Internal seminars

UPCOMING SEMINARS
2025
April 17th,
Jeroen B. Smaers

Understanding the pattern of evolution plays a crucial role in determining the mechanisms of species diversification and adaptation. In this seminar I will discuss evidence that the pattern that best describes the evolution of brain size and brain region size is one in which bursts of change occur along particular lineages. These bursts consist of ‘jumps’ in mean size that ‘propel’ entire clades of species onto different evolutionary trajectories. Building on this evidence, I will discuss recent work (currently in review) indicating these bursts of change provide unique opportunities to better understand the evolutionary processes that shape neurodevelopment. Phylogenetic-level associations across 150My of mammalian evolution between whole-genome gene-level traits from 36 species and macroevolutionary changes in biomedically relevant phenotypes (lateral cerebellum, hippocampus) reveal that the genes involved in explaining these bursts of change are significantly enriched for human neurodevelopment and the molecular pathways associated with human neurodegeneration. This work suggests that unlocking the processes that shape the macroevolution of the mammalian brain may help unlock the processes that shape human neurodegeneration.

COMPLETED SEMINARS
2025

March 27th, 16:00 CET, 3 PM BST
Post-conference debrief

March 20th, 16:00 CET, 3 PM BST
Steve Brusatte

February 20th, 15:00 CET, 2 PM BST
Amy M. Balanoff, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
"Intgrative neuroanatomy and the origin of birds"

January 24th, 15:00 CET, 2 PM BST
Josep Call, University of St Andrews
"Chrysippus’ dog and the origins of modal concepts"

2024
December 6th, 09:00 CET, 8 AM BST
Dissertation Thomas Rejsenhus Jensen

October 24th, 15:00 CET, 2 PM BST
Ornella Bertrand, Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Barcelona, Spain
"How the neurosensory system provides crucial clues for the adaptive radiation of mammals"

September 12th, 15:00 CET, 2 PM BST
Internal discussion on papers that are investigating or using the Brain to Endocranial cast ratio-

June 20th, 15:00 CET, 2 PM BST
Professor Lawrence Witmer on Extant Phylogenetic bracketing

May 30th, 15:00 CET, 2 PM BST
Internal discussions

April 11th, 14:30 CET 
Professor Onur Güntürkün, Department of Neuroscience, Ruhr University, Bochum
"Why birds are smart"

February 29th, 15:00 CET
Journal club. Chair: Thomas Rejsenhus-Jensen

2023
November 30th, 15:00 CET
Professor Dan-E. Nilsson, Department of Biology, Lund University
"The evolution of vision – a key to understanding cognition"

November 2nd, 15:00 CET
Dr. Emily Lessner, Denver Museum of Nature & Science
“Diversity and Evolution of the Sauropsid Trigeminal Sensory System”

May 8th, 15:00 CET
Dr. Paul Cisek, Department of Neuroscience University of Montréal
"Rethinking behaviour in the light of evolution"