Category Archives: Neuroscience

Neuroscience

What to Expect in Neuroscience, Genetics, Longevity, Biotech, and Psychedelics in 2022 – NEO.LIFE

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What to Expect in Neuroscience, Genetics, Longevity, Biotech, and Psychedelics in 2022 - NEO.LIFE

Neuroscience

Dr. Qin Wang will lead new Program for Alzheimer’s Therapeutics Discovery at MCG – Jagwire Augusta

Dr. Qin Wang, an expert in molecular neuropharmacology and signaling research exploring how cell surface receptor signaling regulates healthy brain function and contributes to neurological and psychiatric disorders, has been named the inaugural director of the Program for Alzheimers Therapeutics Discovery at the Medical College of Georgia.

The Alzheimers Association tells us that more than six million Americans already are living with this devastating problem, a number that is likely to more than double in the next few decades, says Dr. David Hess, MCG dean. With great support from the Georgia Research Alliance, Dr. Wang will enable us to more strategically address this pervasive condition generally associated with aging and help us identify better therapeutic and prevention strategies that improve peoples lives.

Qin Wang is a superstar who has already moved the needle significantly in Alzheimers research, says GRA President Susan Shows. She has deepened understanding of the toxic cascade in the brain that contributes to the disease, and she has discovered new avenues for treatments. Georgia is fortunate to add her great breadth and depth in pharmacology to our university research portfolio.

Wang joins the faculty of the MCG Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine April 1. She is an MD/PhD who completed her postdoctoral studies in pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, joined the faculty there then moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2005 where she is currently a professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology.

She is a member of the American Heart Association Councils on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences and High Blood Pressure Research. She has served as a regular member of the National Institutes of Health and AHA Molecular Peer Review Study Groups. Wang also has served as a grant reviewer for the Alzheimers Association for more than a decade and has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Alzheimers Disease Congress and on the Executive Committee of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Molecular Pharmacology Division. She is permanent associate editor for neurodegeneration for the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Dr. Wang is currently principal investigator on three National Institutes of Health grants and contact PI on two additional multi-PI NIH grants. She was among the top 20 out of 869 NIH-funded PIs in the nations anatomy/cell biology departments in 2020.

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Dr. Qin Wang will lead new Program for Alzheimer's Therapeutics Discovery at MCG - Jagwire Augusta

Neuroscience

NTT Research to Collaborate with Researchers at Harvard University on Computational Neurobiology – Business Wire

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced that it has entered a joint research agreement with scientists at Harvard University to study animal neuro-responses with the hope of informing future artificial intelligence systems. The five-year research project, launched in the fall of 2021, enables researchers at the two organizations to collaboratively study how animals maintain behavioral flexibility, specifically in the task of navigation. Greater understanding of how this challenge is approached in biology may eventually enable the design of new computing machines with similar capabilities. The principal investigator is Venkatesh Murthy, PhD, the Raymond Leo Erikson Life Sciences Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard and the Paul J. Finnegan Family Director of its Center for Brain Science. Murthys counterpart at NTT Research for the joint project is Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab Research Scientist Gautam Reddy, PhD, who was previously an Independent Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvards NSF-Simons Center for Mathematical and Statistical Analysis of Biology.

This joint research aims to better elucidate how animals maintain the ability to respond appropriately to a wide variety of complex real-world scenarios. The investigators expect the results from one aspect of the research to be a source of new, biologically inspired ideas for artificial reinforcement learning systems that rely on representation learning. Such ideas have played a major role in recent advances in artificial intelligence. Results from another aspect of the research should provide a quantitative understanding of how animals track trails, as well as identify the basic elements of general behavioral strategies that perform flexibly and reliably in the real world. Professor Murthys lab has a long track record in experimental and computational neurobiology. Expertise relevant to the joint research includes the ability to record from or image many individual neurons in the brain while an animal performs behavioral tasks. This technical expertise will enable the research team to understand what computations are performed by biological neural networks when an animal is navigating in a complex world.

Efficient computation is at the heart of quantum computing and neuroscience. Inspired by neuroscience, recent advances in machine learning have recently begun to change how we process data, said PHI Lab Director Yoshihisa Yamamoto, PhD. This joint research project could provide a rich source of animal-inspired algorithms that generalize across various research domains within NTT and inspire truly novel interdisciplinary ideas.

