Invitation fo seminar "Superior paraolivary nuclei (SPONs) and their function in auditory processing"
Dear POB1 Friends,
As is our monthly custom, I warmly invite you to join us for our next POB1 Computational Oncology and Personalised Medicine seminar. This coming Wednesday, 20 May 2026, we will be hosting Dr Anna Montell Magnusson, a neurobiologist and expert in neuroscience from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, who will introduce us to the concept of superior paraolivary nuclei (SPONs). Understanding the biology of our brain is of great importance, and Dr Magnusson's lecture will be a step in that direction. Although May is usually a busy time with many classes and responsibilities, it is worth setting aside this hour for yourself to learn something new. The seminar will begin at 4:00 pm (Warsaw time). Link to the meeting below.
You can view our lecturer’s academic profile on the following websites: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3947-230X, https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=sv&user=aVzw4NkAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate and
Lab: https://web.archive.org/web/20180903172152/http://magnussonlab.se/index.html
Abstract
This lecture summarizes the concepts of the superior paraolivary nucleus (SPON) - a structure embedded in the superior olivary complex in the mammalian auditory brainstem. SPON is driven by input pathways from two of the most temporally secure neurons in the brain: the octopus cells in the cochlear nucleus and the neurons of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body. These inputs activate spiking activity that marks the onset and offset of sound, the latter based on a rebound depolarization mechanism. This makes the SPON an excellent detector of transient sound energy. A robust detection of the coarse sound pattern over time further gives SPON the capacity to track the temporal envelope of complex sounds with supreme precision. Since the SPON circuitry is constant in mammals and resilient to sensory perturbation, it indicates its high survival value. A possible neuroevolutionary role of SPON in processing of vokalizations will be discussed.
Link to the meeting
https://polsl-pl.zoom.us/j/97145629531?pwd=OinCUE9a3balpmHNkaxn4uQ0Fsi4C7.1
Meeting ID: 971 4562 9531
Access code: 480445
Best regards,
Joanna Polanska
