The Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center (AIMRC) will host Amy Poe, an assistant professor of cell and molecular biology, at 12:55 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, in ARKV 0002. Poe's research focuses on investigating how neural circuits develop and coordinate information to govern the emergence of behavioral rhythms like sleep and feeding. Understanding how rhythmic behaviors develop is essential, as sleep and circadian disruptions are common co-morbidity in many neurodevelopmental disorders.

Abstract: Normal sleep and circadian rhythms during early life are important for brain development. Disruptions in sleep and rhythms during development are a common co-morbidity in neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD and autism. Although the molecular mechanisms encoding cellular rhythms are well understood, little is known about how rhythmic behaviors first emerge. Using Drosophila larvae as a model system, Dr. Poe developed new approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and circuitry driving the emergence of behavioral rhythms. Targeted genetic manipulations, circuit tracing techniques, and ex vivo imaging reveal that sleep-wake rhythms are initiated in early 3rd instar Drosophila larvae (L3) through the maturation of a circuit bridge connecting DN1a clock neurons and Dh44 arousal output neurons. Nutritional manipulations and imaging-based approaches demonstrate that developmental changes to energetic and metabolic demands drive the consolidation of periods of sleep and feeding across the day as animals mature. Her work indicates that multiple rhythmic behaviors develop concurrently in Drosophila larvae, providing an innovative system for investigating how circadian circuits develop and influence behavior across the lifespan.

Biography: Poe is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, who started at the University of Arkansas in August 2024. Her research investigates the circuit and molecular mechanisms underlying the development of behavioral rhythms using Drosophila larvae as a model system. She conducted her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Matthew Kayser at the University of Pennsylvania from 2018-2024. Poe received her Ph.D. in genetics from Cornell University in 2018. She conducted her doctoral research in the laboratory of Chun Han investigating the mechanisms regulating dendrite morphogenesis in a group of Drosophila larval peripheral sensory neurons. Her doctoral research revealed novel mechanisms in which extracellular signals, the nutritional environment, and redundantly acting genes regulate dendrite branching pattern formation. She received her bachelor's degree from Berry College in Georgia where she had her first research experiences using Drosophila to study developmental instability.

This event is supported by NIGMS of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM139768. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Pizza and beverages will be served. Please contact Kimberley Fuller, fullerk@uark.edu, for more information.

For those unable to attend in person, this seminar will also be available via Zoom.