Professor Murthy and Dr. Reddy have previously worked together on understanding the computational principles behind olfaction. Their focus was on how the smell receptors in the nose respond to blends of odorous compounds. As an Independent Fellow at Harvards NSF-Simons Center for Mathematical Biology, Dr. Reddy worked on the theory behind how animals track scent trails and on developing a computational framework to explain how evolution optimizes organisms. I am delighted to continue this line of inquiry with Dr. Reddy through the NTT Research PHI Lab, Murthy said. The brain is an example of an extremely efficient computational device, and plenty of phenomena within it remain unexplored and unexplained. We believe the results of these investigations in neurobiology will reveal basic understandings and prove useful in the field of artificial intelligence.

Gaining insights from neuroscience is an ongoing part of the PHI Labs strategy to redesign artificial computers. In July 2021, for instance, NTT Research announced a joint research agreement with the University of Tokyos International Research Center for Neurointelligence (IRCN) to develop numerical tools and a simulator for the coherent Ising machine (CIM), an information processing platform based on photonics oscillator networks. In October 2020, PHI Lab Director Yamamoto co-authored a paper in Applied Physics Letters (APL) titled, Coherent Ising Machines: Quantum optics and neural network perspectives, which underscored the interdisciplinary nature of the PHI Labs pathbreaking research agenda, which could lead to a new field of study.

In addition to the researchers at Harvard and the University of Tokyo, investigators at eight other universities have agreed to conduct joint research with the NTT Research PHI Lab. These include the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Notre Dame University, Stanford University, Swinburne University of Technology, the University of Michigan and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley and 1QBit, a private quantum computing software company, have also entered joint research agreements with the PHI Lab.

About NTT Research

NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.

NTT and the NTT logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION and/or its affiliates. All other referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners. 2022 NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION

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NTT Research to Collaborate with Researchers at Harvard University on Computational Neurobiology - Business Wire

Neuroscience

Hibbs honored with Hackerman Award for work on structure and function of receptors in the brain – UT Southwestern

Neuroscientist Ryan Hibbs, Ph.D., has been honored for his work on structure and function of receptors in the brain.

DALLAS Jan. 19, 2022 UTSouthwestern structural biologist and neuroscientist Ryan Hibbs, Ph.D., has received a 2022 Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research. The prize recognizes his work investigating the structure and function of receptors on the surfaces of brain cells and how they interact with drugs, such as nicotine or general anesthetics.

Dr. Hibbs, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Biophysicsand a member of the Peter ODonnell Jr. Brain Institute, is one of two Hackerman Award winners this year and the ninth UTSouthwestern researcher to receive the prestigious prize since its establishment in 2002. Dr. Guihua Yu of UT Austin was selected for his work in nanomaterial science.

The Welch Foundation, one of the nations oldest and largest sources of private funding for basic research in chemistry, presents the $100,000 award annually to a rising star at a Texas institution. The award is named after the late Norman Hackerman, Ph.D., an internationally known chemist, former president at UT Austin and Rice University, and longtime Chair of the foundations Scientific Advisory Board.

I was blown away and extremely grateful to find out that I had won one of this years Hackerman Awards. I know some of the previous awardees and their work, and it is an honor to be considered a part of that exceptionally high caliber of scientists, said Dr. Hibbs, an Effie Marie Cain Scholar in Medical Research.

My very first research grant came from The Welch Foundation, and it allowed me to take more risks, hire a postdoctoral fellow, and do more in my lab, but it also gave me assurance that an external committee thought my work was exciting enough to support. The Welch Foundation has been immensely helpful in supporting me financially and giving me confidence to succeed, he added.

The award recognizes Dr. Hibbs important contributions to better understand synaptic ligand-gated ion channels, a type of cell-surface receptor present on neurons. These protein receptors act as locks that are opened by molecular keys, either natural chemicals or synthetic pharmaceuticals. In particular, the Hibbs lab has studied receptors that bind nicotine the addictive component in tobacco as well as general anesthetics and the benzodiazepine class of anti-anxiety drugs. He has also studied receptors that bind natural neurotransmitters.

Ryan Hibbs is clearly one of the rising stars in the structural biology and biophysics of neuronal ionotropic receptors. His recent discoveries solving the structures of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and the GABAA receptor are landmark accomplishments. Perhaps most stunning historically is the structure of the native nicotinic receptor from the fish electric organ, which was the very first neurotransmitter receptor to be described by neuroscience pioneer Jean-Pierre Changeux over 50 years ago, said Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Neuroscience, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator, and holder of the Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience at UTSW.

