Psychology & Neuroscience
Dr Jun Hua – Innovations in Functional Brain Imaging to Improve Neurosurgery
Dr Jun Hua, Associate Professor at the F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University, USA, leads a team focused on developing novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies for imaging the structure and function of the brain. Recently, they have been pioneering the development of new MRI techniques that can be used to improve pre-surgical planning for neurological patients and optimise patient outcomes.
Dr Jarrad Scarlett – Targeting the Brain in Type 2 Diabetes: Therapeutics to Induce Remission
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is among the most impactful and costly biomedical challenges confronting society. Current treatment regimens for T2D rely upon daily drug dosing and frequent glucose monitoring to normalise blood glucose levels. However, these medications can only delay disease progression and frequently have undesired side effects including hypoglycaemia and weight gain. Growing evidence supports a key role for the brain in glucose homeostasis and diabetes pathogenesis. Dr Jarrad Scarlett and his research team at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital are working on the development of novel pharmaceuticals to target the brain to induce sustained remission of T2D.
Dr Susan Voglmaier – Driving Forward Training and Research in Psychiatry
In recent years, dramatic advances have been made in brain science and molecular genetics. However, there is currently a shortage of psychiatrists with the scientific training necessary to take this knowledge and apply it in the clinic. Psychiatrist and neuroscience researcher, Dr Susan Voglmaier of the University of California, San Francisco, runs a research training program that supports the next generation of research scientists in the field of psychiatry. Dr Voglmaier believes that by training doctors in scientific techniques and methods, we may come to better understand mental illness and provide more effective treatments for psychiatric diseases in the future.
Professor Matthias Weigelt – The Psychology and Ethics of Maximising Performance in Competitive Sports
In sporting performance, developing a competitive edge over opponents is essential. Professor Matthias Weigelt at the University of Paderborn, Germany, specialises in the application of psychological theory and methods to the understanding and enhancement of athletic performance. Read on to discover how by taking a cognitive neuroscientific approach to understanding deceptive actions in sports, Professor Weigelt is unravelling the processes underlying expertise in responding to head fakes in basketball with critical ethical implications.
Professor Gerhard Rammes – Investigating the Links between General Anaesthesia and Alzheimer’s Disease
General anaesthesia may increase the build-up of amyloid beta, a protein implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Professor Gerhard Rammes and his team at the Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany, along with Dr Martina Bürge at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, UK, are researching the potential benefits of one specific anaesthetic, xenon, which in addition to having lower neurotoxicity than many other anaesthetics may also offer neuroprotective effects. These findings may have critical implications for personalised medicine in patients with dementia.
Professor Christine Larson – Understanding Brain Function, Cognition, and Emotion in Psychopathology
Mental health conditions such as anxiety disorders significantly impact on the quality of life of sufferers, their physical health and psycho-social functioning. Given the high prevalence and extent of impairment inflicted on affected individuals, the economic cost to public health is substantial. Professor Christine Larson at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA, seeks to identify new and more effective targets for intervention by better understanding the relationship between brain function, cognitive processing, and emotion.
Dr Korbinian Moeller – The Brain, the Body and Mathematics
Dr Korbinian Moeller and a team of researchers at the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien are endeavouring to identify the cognitive and neuronal processes underpinning an individual’s mathematical ability, by exploring the concept of embodied numerical training.
Professor Etienne Sibille | Professor James Cook – Lifting Brain Fog
Effective treatments for cognitive dysfunction, such as declines in memory and other mental faculties often associated with depression or old age, may be within reach, according to Professor Etienne Sibille at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the University of Toronto, Canada. Professor Sibille has shown for the first time that newly synthesised compounds targeting GABA receptors improve specific types of memory in mice, opening the door to the development of effective new pharmacological options.
Dr Elizabeth Nance – The Role of Nanoparticles in Neuroscience
Dr Elizabeth Nance has an impressive track record. Now a Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington, USA, Dr Nance’s work centres around the use of nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic agents to the brain, a seemingly simple operation which is confounded by a highly regulated blood brain barrier which prevents access to the brain and a complex brain environment which prevents access to diseased cells. Her current work also investigates the potential use of nanoparticles to probe tissue environments to map tissue structure, and how tissue structure changes in the presence of a disease.
Professor Mark D’Esposito – Everyday Miracles: Unravelling the Mysteries of Working Memory
To accomplish even a simple goal, our brain must coordinate thousands of pieces of information, remember which parts are relevant, and ignore anything that is extraneous. Dr Mark D’Esposito of the University of California, Berkeley, studies how different parts of the brain work together to create working memory, the cognitive system that temporarily and actively holds information in mind allowing us to complete complex tasks.
Professor Mark D’Esposito – Leveraging New Technologies to Treat Brain Injury
The brain is the most mysterious organ in the human body – despite decades of research, we have just begun to scratch the surface in understanding how the brain works and how we can help it to heal following an injury. Professor Mark D’Esposito of the University of California, Berkeley, uses advanced imaging technology to illuminate how the connections in our brain function in order to find new ways to aid brain healing after injury.
Dr Mary Logan | Dr Sean Speese – Protecting the Brain
Our nervous system has such an important function in our body that neurons have their own bodyguards. Known as glial cells, they protect brain cells against injury and prevent damage. Dr Mary Logan and Dr Sean Speese, both based at the Jungers Center for Neuroscience...
