Biography
Steroid synthesis and action in the vertebrate CNS. My laboratory is interested in the hormonal control of brain and behavior. Steroid hormones influence the CNS in diverse ways, from regulating neuronal transcription, to influencing cell signaling pathways, to direct modulation of neurotransmitter receptor ion channels. The traditional view is that neurally active steroids come from the gonads and adrenals, but we and others have evidence that in some cases, steroids can be synthesized directly in the brain. We are testing this hypothesis in songbirds that have a variety of well-characterized endpoints of steroid action on brain including organizing neural circuits developmentally, activating circuits and stimulating persistent neural plasticity in adults. We utilize molecular, biochemical and neuroanatomical approaches to explore the expression, activity and function of steroid synthetic enzymes. In addition, we do field research on birds, including one called the Golden-collared manakin that lives in the rainforests of Panama. Males of this species have a remarkable, acrobatic and noisy courtship display. We study how hormones act on the brain, spinal cord and peripheral muscles to give males the ability to perform these elaborate displays.
Publications
A selected list of publications:
Pradhan Devaleena S, Newman Amy E M, Wacker Douglas W, Wingfield John C, Schlinger Barney A, Soma Kiran K Aggressive interactions rapidly increase androgen synthesis in the brain during the non-breeding season Hormones and behavior, 2010; 57(4-5): 381-9.
Feng Ni Y, Katz Amnon, Day Lainy B, Barske Julia, Schlinger Barney A Limb muscles are androgen targets in an acrobatic tropical bird Endocrinology, 2010; 151(3): 1042-9.
Remage-Healey Luke, Coleman Melissa J, Oyama Randi K, Schlinger Barney A Brain estrogens rapidly strengthen auditory encoding and guide song preference in a songbird Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010; 107(8): 3852-7.
London Sarah E, Remage-Healey Luke, Schlinger Barney A Neurosteroid production in the songbird brain: a re-evaluation of core principles Frontiers in neuroendocrinology, 2009; 30(3): 302-14.
Salwiczek Lucie H, Emery Nathan J, Schlinger Barney, Clayton Nicola S The development of caching and object permanence in Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica): which emerges first? Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983), 2009; 123(3): 295-303.
Remage-Healey Luke, Maidment Nigel T, Schlinger Barney A Forebrain steroid levels fluctuate rapidly during social interactions Nature neuroscience, 2008; 11(11): 1327-34.
Schlinger Barney A, Day Lainy B, Fusani Leonida Behavior, natural history and neuroendocrinology of a tropical bird General and comparative endocrinology, 2008; 157(3): 254-8.
Katz Amnon, Mirzatoni Anahid, Zhen Yin, Schlinger Barney A Sex differences in cell proliferation and glucocorticoid responsiveness in the zebra finch brain The European journal of neuroscience, 2008; 28(1): 99-106.
London Sarah E, Monks D Ashley, Wade Juli, Schlinger Barney A Widespread capacity for steroid synthesis in the avian brain and song system Endocrinology, 2006; 147(12): 5975-87.
Publications
A selected list of publications:
G Brinkmann, P Goetschalckx, S Schein Comparing the constructions of Goldberg, Fuller, Caspar, Klug and Coxeter, and a general approach to local symmetry-preserving operations, Proc Roy Soc Lond A , 2017; 2017.0267.
S Schein, AJ Yeh, K Coolsaet, JM Gayed Decoration of the truncated tetrahedron—an Archimedean polyhedron—to produce a new class of convex equilateral polyhedra with tetrahedral symmetry, Symmetry, 2016; 8: 82-91.
X Zhang, P Ge, X Yu, JM Brannan, G Bi, Q Zhang, S Schein, ZH Zhou Cryo-EM structure of the mature dengue virus at 3.5-Å resolution, Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, 2012; 20: 105-110.
Wang Zhi, Su Hai-Feng, Tan Yuan-Zhi, Schein Stan, Lin Shui-Chao, Liu Wei, Wang Shu-Ao, Wang Wen-Guang, Tung Chen-Ho, Sun Di, Zheng Lan-Sun Assembly of silver Trigons into a buckyball-like Ag180 nanocage Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017; 114(46): 12132-12137.
Schein Stan, Gayed James Maurice Fourth class of convex equilateral polyhedron with polyhedral symmetry related to fullerenes and viruses Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014; 111(8): 2920-5.
Zhang Xiaokang, Ge Peng, Yu Xuekui, Brannan Jennifer M, Bi Guoqiang, Zhang Qinfen, Schein Stan, Zhou Z Hong Cryo-EM structure of the mature dengue virus at 3.5-Å resolution Nature structural & molecular biology, 2013; 20(1): 105-10.
Schein S, Ngo IT, Huang TM, Klug K, Sterling P, Herr S Cone synapses in macaque fovea: I. Two types of non-S cones are distinguished by numbers of contacts with OFF midget bipolar cells Vis Neurosci, 2011; 28(1): 3-16.
Herr S, Ngo IT, Huang TM, Klug K, Sterling P, Schein S Cone synapses in macaque fovea: II. Dendrites of OFF midget bipolar cells exhibit Inner Densities similar to their Outer synaptic Densities in basal contacts with cone terminals Vis Neurosci, 2011; 28(1): 17-28.
Hongrong Liu, Lei Jin, Sok Boon S. Koh, Ivo Atanasov, Stan Schein, Lily Wu, Z. Hong Zhou Atomic Structure of Human Adenovirus by Cryo-EM Reveals Interactions Among Protein Networks Science, 2010; 329(5995): 1038-1043.
