SEMINAR SPEAKER: Dr. Markita Landry, UC Berkeley

TITLE: “Changes in neurochemical signaling that affect social behavior in animals”

ABSTRACT: Neurons communicate through neurochemical signals that either act across synapses via wired transmission or diffuse beyond the synaptic cleft to influence broader neural circuits through volume transmission. Neuromodulators such as dopamine, serotonin, and the neuropeptide oxytocin fall into this latter category and have long been central targets of psychiatric therapeutics, yet their spatial and temporal dynamics were previously inaccessible to direct imaging. We present a library of nanoscale near-infrared fluorescent nanosensors that enable synaptic-scale imaging of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin signaling in living brain tissue. Using these tools, we show that oxytocin nanosensors can directly visualize neuromodulator dynamics underlying non-reproductive peer social interactions and reveal impaired oxytocin signaling in animals with reduced social preference. Together, this work establishes a new framework for studying the neurochemical basis of social behavior and its dysregulation in neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder.

BIO: Markita Landry is an associate professor in the departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. She received a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics and a Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, followed by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Her research centers on imaging neuromodulation in the brain, studying lipid nanoparticle–cell membrane interactions, and developing methods for genetic delivery in plants. She serves on scientific advisory boards for major agricultural companies and is co-founder and CSO of Biophilia Genetics. She has received over 40 career awards, including honors from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Schmidt Foundation, McKnight Foundation, DARPA, Beckman Foundation, NSF, and Sloan Foundation, as well as the Vilcek, Blavatnik, and Guggenheim prizes.