Pasko Rakic, USA

Tuesday, 5 June 2012, 09.00 – 09.45 h

Depressing tales of adult neurogenesis: a hard look at the evidence

Pasko Rakic, MD, PhD, received his medical and graduate degrees in developmental biology and genetics from Belgrade University (former Yugoslavia), where he became Assistant Professor until being offered a faculty position at Harvard Medical School, where he stayed 8 years before taking the endowed Duberg professorship at Yale University where he is presently Chairman of the Department of Neurobiology and Director of the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience.

Dr. Rakic’s research interests are in developmental neurobiology, particularly cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal proliferation, migration and synaptogenesis during development and evolution of the cerebral and cerebellar cortex. His studies lead to the postulate of the “radial unit” and “protomap” hypotheses of cortical development and evolution that provide the framework for understanding of normal and pathological development of the human brain. By manipulating the rate and pattern of neuronal migration, using genetic tools and environmental factors, he with his colleagues discovered the hidden abnormalities of neuronal positioning that cannot be discerned by routine postmortem examination of the human brain, providing explanations for the pathogenesis of a variety of congenital malformations including lissencephaly, polymicrogyria and childhood epilepsy, as well as new insight into possible developmental origin of disorders of higher brain functions, such as autism, schizophrenia and forms of mental retardation.

Dr. Rakic is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA); American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Institute of Medicine (USA), and foreign member of Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Serbian Academy of ­Sciences and Croatian Academy of Arts Sciences. He has also been President of the Society for Neuroscience. His honors include Karl Spencer Lashley Award, Francois I Medal, College de France, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pasarow, Henry Gray, Gerard and Fyssen Science Prize, and most recently Kavli Neuroscience Prize for his discoveries on how the neurons in the embryonic brain arrange themselves during development into the complex, densely interconnected synaptic circuitry of the adult cerebral cortex.