April 21, 2010
Joyce Fernandes, Ph.D., was elected as Miami University’s Officer-at-Large for 2010 using an email ballot. Dr. Fernandes is an associate professor of zoology at Miami. According to her MU home page:
“Research in my laboratory focuses on understanding the manner in which the adult complement of muscles in the fruit-fly, Drosophila, are generated during the transition phase of metamorphosis. My research also examines the mechanisms that regulate branching of innervating motor neurons and their subsequent stabilization into synapses. These studies have broader implications for understanding developmental disorders in humans. Funding for my research comes from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) and from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Read more about her neuroscience research projects.
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Posted by Mark Willis
February 24, 2010
Dayton, Ohio – Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine and Miami Valley Hospital announced today the formation of the Wright State University & Premier Health Partners Neuroscience Institute to speed the transfer of research discoveries from bench to bedside, improving the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders such as stroke. The institute’s director will be OMV-SfN past president Timothy Cope, Ph.D.
This major public-private initiative partners the Dayton region’s strongest biomedical research institution with the clinical resources of the region’s leading hospital system to create the WSU & PHP Neuroscience Institute. Miami Valley Hospital has made a major investment of $4.35 million over five years to create a new Department of Neurology within the WSU Boonshoft School of Medicine. The investment includes long-term support for clinical neurologists who will form the nucleus for collaboration with the university-based neuroscientists in critical research in stroke and movement disorders. A national search is underway for the founding chair of the new department.
Governor Ted Strickland designated the new institute as one of Ohio’s Centers of Excellence in Biomedicine and Health Care.
The Boonshoft School of Medicine has a talented cadre of NIH-funded neuroscientists, along with excellent core resources and equipment for cutting-edge laboratory research, including microscopic imaging, genomics, proteomics and electrophysiology. A primary focus of their research is nervous system disorders that affect movement. The PHP system has a large and diverse patient base that provides excellent opportunity for high-quality research and clinical trials.
The institute will be the critical centerpiece for conducting neuroscience research, and will promote ways to move the results of that research directly from the laboratory to the bedside, providing outstanding neurological clinical care to the community and creating a clinical and research enterprise that will be pivotal for the region’s economic recovery. Joint research activities and related investments will have direct economic impact on the community, amounting to tens of millions of dollars over the next five years. The emergence of a strong neuroscience institute through this collaboration will be a watershed accomplishment for the Dayton region. Read more.
(Left) Architectural vision of the proposed Neurological Sciences Research Building at WSU.
Wright State University is in the process of raising funds for a new $22-million state-of-the-art laboratory building within its existing biomedical and engineering research corridor. The new 64,000-square-foot facility will feature sustainable design, interdisciplinary laboratories and shared core resources for more than 100 scientists, physicians, and student researchers. Read more.
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Posted by Mark Willis
February 17, 2010
Rajita Sinha, Ph.D. (left), will be the keynote speaker at OMV-SfN’s 2010 Neuroscience Day on Monday, May 10, at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Sinha is professor of psychiatry and director of the Yale Stress Center at Yale University. Her research interests include “clinical neurobiology of stress and relaxation, emotion dysregulation, and their effects on desire and drug craving and addictive behaviors, such as, drinking, eating and drug use.” Read more.
Neuroscience Day also will feature student presentations and a poster competition. Look here for more details as plans are finalized.
Neuroscience Day is free of charge for current chapter members, so join or renew your membership now!
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Posted by Mark Willis
February 9, 2010
James Olson, Ph.D., is organizing Wright State University’s third annual clinic for local students participating in Science Olympiad. He is seeking graduate students and faculty who are willing to help with presentation of instructional materials for the Science Olympiad students.
The clinic will take place on the Wright State main campus on Saturday, March 13, and will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. High school students will attend the clinic from 9 a.m. to noon and middle school students will attend from 1 to 4 p.m. Clinic presenters will have a free lunch between noon and 1 p.m.
For more information contact Dr. Jim Olson at james.olson@wright.edu. The Science Olympiad Clinic is sponsored by WSU’s Departments of Emergency Medicine and Neuroscience, Cell Biology, and Physiology.
Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, creating a passion for learning science and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. It is a team competition of middle school and high school students in areas of science, engineering, and technology. Teams from more than 14,000 different schools across the nation participate in Science Olympiad, now in its 26th year.