An important first step in understanding the workings of these channels is to visualize them at high magnification and resolution, Dr. Hibbs explained. He added that UTSouthwesterns decision to invest in a technology known as cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) an imaging system that allows visualization of proteins at the atomic level by freezing them in place has been key to his labs success in this field. Dr. Hibbs wife, Colleen Noviello, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist at UTSouthwestern and has collected most of the cryo-EM data for the Hibbs lab.

Ryan possesses a powerful combination of creativity, fearlessness, technical excellence and superb scientific taste. These have allowed him and his group to determine some of the most important structures in molecular neuroscience, said Michael Rosen, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Biophysics and an HHMI Investigator. Dr. Rosen also holds the Mar Nell and F. Andrew Bell Distinguished Chair in Biochemistry at UTSW. His work has deepened our understanding of basic functions of the brain and opened the door to improved therapeutics for human conditions spanning mental illness to insomnia.

UTSWs eight current and former scientists who received Hackerman Awards include:

About UTSouthwestern Medical Center

UTSouthwestern, one of the nations premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institutions faculty has received six Nobel Prizes and includes 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,800 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UTSouthwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 117,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 3 million outpatient visits a year.

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Hibbs honored with Hackerman Award for work on structure and function of receptors in the brain - UT Southwestern

Neuroscience

This Entrepreneur And Author Says Inner Happiness Should Top Your List – Forbes

To borrow from Aristotle, Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of lifethe whole aim and end of human existence.

For author and entrepreneur Tia Graham happiness is the secret sauce to thriving in business and life.

After she had her second daughter and returned to work as director of sales and marketing at The London West Hollywood Hotel, she was not happy. I was attempting to balance my executive career, motherhood, marriage, friendships, physical health, family, and all else. I felt as if I were failing at all of it, says Graham. I was stressed, overwhelmed, full of guilt, angry, sad and felt stuck.

Tia Graham

While Graham, like many others, had painful and challenging moments in her life before going back to when she was a child, at this moment when she was returning to work, she was particularly unhappy. I thought that maybe it would be my new normal, she shares. I have always been a very positive and optimistic person and have made choices to increase my happiness and well-being. But this thought terrified me.

Being miserable impacted every part of Grahams personal and professional life. At this low point she began researching happiness and the science of happiness. She turned to Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD who taught the popular Positive Psychology course at Harvard University. Graham received a certificate in Happiness Studies and Teaching Happiness Ben-Shahars Happiness Studies Academy. She became certified in neuroscience from The Neuroscience School and is now a speaker and coach at the annual World Happiness Summit.

My neuroscience and positive psychology research gave me the scientific knowledge on why happiness is vital, says Graham. Happiness affects our longevity, relationships, motivation, career and parenting success, creativity, productivity, and more. It connects to everything.

To that end, four years ago Graham made a big career pivot and founded her company Arrive At Happy. With a mission is to inspire transformation through the science of happiness and neuroscience, Graham partners with organizations and leaders to grow their business through a happy, joyful culture.

This month Graham debuted her book, Be a Happy Leader: Stop Feeling Overwhelmed, Thrive Personally, and Achieve Killer Business Results. The book delves into the struggle of feeling overwhelmed and stressed. It offers doable strategies on how to find consistent joy while keeping motivated.

The truth is that our happiness and creating a happy life is an inside job, says Graham. Human connection is the number one predictor of happiness, but there is so much more to it like being resilient, having a healthy relationship with difficult emotions, living with gratitude, learning and growing constantly and giving and helping others. It takes effort and making the ongoing choice to choose to be happy.

Jeryl Brunner: Can you share more how money doesn't make you happy?

Tia Graham: Research shows that wealthy people are happier than less wealthy people. But the degree is a lot smaller than most people would think. A lot of very wealthy people are miserable. Money alone cannot make you happy. What money affords are more choices and time affluence. How you spend your money also contributes to your well-being, like spending on others or experiences rather than material possessions. There is an interesting phenomenon calledThe Hedonic Treadmill from Dr. Martin Seligman. His research shows that once we make a decent living and have all our needs met, a new car or expensive handbag, for example, will give us ahappy high for just three to four months. And then we go back to our resting level of happiness.

Brunner: You write that there are misconceptions about what makes us happy. What are some of those myths?

Graham: One myth is that if you are famous, you will be happier. Another is that when you acquire new material possessions, you will be happier. The research shows that, on average, fame makes us less happy. Another myth is that if you are successful and have a great title, that will make you happy. Another one could be that if you find the love of your life, you will be happy.

