Eve Marder to Discuss Climate Change and Neurological Disorder Risk

Could lessons learned from lobsters give clues as to how our own brains respond to a warming world? Find out at the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series’ (WALS) opening talk of the 30th anniversary season on September 11 at 2 p.m.

Eve Marder, the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience in the Biology Department at Brandeis University (Boston), will deliver the annual Margaret Pittman Lecture titled “Cryptic (Hidden) Changes that Result from Perturbations and Climate Change Shape Future Dynamics of Degenerate Neurons and Circuits.” 

Winner of the 2016 Kavli prize in neuroscience, Marder is known for her work using crabs and lobsters as model organisms to study the function of neural circuits. The underlying mechanisms revealed by her research are thought to be generally applicable to other neural networks, including those in humans.

By studying a small network of 30 neurons known as the crustacean stomatogastric nervous system (STNS), her lab has revealed the dynamic nature of those neural circuits and found that their performance can be altered by certain environmental influences to produce different outputs and behaviors. In contrast to using lab-bred animals, Marder studies natural, wild-caught crustaceans, a model which reflects the long-term effects of the oceans’ temperature changes.

The Pittman Lecture was established in 1994 to honor Margaret Pittman, the first female laboratory chief at NIH, and each year’s lecture is delivered by a researcher dedicated to advancing and improving the careers of women scientists.

This year's lecture will be held in person in Lipsett Amphitheater, Bldg. 10, and online at NIH VideoCast.

Save the date on June 11, 2025, for the rescheduled 2023–2024 Pittman Lecture, to be delivered by Stanford University’s Carolyn Bertozzi.