Professor Wolf Singer – The Coordination of Neuronal Communication
More than a century of research in neuroscience has demonstrated that neurons and specific areas of the cerebral cortex are specialised in their function. For example, separate aspects of a visual stimulus (such as its colour, shape, and motion) are processed by...
Project VALOR – Exploring PTSD Risk Factors and Outcomes in Combat-exposed Veterans
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent and often debilitating condition that follows exposure to a traumatic experience and can result in depression and increased suicide risk in vulnerable individuals. Researchers at the National Center for PTSD at the...
Dr Byron D’Andra Orey – Race & Wellbeing in the US: The Psychological Toll of a Broken System
The United States government and law enforcement branches have a long history of abuse and violence towards African American people that continues into present day. Beyond the impacts to those directly affected, these traumatic events may have psychological and...
Professor Klaus Gramann – BeMoBIL: Imaging Human Brain Activity in Motion
As humans we are constantly on the move, but how does our brain enable us to keep up with our dynamic and changing world? Professor Klaus Gramann leads a team of researchers at Berlin Technical University driving forward a method of Mobile Brain/ Body Imaging he...
Outcomes of Gender Summit 11, Co-hosted by NSERC
From November 6 to 8, 2017, more than 675 advocates of gender equity from across many different fields in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) took part in Gender Summit 11, in Montreal, Quebec. Co-hosted by the Natural Sciences and Engineering...
MQ: Transforming Mental Health
Our mental health is important at every stage of our lives, from childhood to adolescence and throughout adulthood. MQ: Transforming Mental Health is an international charity dedicated to researching the causes of mental health conditions and the development of...
COBRE – Raising the Bar in Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation
Despite the high number of stroke survivors worldwide, research to help those with chronic disabilities after stroke has long been underemphasised. The Medical University of South Carolina’s Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Stroke Recovery aims to...
Dr Anju Vasudevan – Linking Blood Vessel Development to Psychiatric Disorders
The research of Dr Anju Vasudevan, from the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, focusses on the early development of blood vessels in the brain and how defects in this process may be associated with a diagnosis of neuropsychiatric...
Professor Notger Müller – Denying Dementia with Earlier Diagnosis
The development of dementia in older age has a potentially devasting impact on quality of life. Tackling dementia earlier rather than later is vital because of its nature as a progressive disease. Professor Notger Müller and his team at the German Center for...
Professor Angela Friederici – The Neurobiology of the Human Language System
For centuries, scientists have been investigating the origins and development of the human language system, yet many questions remain unanswered. Professor Angela Friederici, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in...
Professor Roland Bender – Sex on the Brain – the Neurobiology of Sex Hormones
The prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders is on the rise worldwide. Men and women experience different types of anxiety disorders at different rates – this may be partially due to sex specific differences in the brain. To understand this difference Professor...
Professor Sylvain Baillet – Brain Training
Gaining insight into the brain and its inner workings improves our understanding of behaviour and our knowledge of the diseases and treatments of our most complex organ. Professor Sylvain Baillet and his research team at the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre of the...
Professor Stephen Maren – Learning to Forget – Extinguishing Fearful Memories
We often hear how impairments in learning can have a negative impact on peoples’ lives but what about problems with forgetting? The inability to forget the association between everyday cues and previous traumatic events underlies anxiety-related disorders, such as...
Lois Jean Brady | Matthew Guggemos – Multi-Sensory Tools for Autism
For children with autism, communication can be a challenge. Drawing from a wealth of clinical experience, speech pathologists Lois Brady and Matthew Guggemos at iTherapy, LLC are developing innovative, engaging multi-sensory communication tools with the aim of...
Professor Terry Powley – The Brain and the Gut – a Meeting of Two Minds
Until now, the brain and the neural network of the gastrointestinal tract have been considered largely independent organs. Recent experiments conducted by Professor Terry Powley of Purdue University and his colleagues have fundamentally challenged this belief. Their...
The Stroke Foundation, Australia
The Stroke Foundation, Australia has for the last two decades worked to support stroke survivors and their families. As ‘the voice of stroke’ in Australia, the national charity is working to increase community awareness and understanding of how stroke can be...
Dr Beate Priewasser | Dr Josef Perner – Revealing Human Nature Through Early Competition
Developmental psychologists Dr Beate Priewasser and Dr Josef Perner at the Centre of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Department of Psychology of the University of Salzburg play games with young children to reveal nuances of social development and illuminate how we...
Professor Matilde Inglese – Imaging Multiple Sclerosis: Searching for Patterns in the Brain
Professor Matilde Inglese, Director of the Neurology Imaging Laboratory in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is at the forefront of using sodium MRI as a means to better monitor and understand the pathophysiological changes caused during multiple...
Dr Detlef Wegener – Investigating How the Brain Shapes Perception
Neuroscientist Dr Detlef Wegener and his colleagues at the University of Bremen’s Brain Research Institute in Germany study how cognitive processes influence the way we perceive the world in which we live and act. How Does the Brain React to Keep Us Alive Minute by...
Dr Tamàs Fülöp – A New Perspective For Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment
Nearly all of the clinical trials for Alzheimer’s treatments have failed, leading many to wonder whether pharmaceutical companies have been chasing the wrong targets. Dr Tamàs Fülöp and his colleagues at the University of Sherbrooke are leading the charge to...