This symposium dealt with the human brain, from a number of different perspectives. About 100 high school students from Sweden and the US participated.
Time: May 20, 2014 - May 21, 2014 Location: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm
The brain used to be thought of as an electrical device, but nowadays we know that chemical signalling between cells is the key. Arvid Carlsson was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery that dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain. Hear him talk about his work, and how it changed our view of the brain.
Molecules such as dopamine convey signals from one brain cell to the other. But another group of molecules in the brain is also important: lipids. Andy Ewing from Chalmers University of Technology helps us understand the chemistry in the brain, leading into how short term memory works.
The Human Brain Project is a massive undertaking to improve our understanding of the brain, aiming to gather, organize and disseminate data describing the brain and its diseases, build models for the brain – and simulate the brain! Richard Frackowiak, co-director of the project provides a glimpse of the possibilities.
Viviana Gradinaru from Caltech talk is well worth listening to!
Every day, our brain changes. What can we do to extend our cognitive health, as we get older and older? Hear Sandi Bond Chapman from University of Texas at Dallas.
Susan Lindquist was a world-leading expert in protein folding. Here, she explains how yeast cells can be useful as models in order to do important research on disease-causing protein folding problems.
Emotional memory – associations that you have between various stimuli and experiences, and your emotional response to them – can cause problems, for example phobia and post-traumatic stress. Merel Kindt shows that it may be possible not just to change certain types of emotional memories, but even to erase them.
Martin Ingvar, from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm gives an entertaining presentation on the topic of consciousness as a tool for understanding the brain. Is it an illusion?
Robert Langer is the most cited engineer in the world, and the brain behind many important innovations in medicine.
Wisdom is a human trait. Does it pass on from generation to generation?
Arvid Carlsson: A Paradigm Shift in Brain Research (1955-1970) Opportunities and Challenges
Andrew Ewing: How Brain Cells Communicate and Theories for Short Term Memory
Richard Frackowiak: The Human Brain Project - the Medicine of Tomorrow
Viviana Gradinaru: Visualizing the Activity and Anatomy of Brain Circuits
Sandra Bond Chapman: Brain blood flow and synchrony markers of neural health
Susan Lindquist: From yeast cells to patient neurons
Merel Kindt: The Neuroscience of Fear Memory Erasure
Martin Ingvar: Consciousness as a Tool for Understanding
Robert Langer: Advances in Chemistry and its Implications for Studying and Treating Brain Disease
Terry Sharrer: Molecular Inference of Wisdom
