ICKSMCB 2021 / 2021 International Conference of the Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology / November 3 - 5, 2021 / ICC JEJU

Award Lecture

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KSMCB Award for Women in Life Science Lecture

November 3 (Wed), 17:20-17:50, Tamna Hall (5F)

Chair: Inhee Mook-Jung, Ph.D. (Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea)

New Era for Old Circuit
:Neuron-Glia interaction in thalamocortical circuit

Eunji Cheong, Ph.D.
Yonsei University, Korea

Eunji Cheong has been studying the thalamocortical circuit focusing on the molecular mechanisms that regulate the excitability of thalamocortical neurons and synaptic plasticity in the thalamus. The thalamus has been known to relay sensory information from periphery to designated sensory cortical area. The firing pattern of thalamic neurons reflects the consciousness level. Cheong¡¯s group published many papers which showed the role of thalamocortical circuit to regulate consciousness including natural sleep architecture and pathological transitions. Her lab also elucidated the ion channels to regulate the firing pattern and the spike adaptation of thalamocortical neurons, which in turn controls the sensory information through the thalamus. Cheong¡¯s group expanded its research topics to glia-neuron interaction and recently showed that glia-neuron interactions bidirectionally control sensory acuity via tonic inhibition in the thalamus. Sensory discrimination is essential for survival and the first step for cognitive function. Therefore, her research contributes to understand the molecular mechanism of how sensory information is finely tuned in the brain. These findings would open up novel approaches to understand sensory processing and be expanded to understand other thalamic function in the future. Eunji Cheong is currently an associate professor at the department of Biotechnology, Yonsei University. After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003, she continued to do her research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Neuroscience, KIST and has started her own lab at the Yonsei University in 2011. She received the Glia Research of the Year Award (2020) and WBF (Women Bioscience forum)- Seok-O Bioscientist Award (2021).