Public Lecture | Social Neuroscience: how genes interact with the social environment in health and disease
Public Lecture | Social Neuroscience: how genes interact with the social environment in health and disease
05
Feb
The Institute of Science and Environment is hosting a public lecture titled “Social Neuroscience: how genes interact with the social environment in health and disease” on 5 February from 6PM in NAPE Campus.
About the Talk:
Group living is ubiquitous among animals, and it results from the benefits of living socially usually outweighing its costs. In humans, perceived social factors (e.g. social isolation) have a mortality-risk effect size as large as smoking, alcohol consumption, physical exercise or obesity. Despite these large effects, the mechanisms underlying social stress are still poorly understood. We hypothesize that the mechanisms that make individuals social must also be implicated in the detrimental effects of social stress, and that an optimal value of perceived social interactions should be balanced (aka social homeostasis). In this talk, I will present research from our lab using zebrafish as a study model that illustrates the role of oxytocin in promoting sociality and how social interactions feedback on organismal homeostasis, affecting physiological mechanisms in health and disease (using a melanoma fish model). Finally, I will show evidence of the epigenetic mechanisms through which the perception of social interactions change brain transcriptome profile, which translates in changes in behaviour and physiology.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Rui Oliveira (born 22.02.1966), Ph.D. 1996 (University of Lisbon), Habilitation 2004 (University of Algarve), Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences 1996 (ISPA, Lisboa), Associate Professor in Biological Sciences 2001 (ISPA, Lisboa), Professor and Chair of Biology and Neuroscience2007 (ISPA, Lisbon), Principal Investigator at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine 2012 (GIMM formerly IGC, Oeiras) and Adjunct Faculty of the Champalimaud Neuroscience Program 2007 (CNP, Lisboa). Key qualifications in the field of Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Behavioural Neuroendocrinology and Behavioural Genomics. During the last years he has been involved in research within the field of Social Neuroscience. Main fields of interests are (1) the neuroendocrinology and genomics of social behaviour, (2) the evolution and mechanisms underlying behavioural plasticity, and (3) comparative social cognition.
Details:
Date: Wednesday, 5 February 2025
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. (GMT+8)
Location: Speaker’s Hall, USJ NAPE Campus
Organised by: Institute of Science and Environment
Moderated by: Prof. David Manuel Flores Gonçalves
Add to my Google Calendar*Free event, open to the general public
