Columbia Neuroscience Seminar with Michelle Monje

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In-Person

Date: December9,2025

Location: Jerome L. Greene Science Center, United States

<a href="https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/columbia-neuroscience-seminars-michelle-monje" class="btn btn-outline-primary btn-sm w-100" target="_blank">Visit event page</a>

Neuron-glial interactions in health and disease: from cognition to cancer In the central nervous system, neuronal activity is a critical regulator of development and plasticity. Activity-dependent proliferation of healthy glial progenitors, oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), and the consequent generation of new oligodendrocytes contributes to adaptive myelination. This plasticity of myelin tunes neural circuit function and contributes to healthy cognition, while disruption of myelin plasticity contributes to cognitive impairment in a range of disease states. The robust mitogenic effect of neuronal activity on normal oligodendroglial precursor cells, a putative cellular origin for many forms of glioma, suggests that dysregulated or “hijacked” mechanisms of myelin plasticity might similarly promote malignant cell proliferation in this devastating group of brain cancers. Indeed, neuronal activity promotes progression of both high-grade and low-grade glioma subtypes in preclinical models. Crucial mechanisms mediating activity-regulated glioma growth include paracrine secretion of tumor-promoting factors and synaptic communication between neurons and glioma cells.

Participants & Organizers

Columbia University Zuckerman Institute(Organizer, Host)

<a href="https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/" class="small text-muted">https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/</a>

At Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute, our mission is to decipher the brain. We believe that understanding how the brain works — and gives rise to mind and behavior — is the most urgent and exciting challenge of our time. Our passionate group of researchers is exploring how the brain develops, performs, endures and recovers to gain critical insights into human health and behavior for the benefit of people and societies everywhere. Because the brain and mind are central to the human experience — shaping not only our thoughts and feelings, but also our motivations and actions — the potential for discovery is staggering.