Hermona Soreq
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Title: Non-coding RNAs: An integrative biology hope for anxiety-related syndromes
Biography
Biography: Hermona Soreq
Abstract
The discovery of non-coding RNAs revolutionized our view of how the brain works and holds great promise for rapid progress in the run for therapeutics of anxiety-related diseases. We now know, unlike previous beliefs that our DNA includes several families of non-coding genes with regulatory functions; that these functions are differentially impaired under diverse anxiety reactions and most importantly, that the new genes can serve as scaffolds for developing new diagnostic tools and synthesizing novel therapeutics. I will discuss the family of microRNAs, tiny blockers of brain signaling pathways that govern cognition and anxiety reactions and will focus on those microRNAs that malfunction in mental diseases and their target genes with a special emphasis on the pathway of cholinergic signaling.