Brunner: What inspired you to write Be A Happy Leader?

Graham: I worked as a director of sales and marketing in the luxury hotel industry for 14 years in Hawaii, New York City, Istanbul, and Los Angeles. During that time, I was exposed to motivational and fantastic leaders. I also experienced the exact opposite. I was thrown into a leadership position at 26 years old and always saw leadership as an honor and a big responsibility. I prided myself on being a very positive, supportive, and collaborative leader and created connected, loyal, and successful sales teams.

Over the past five years running my company, Arrive At Happy, I have become certified in positive psychology and applied neuroscience. I created an eight-step methodology to be a happy leader combining my experience and research. A tremendous amount of proven, practical tools exists that all people can use immediately. I knew that I would not be able to reach every person around the world with my talks and leadership programs. My goal is to motivate and educate as many people as possible.

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This Entrepreneur And Author Says Inner Happiness Should Top Your List - Forbes

Neuroscience

Neurorehabilitation Devices Market to Advance at CAGR of 12.5%, Novel Approaches in Gamification through VR to Offer Lucrative Opportunities, Says TMR…

ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Advancements in methods notably FES (functional electrical stimulation) have driven new opportunities in disabling brain disorders particularly in stroke and traumatic brain injury. Gamification are increasingly underpinning advances in neurorehabilitation especially for promoting neuro-motor recovery. A case in point is use of virtual reality (VR) in gamification. The valuation of the neurorehabilitation devices market is projected to reach US$ 3.2 Bn by 2027.

Virtual reality technology and robotic neurorehabilitation have opened a promising avenue for the target population. A number of endpoint robots for the upper extremity rehabilitation have been commercialized, and thus have augmented the revenue sales in the neurorehabilitation devices market.

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Extensive research on neural interfaces and multimodal rehabilitative approaches are expected to pave the way to new revenue streams in the neurorehabilitation devices market. Companies are collaborating with neuroscientists to test new strategies in neurorehabilitation, concurs the TMR study.

Key Findings of Neurorehabilitation Devices Market Study

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Neurorehabilitation Devices Market: Key Drivers

Neurorehabilitation Devices Market: Regional Growth Dynamics

Players are leveraging the synergies of in-licensing and collaboration agreements to unveil innovative products in North America and Europe, assert the analysts scrutinizing lucrative market avenues in the TMR report. The opportunities in the neurorobotic systems and brain stimulators are anticipated to rise rapidly in the next few years, assert the TMR study on the neurorehabilitation devices market.

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North America held a major share of the global neurorehabilitation devices market in 2018. The revenue growth was propelled by the prevalence of various neurological disorders and widespread demand for the products in traumatic brain injuries. The U.S. is projected to contribute sizable revenue shares of the North America neurorehabilitation devices market during the forecast period (20192027). The TMR study estimates the U.S. market to advance at a CAGR of approximately 13% during the period. The adoption of safe neurorehabilitation products is propelling the growth of the market.

Aside from these, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America are expected to be provide new avenues for companies in the neurorehabilitation devices market during the forecast period.

Neurorehabilitation Devices Market: Key Players

Some of the key players in the market are DIH Technologies Corporation, Medtronic plc, Reha Technology AG, Boston Scientific Corporation, Tyromotion GmbH, ReWalk Robotics, Neuro Device Group S.A., Saebo, Inc., Neurostyle Pte Ltd, DIH Technologies Corporation, Ekso Bionics, and Bionik Laboratories Corp.

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Neurorehabilitation Devices Market, by Product

Neurorehabilitation Devices Market, by Application

Neurorehabilitation Devices Market, by Region

Modernization of healthcare in terms of both infrastructure and services have pushed the healthcare industry to new heights, Stay Updated with Latest Healthcare Industry Research Reportsby Transparency Market Research:

Neuroscience Market: Neuroscience market was valued at US$ 28.5 Bn in 2020 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4% from 2021 to 2031. Increase in patient population with neurological disorders such as dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease and advancements in the field of neuro-technology and neuroscience are anticipated to drive the global neuroscience market from 2021 to 2031.

Teleradiology Services Market: The global teleradiology services market was valued over US$ 6.4 Bn in 2020. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of 11% from 2021 to 2031. Shortage of radiologists globally, rise in number of specialty modalities, increase in global geriatric population, and technological advancements in teleradiology are estimated to propel the global teleradiology services market.