Zhang X, Boyce M, Bhattacharya B, Zhang X, Schein S, Roy P, Zhou ZH Bluetongue virus coat protein VP2 contains sialic acid-binding domains, and VP5 resembles enveloped virus fusion proteins Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2010; 107(14): 6292-7.
Ge P, Tsao J, Schein S, Green TJ, Luo M, Zhou ZH Cryo-EM model of the bullet-shaped vesicular stomatitis virus Science, 2010; 327(5966): 689-93.
S Schein Architecture of clathrin fullerene cages reflects a geometric constraint – the head-totail exclusion rule – and a preference for asymmetry J Mol Biol, 2009; 387: 363-375.
Schein Stan, Friedrich Tara A geometric constraint, the head-to-tail exclusion rule, may be the basis for the isolated-pentagon rule in fullerenes with more than 60 vertices Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008; 105(49): 19142-7.
Download
Download
Stan Schein, Michelle Sands-Kidner, Tara Friedrich The physical basis for the head-to-tail rule that excludes most fullerene cages from self assembly Biophysical J, 2008; 94: 938-957.
Schein, S. Sands-Kidner, M. A geometric principle may guide self-assembly of fullerene cages from clathrin triskelia and from carbon atoms Biophysical Journal, 2008; 94(3): 958-976.
S Schein, KM Ahmad Efficiency of synaptic transmission of single-photoreceptor to rod bipolar dendrite, Biophysical J, 2006; 91: 3257-3267.
Download
Download
S Schein, KM Ahmad A clockwork hypothesis: Synaptic release by rod photoreceptors must be regular, Biophysical J, 2005; 89: 3931-3949.
Download
Download
Schein, S. Sterling, P. Ngo, I. T. Huang, T. M. Herr, S. Evidence that each S cone in macaque fovea drives one narrow-field and several wide-field blue-yellow ganglion cells Journal of Neuroscience, 2004; 24(38): 8366-8378.
Ahmad, K. M. Klug, K. Herr, S. Sterling, P. Schein, S. Cell density ratios in a foveal patch in macaque retina Visual Neuroscience, 2003; 20(2): 189-209.
AA Sadun, V Carelli, SR Salomao, A Berezovsky, PA Quiros, F Sadun, AM DeNegri, R Andrade, M Moraes, A Passos, P Kjaer, J Pereira, ML Valentino, S Schein, R Belfort Extensive investigation of a large Brazilian pedigree of 11778/Haplogroup J Leber American Journal of Ophthalmology, 2003; 136(2): 231-238.
S Herr, KJ Klug, P Sterling, S Schein Inner S-cone bipolar cells provide all of the central elements for S cones in macaque retina, J Comp Neurol, 2003; 457: 185-201.
Download
Download
K Klug, S Herr, IT Ngo, P Sterling, S Schein Macaque retina contains an S-cone OFF midget pathway, J Neurosci, 2003; 23: 9881-9887.
Download
Download
K Migdale, S Herr, K Klug, K Ahmad, K Linberg, P Sterling, S Schein Two ribbon synaptic units in rod photoreceptors of macaque, human, and cat, J Comp Neurol, 2003; 455: 100-112.
Download
Download
Herr, S. Klug, K. Sterling, P. Schein, S. Inner S-cone bipolar cells provide all of the central elements for S cones in macaque retina Journal of Comparative Neurology, 2003; 457(2): 185-201.
Burris, C. Klug, K. Ngo, I. T. Sterling, P. Schein, S. How Muller glial cells in macaque fovea coat and isolate the synaptic terminals of cone photoreceptors Journal of Comparative Neurology, 2002; 453(1): 100-111.
AA Sadun, V Carelli, SR Salomao, A Berezovsky, P Quiros, F Sadun, AM DeNegri, R Andrade, S Schein, R Belfort A very large Brazilian pedigree with 11 778 Leber’s hereditary optic, Trans Ant Ophthalmol Soc, 2002; 100: 169-77.
C Burris, K Klug, IT Ngo, P Sterling, S Schein How Müller glial cells in macaque fovea coat and isolate the synaptic terminals of cone photoreceptors, J Comp Neurol, 2002; 453: 100-11.
Download
Download
Biography
Felix E. Schweizer was born in Basel, Switzerland and conducted his graduate research in the laboratory of Prof. Max M. Burger under the direction of Dr. Theo Schafer. He received his PhD degree in biochemistry summa cum laude from the University of Basel in 1989. From 1990 to 1994, he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University in the laboratory of Prof. Richard W. Tsien. From 1994 to 1998, he was postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurobiology at Duke University in the laboratory of Professor George J. Augustine. Dr. Schweizer joined the Department of Neurobiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 1998 as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Full Professor in 2010. Dr. Schweizer’s research interests concern the molecular mechanisms by which neurons communicate, the regulation of communication by neurons and how alterations in neuronal communication might contribute to neuronal diseases. The Schweizer laboratory uses electrophysiological and optical tools to investigate the dynamic molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of neurotransmitter release. We are particularly interested in the role of protein ubiquitination in regulating neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission. In collaboration with Dr. James Wohlschlegel, we used multiplexed SILAC and identified synaptic proteins that are dynamically regulated. More recently, in collaboration with Dr. David Krantz, we are using pesticides linked to neuro-degenerative disorders as unbiased tools identify novel pathways that might be involved in early signs of degeneration. In addition, we are characterizing transmission at the first synapse of the vestibular system, i.e. between utricular sensory hair cells and primary afferent neurons. In collaboration with Dr. Larry Hoffman we are finding that changing the gravitational load alters synaptic structures. We are now using serial EM and EM tomography in addition to physiology and cell biology to define in more detail the transfer function between head-movement input and afferent nerve-firing output.