Biology Seminar Series - Piali Sengupta, Brandeis University

Living in a toxic world: Mechanisms of internal salt-sensing in C. elegans

Animals are exquisitely sensitive to salt concentrations in both their external and internal environments. While we now have a good understanding of how we taste salt, the mechanisms by which internal salt levels are sensed remain poorly described. This talk will describe recent work from the lab on the identification of a new pathway by which a single gut neuron in C. elegans detects ingested salts and protects the animal against high salt stress.

Dr Sengupta earned her A.B. at Bryn Mawr College,

Ph.D. from MIT, and Postdoc at UCSF.

She has held a faculty position at Brandeis University since 1996 and is currently the Harold and Bernice Davis Professor of Biology.