Central Lab Market: Central lab market was valued over US$ 2.4 Bn in 2019 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of ~6% from 2020 to 2030. Central labs are designed to provide services for supporting clinical trials for upcoming drugs, genetic testing services for various genetic diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, sickle cell anemia, and microbiology testing services such as testing the kinetics and growth of different microbes.

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Neurorehabilitation Devices Market to Advance at CAGR of 12.5%, Novel Approaches in Gamification through VR to Offer Lucrative Opportunities, Says TMR...

Neuroscience

Points of Blue: Isha Verma, Ph.D., brings global perspective to Michigan Medicine – Michigan Medicine Headlines

For many scientists, the desire to pursue research stems from an early love of learning and an abundance of curiosity and Isha Verma, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute, is no different.

Born and raised in India, Vermas interest in biomedical science began during her elementary school days.

I was always fascinated by the processes of development and disease, Verma said.

As she grew older, that interest grew more specific: I was particularly interested in understanding how aberrations in the normal developmental process can lead to disease manifestation.

This fascination carried through Vermas undergraduate years at Kurukshetra University, in the Indian state of Haryana. Thats where she had her first experience conducting diverse biological research projects, from detecting Rotavirus infection in children to estimating the antioxidant abilities of plant extracts. These early research endeavors, coupled with training experiences at a diagnostic laboratory and a premier vaccine manufacturing institute in India, sparked an appreciation for how basic science discoveries can lead to translational outcomes.

They solidified my interest in pursuing research, particularly in a field with high translational potential, Verma said.

Her passion leads to Ann Arbor

Driven by her research, Verma began her Ph.D. studies at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, where she trained in a lab focused on early mammalian development. There, she had her first foray into stem cell research and she has been hooked ever since.

I started my Ph.D. project on stem cells and completely fell in love with the system, Verma said. Stem cells can form all the cell types found in the human body; they provide a unique model to study development, cell lineage specification and disease progression.

Her graduate research centered on neural differentiation. She also worked to generate a stem cell model of Huntingtons disease.

When it was time to look for a postdoctoral position, Verma sought out opportunities that would satisfy her immense passion for stem cell research, craving for new experiences and a desire to expand her comfort zone.

I wanted to look for postdoctoral opportunities to get further training in stem cell research, specifically stem cell-based neural disease modeling. I also wanted to experience working in a diverse scientific environment, Verma said.

For her, there was no better place in the world than Ann Arbor and Michigan Medicine.

She was drawn to the collaborative environment at U-M and its multiple labs working on different areas of stem cell research. The schools career and professional development opportunities for postdocs were a bonus, offering Verma a chance to network with professionals in various fields and learn from their experiences.

In terms of her research, Verma has stayed true to her stem cell roots. As a member of the Parent Lab, she is studying the genetic underpinnings of epilepsy, a neurological disorder that results in abnormal brain activity and seizures.

Verma noted that, down the line, such research could facilitate the development of personalized treatment therapies for epilepsy patients. One day, she hopes to be on the front lines of this development working as a translational researcher to generate stem cell therapies for managing and treating various neurological disorders.

Varied interests beyond the lab

While Vermas scientific interests are stem cell-centric, her passions beyond the lab are diverse. She enjoys learning about the history and culture of various places, whether by traveling (she particularly likes taking solo adventures) or visiting museums.

Additionally, she has a knack for science communication and teaching. Verma has written articles for multiple media outlets and serves as a course instructor for Developing Future Biologists, an organization that aims to provide fundamental developmental biology training to underserved undergraduate students.

Besides these teaching and writing endeavors, Vermas outreach efforts include improving the training experience of international postdocs at Michigan Medicine. As the chair of the international affairs committee of the U-M Postdoctoral Association (UMPDA), she has spearheaded numerous initiatives geared toward international postdocs, such as organizing visa, financial and grant information seminars.

These experiences have allowed Verma to advocate for and make a difference in the lives of her fellow postdocs.

Ultimately, as she said, her time at Michigan Medicine and working with UMPDA has been an incredible experience: Everyone here has really helped me to develop a community of support.

This is the first in a series of profiles of postdoctoral and graduate students at Michigan Medicine. Stay tuned to Headlines for more in the weeks and months ahead!

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Points of Blue: Isha Verma, Ph.D., brings global perspective to Michigan Medicine - Michigan Medicine Headlines

Neuroscience

Is There Life After Winning a Nobel Prize? – Columbia University

One day in 1996, neuroscientist Eric Kandel, codirector of the Zuckerman Institute, took a call from his program officer at the National Institute of Mental Health, who informed him that he had been awarded a key grant. Also, the officer said, he and his colleagues thought Kandel would win the Nobel Prize.

