Dr. Tim Tully's Psychoquium Talk Abstract
March 1996
Dr. Tully's work is primarily concerned with long-term memory formation. A feature of memory formation across the animal kingdom is its progression from a short-lived labile form to a long-lasting stable form. During this period of consolidation, memory can be disrupted by a variety of amnesiac-inducing agents. Recent work by Dr. Tully on the genetics of learning and memory formation in Drosophila has greatly increased the understanding of this topic. Dr.Tully will present evidence that there at least two genetically distinct forms of consolidated memory and that the basis for long-term memory formation is a permanent protein change at the synapse, probably mediated by CREB family genes. Dr. Tully and colleagues have also recently shown that it is possible to enhance the long-term memory of flies through genetic manipulation. The possible universality of this model is strengthened by cross-species comparisons indicating that cAMP-responsive transcription is a evolutionarily conserved molecular switch involved in the consolidation of short-term memory to long-term memory. Dr. Tully's other interests include a variety of topics in behavior genetics, including the effects of pleiotropic gene action and gene interactions (epistasis) on behavior and structure-function relationships in nervous system gene expression.
Dr. Tully is carries out his research at the Cold Spring Harbour Lab, New York.
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