Colloquium Series: Dr. Ted Erclik, UTM
Colloquium Series
Speaker: Dr. Ted Erclik
Institution: University of Toronto-Mississauga
Topic: Neural cell specification and diversification
Date: Monday, February 2nd, 2026
Time: 3:00 PM
Host: Dr. Julie Lefebvre
Location: Naylor Building NL6
Title: 'Patterning neural progenitors through space and time in the Drosophila visual system'
Abstract:
Our lab’s research investigates how complex neural circuits develop from an initial population of stem cells. We focus on the genes and mechanisms that mediate the spatial and temporal patterning of neural progenitors in the developing Drosophila medulla, which represents the largest processing centre in the fly visual system. During larval and pupal development, the neuroblasts (NBs) that generate the ~150 neuronal cell types of the medulla are patterned by independent temporal and spatial inputs. In the temporal axis, a cascade of transcription factors (TFs) is expressed in medulla NBs as they age. In the spatial axis, the neuroepithelium from which these NBs are generated is compartmentalized by the expression of additional TFs and signaling molecules. Distinct neuronal types are generated by NBs based on their spatio-temporal address. Here, I will present a third patterning mechanism that acts to further diversify neuronal fates in the medulla. We have found that the neuroepithelium from which NBs are continuously produced is patterned by opposing temporal gradients of the Imp and Syp RNA-binding proteins and their downstream transcription factors. Medulla NBs are thus patterned by two concurrent temporal mechanisms: (1) the Imp/Syp state of the neuroepithelium when they are generated; and (2) the transcription factor cascade that progresses within them as they age.