Cooling up and warming down – thermal encoding in the periphery
Speaker: Dr Clarissa Whitmire
Queensland Brain Institute
University of Queensland
Title: Cooling up and warming down – thermal encoding in the periphery
Abstract: Cool and warm sensations shape how we interact with our environment, yet the neural basis for distinguishing them remains surprisingly elusive. In this talk, I’ll present data from in vivo calcium imaging of thermoreceptors in the dorsal root ganglia of mice, capturing responses across the entire thermosensory population. We found that most thermoreceptors respond bidirectionally: they are activated by cooling and suppressed by warming. This suggests that cool and warm sensations may be encoded by a shared peripheral population, rather than distinct neural pathways as has been proposed previously. These findings offer a new framework for understanding how the nervous system represents innocuous thermal changes and raise new questions about how these signals are interpreted centrally.
About Neuroscience Seminars
Neuroscience seminars at the QBI play a major role in the advancement of neuroscience in the Asia-Pacific region. The primary goal of these seminars is to promote excellence in neuroscience through the exchange of ideas, establishing new collaborations and augmenting partnerships already in place.
Seminars in the QBI Auditorium on Level 7 are held on Wednesdays at 12-1pm, which are sometimes simulcast on Zoom (with approval from the speaker). We also occassionally hold seminars from international speakers via Zoom. The days and times of these seminars will vary depending on the time zone of the speaker. Please see each seminar listed below for details.
