Thesis Title

‘Zonal’ molecular organization of the olfactory bulb mitral cell layer

Department or Program

Neuroscience

Abstract

This thesis takes a whole-genome data-driven approach to investigate the heterogeneity of gene expression in the mitral cell layer (MCL) of the olfactory bulb. A zonal molecular organization may suggest these principal projection neurons are not uniform in function, but have specialized roles and differentially read the topographically ordered input from olfactory sensory neurons. Data is sourced from the densely cataloged, full genome expression maps of the Allen Brain Atlas to circumvent the limitations of single- experiment idiosyncratic gene data. Dimensionality reduction and clustering techniques identified distinct dorsal and ventral subregions of the MCL. Additional analyses performed on the whole bulb left hemisphere supported parcellation into three components: the granule cell layer, combined MCL and inner-glomerular layer, and the whole glomerular layer. These findings may implicate genes with prominent expression in the functional roles of these regions.

Level of Access

Restricted: Archival Copy [No Access]

First Advisor

Castro, Jason

Date of Graduation

5-2018

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Components of Thesis

1 pdf file

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