See the Ohio Science Olympiad web site.
Leave a Comment » | Science Outreach | Tagged: events, neuroscience, science education, Science Olympiad, Wright State University | Permalink
Posted by Mark Willis
February 1, 2010
James Eliassen, Ph.D. (left; University of Cincinnati) was installed as the 2010 President of the Ohio Miami Valley Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience at the chapter’s business meeting held January 29 in Cincinnati. He was elected as President-Elect in 2009.
Chapter members present at the meeting nominated and elected Michael Hennessy, Ph.D. (Wright State University) to be President-Elect and Kim Hagler (Wright State University) to be Secretary-Treasurer for 2010. Amit Singh, Ph.D., was elected Officer-at-Large for the University of Dayton. An Officer-at-Large for Miami University will be nominated at a later date.
President Eliassen announced that this year’s Neuroscience Day will be held Monday, May 10, at the University of Cincinnati. Rajita Sinha, Ph.D., has been invited as keynote speaker. Dr. Sinha is professor of psychiatry and director of the Yale Stress Center at Yale University. More details will follow. Save the date!
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Posted by Mark Willis
January 25, 2010
OMV-SfN’s 2010 Winter Meeting will be held Friday, January 29, from 10 a.m. – 12 noon at the University of Cincinnati’s Metabolic Diseases Institute/Genome Research Institute (2180 E. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati 45237) in the Building A lecture room.
The meeting will begin with four 20-minute research presentations, one from each of OMV-SfN’s four participating institutions. The business meeting will follow and James Eliassen, Ph.D., will be inducted as 2010 chapter president. Scientific presentations include:
- Gale Kleven, Ph.D. (Wright State University)
MR Spectroscopy and Behavioral Epigenesis
- Jennifer J. Quinn, Ph.D. (Miami University)
Neurobiological mechanisms of long-term memory consolidation and stabilization
- Yvonne Ulrich-Lai, Ph.D. (University of Cincinnati)
Stress-relieving properties of palatable foods
Download 2010 Winter Meeting Agenda (MS Word), which includes travel directions to the meeting site. For more information, contact Jim Eliassen (513/558-5863; james.eliassen@uc.edu).
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Posted by Mark Willis
January 25, 2010
According to NPR: “A recent study led by neuroscientist Susan Tapert of the University of California, San Diego compared the brain scans of teens who drink heavily with the scans of teens who don’t.
“Tapert’s team found damaged nerve tissue in the brains of the teens who drank. The researchers believe this damage negatively affects attention span in boys, and girls’ ability to comprehend and interpret visual information.
For the study, published last month in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Tapert looked at 12- to 14-year-olds before they used any alcohol or drugs. Over time, some of the kids started to drink, a few rather heavily — consuming four or five drinks per occasion, two or three times a month — classic binge drinking behavior in teens.
Comparing the young people who drank heavily with those who remained non-drinkers, Tapert’s team found that the binge drinkers did worse on thinking and memory tests. There was also a distinct gender difference. Read more.
About the image: The red specks in this brain scan highlight where the integrity of the brain’s white matter is significantly less in the teens who binge drink, compared to those who do not. [Souce: UCSD/NPR]
Leave a Comment » | Neuroscience News | Tagged: addiction, binge drinking, imaging, neuroscience | Permalink
Posted by Mark Willis
January 21, 2010
Researchers at the University of Minnesota report that measuring fluctuations in the brain’s magnetic activity as neurons fire in synchrony, a method known as synchronous neural interactions (SNI), may provide an effective approach for diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Their work is reported in the Journal of Neural Engineering. According to BBC News:
The brain’s signals are effectively a symphony of electrical impulses, which in turn drive tiny magnetic fields.
Researchers have measured and mapped these fields, in a pursuit known as magnetoencephalography, since the late 1960s. It has already been used to diagnose tinnitus, and can even predict when people will make mistakes.
Apostolos Georgopoulos, at the University of Minnesota in the US, developed the synchronous neural interactions (SNI) approach as a means to mathematically untangle the myriad signals that magnetoencephalography produces. Read more.
Leave a Comment » | Neuroscience News | Tagged: imaging, neuroscience, PTSD, public science, translational research | Permalink
Posted by Mark Willis
