Oliver Hobert
Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
Organizational principles of nervous system development in C. elegans
11:00 am, Wednesday 08 April 2026
Location: Blakemore Lecture Theatre, Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, Sherrington Building
Abstract: How are the many distinct cell types that characterize a mature nervous system genetically specified? For a terminally differentiating neuron this question boils down to a gene regulatory question: how is the expression of the distinct batteries of genes that define the terminal, functional properties of a distinct neuron type induced and maintained? Using genetic loss-of-function approaches in the nematode C.elegans, my laboratory has begun to uncover what appear to be simple, phylogenetically conserved principles underlying the generation of diverse neuronal identities.
Biography: Oliver Hobert is Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University and holds secondary appointments in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and the Department of Systems Biology at Columbia University Medical Center. He received his Diploma in Biochemistry at the University of Bayreuth in Germany and earned his doctorate for thesis work with Axel Ullrich at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried. After his postdoc at Harvard Medical School with Gary Ruvkun, he joined the faculty at Columbia University in 1999. He has been an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2005. He is a recipient of the Mossman Award, the Jacob Javits Award, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2024.