Nenad Sestan, MD, PhD
Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Comparative Medicine, of Genetics and of Psychiatry
Department of Neuroscience
Yale University School of Medicine

Department of Genetics

What Makes Us Human? Development and Evolution of Prefrontal Circuits Underlying Cognitive Control

Hosted by:  Dr. Peter Jin
In-person only:  Connor Auditorium (FLTC)

Talk abstract:  In my presentation, I will describe some of our recent efforts to better understand the molecular and cellular basis of how neural circuits form within the developing cerebral cortex, the outside part of the mammalian brain that processes our senses, commands motor activity, and helps us perform higher-order cognitive functions like language. I will also present evidence on how these complex developmental processes were modified during human evolution and may become compromised in neuropsychiatric disorders.