Faculty Member
Associate Professor in Residence
Department of Ophthalmology
Department of Neurobiology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
Jules Stein Eye Institute, Room A-200
100 Stein Plaza Driveway,
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Faculty Member
Professor and Chair
Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
College of Life Sciences
University of California, Los Angeles
Lab:
Life Science Building
621 Charles E Young Dr S,
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Office:
Terasaki Life Sciences Building
610 Charles E Young Dr S,
Los Angeles, CA 90095
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.
Faculty Member
Assistant Professor
Department of Bioengineering
Samueli School of Engineering
University of California, Los Angeles
Publications
A selected list of publications:
Faculty Member
Professor
Department of Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology
College of Life Sciences
University of California, Los Angeles
Sagasti Lab:
P.O. Box 951606
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Office Address:
Biomedical Sciences Research Building, Room 450B
621 Charles E. Young Dr. S
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Biography
Dr. Sagasti received his PhD from UCSF, where he worked with Cori Bargmann studying celll specification and left/right asymmetry in the nervous system of the nematode C. elegans. He began using zebrafish as a model at the Skirball Institute, NYU Medical Center as a post-doc with Alex Schier. In the summer of 2005 he was a Grass Foundation Fellow at the Marine Biological Labs in Woods Hole, Massachussetts. He began as a UCLA faculty member in the MCDB department in September 2005. His lab uses a combination of imaging, molecular, and genetic approaches in zebrafish to investigate on the morphogenesis of sensory axons and skin cells during development and repair.
Publications
A selected list of publications:
Vargas Mauricio Enrique, Yamagishi Yuya, Tessier-Lavigne Marc, Sagasti Alvaro Live Imaging of Calcium Dynamics during Axon Degeneration Reveals Two Functionally Distinct Phases of Calcium Influx The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2015; 35(45): 15026-38.
