BRAIN and BEHAVIOR INITIATIVE WEEKLY DIGEST
September 19, 2016
Announcements
BBI Research Workshops
(DEADLINE: September 23, 2016)
The Brain and Behavior Initiative (BBI) has funds to support novel interdisciplinary
research collaborations based on its central themes: Neural Circuits, Learning &
Plasticity, Motor Control; Sensation, Perception, Communication; and Mental
Health. If you are interested in teaming with likeminded individuals to begin work
on one of these themes, then you should propose a workshop! Workshops are
meant to engage and prepare teams to submit BBI seed grant proposals in the fall
of 2017. PROPOSAL DEADLINE: September 23, 2016.
More Info: bbi.umd.edu/workshops2016
News
"Here’s How You Can Plant Feelings In People’s Heads, Neuroscientists
Show"
Using a relatively new brain-training technique known as neurofeedback, scientists
at Brown University were able to make people develop positive or negative feelings
about photographs toward which they’d previously felt no strong emotions. Read
More
"An Expanded Map of the Human Brain"
Researchers created a high-resolution map of the human brain, identifying 180
distinct areas in each half of the outermost layer, the cortex. The study provides
new insights and tools for understanding the roles of specialized brain regions in
health and disease. Read More
"Medical Nobel Prize Committee Deals with Surgical Scandal"
In an unprecedented move, the group that selects the winners of the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine — the Nobel Assembly — has asked two of its members to
resign following a scandal at the institute that supplies the assembly’s
members. Read More
"Circuitry for Fearful Feelings, Behavior Untangled in Anxiety Disorders"
"Two-system" theory bridges basic/clinical gap, may spur treatment
advances. Read More
"Designing More Effective Opioids"
Researchers used computer simulations to screen millions of molecules for opioidlike pain-relieving properties. The analyses allowed scientists to create a molecule
that effectively alleviates pain in mice, but with fewer side effects than the opioid
morphine. Read More
"New, Non-Invasive Procedure Approved for Treating Essential Tremors"
A non-invasive treatment offers new hope to the roughly 10 million people affected
by essential tremors in the U.S. each year. Read More
"Brain Benefits of Aerobic Exercise Lost to Mercury Exposure"
Cognitive function improves with aerobic exercise, but not for people exposed to
high levels of mercury before birth, according to research funded by the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes
of Health. Read More
Events
Physics Colloquia
Speaker: Dr. Frank Wilczek, (MIT)
Title: Some Intersections of Art and Science
Date: September 20, 2016
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Physics Building, 1412
More Info
Cognitive Science Colloquium
Speaker: Dr. Daniel Dennett (Philosophy & Cognitive Studies, Tufts)
Title: Consciousness: Whose user-illusion is it?
Date: September 22, 2016
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Physics Building, 1412
More Info
NACS Seminar
Speaker: Dr. Tonia Hsieh, (Temple University)
Title: Compensatory strategies to combat perturbations in the
complex, natural world
Date: September 23, 2016
Time: 10:15 a.m.
Location: Bioscience Research Building, 1103
More Info
Booz Allen Hamilton Colloquium
Speaker: Dr. Louis Scheffer, (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
Title: Learning From Life
Date: September 16, 2016
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Kim Engineering Building, 1110 (Stanley Zupnik Hall)
More Info
Save the Date
ISR / BBI / CLIP Seminar
Speaker: Dr. Nima Mesgarani (Columbia University)
Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: A.V. Williams Building, 1146
More info
BBI Distinguished Speaker Series
Speaker: Dr. Takao Hensch (Harvard University)
Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Time: 3 p.m
Location: Bioscience Research Building, 1103
Speaker info
Funding Announcements
For more funding information, please visit the BBI funding page.
For more information about the Brain and Behavior Initiative, visit bbi.umd.edu.