists in the U.S. and Canada – and the first at UC Davis – to be named a 2014 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar, Tian will be developing optical sensors and applications to acquire fundamental insights about how the nervous system functions in health and disease.
 
“The functioning brain receives thousands of chemical and electrical signals at the synapse, the area of connection between neurons,” Tian said. “Understanding how neurons integrate these multiple inputs to transmit information and to shape and refine the neural circuitry itself is an important area of research that can shed light on an array of neurological disorders, including depression, addiction, autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy.”
 
With a five-year, $500,000 grant from the Rita Allen Foundation, Tian will develop imaging tools to obtain a comprehensive view of both excitatory and inhibitory synapses in action at the cellular, tissue and whole-animal levels. She also will apply these tools to uncover the functional organization of cortical layer1 (L1) interneurons in shaping long-range interactions and their link to behavior, which can’t be done with current technology, Tian said.
 
“Understanding how information is transferred across neural circuitry and systems is the key to innovation in the treatment of neurological disorders,” she said.
 
Tian is an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine at UC Davis. She holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Science and Technology of China and a doctorate in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology from Northwestern University. She completed her postdoctoral training at Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm.
 
Since 1976, more than one hundred young leaders in biomedical science have been selected as Rita Allen Foundation Scholars. The program embraces innovative research with above-average risk and promise. Scholars have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.