I hope not soon, Kandels wife, Denise, a professor of sociomedical sciences in psychiatry at theMailman School of Public Health, said when she heard this. Sociologists had found that Nobel Prize winners often did not contribute much more to science after getting their awards, she explained.

In his new book, There Is Life After the Nobel Prize, Kandel recounts his remarkable career since receiving the Nobel in 2000or his experience of proving to his wife that he was not yet completely dead intellectually. He takes readers through his labs scientific advances, including research into how long-term memory is stored in the brain, the nature of age-related memory loss, and the neuroscience of drug addiction and schizophrenia.

Kandel discusses the book with Columbia News, along with what hes reading now and which art exhibitions hes been able to visit during the pandemic.

Q. What inspired you to write this book?

A. I wrote the book because there is a belief among many people, including sociologists of science, that once you win the Nobel Prize, you are so busy celebrating the award that you have a difficult time doing anything further creative in science. I found that this is not quite true; I was still able to be a creative scientist. Writing this book helped me to demonstrate that.

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Is There Life After Winning a Nobel Prize? - Columbia University

Neuroscience

Does Science Disprove Free Will? – Discovery Institute

Photo: Marcelo Gleiser, by Gleiser, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

One of the most disturbing implications of materialism in modern science is the inference that science disproves the existence of free will. Of course, this is not actually the case, but even the mistaken denial of free will has profound and very disturbing implications for our social structure, our criminal justice system, and our way of government. People who are assumed to lack free will are ultimately little more than cattle to be herded and, as philosopherHannah Arendt observed, the denial of free will and the denial of individual responsibility that follows on it is acornerstone of totalitarianism.

AtBig Think,physicist and philosopherMarcelo Gleiser points tothe fallacy that physics and neuroscience disprove free will:

[T]he mind is not a solar system with strict deterministic laws. We have no clue what kinds of laws it follows, apart from very simplistic empirical laws about nerve impulses and their propagation, which already reveal complex nonlinear dynamics. Still, work in neuroscience has prompted a reconsideration of free will, even to the point of questioning our freedom to choose. Many neuroscientists and some philosophers consider free will to be an illusion. Sam Harris, for example, wrote ashort book arguing the case.

The argument against free will is based on several mistaken assertions. The first mistake is that nature is deterministic that changes in the natural world are completely determined by the state of affairs immediately prior to the change, and therefore we cannot make free choices because our choices are determined by our brain state immediately prior to the choice. However, research in physicsinvolving Bells theoremover the past half century clearly indicates that, at the quantum level, nature is not deterministic, at least not in a local sense. Determinism in physics is an erroneous assumption, and therefore any inference that physical determinism disproves free will is based on an erroneous assumption.

The second mistake is a failure to see that the denial of free will is self-refuting. If our thoughts and actions are wholly determined by physical processes, then our thoughts and actions cannot be assertions of truth physical processes are not propositions. If our mental states are wholly determined by our physical brain states, we have no reason to ascribe truth to any mental state.

Gleiser points out a third mistake misinterpretation of neuroscience research on free will.

Read the rest at Mind Matters News, published by Discovery Institutes Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

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Does Science Disprove Free Will? - Discovery Institute

Neuroscience

Assistant Professor in Mental Health (PSYC22-8) job with DURHAM UNIVERSITY | 278855 – Times Higher Education (THE)

Closing Date: 24th February 2022 at Midnight (UK)

The Department of Psychology at Durham University seeks to appoint a talented individual to the role of Assistant Professor. In the current call, we welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of Mental Health. This post offers an exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the development of internationally excellent research and teaching while allowing you unrivalled opportunities to progress and embed your career in an exciting and progressive institution. For more information, please visit our Department pages at https://www.dur.ac.uk/psychology/

The successful applicants will contribute to our undergraduate programme in Psychology, and join one of our expanding research groups in Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology or Quantitative Social Psychology. We are an interdisciplinary department whose current work in the mental health area is spread across our research groups and includes research on Alzheimer's and dementia, pain management, voice hearing and psychosis, anxiety in developmental disorders, solitude, body image and eating disorders, and prison suicide. These research programmes use a variety of methods and facilities including longitudinal developmental studies, cross-cultural research with hard to reach populations, virtual reality social interactions, mixed methods design, electrophysiology, neuroimaging and behavioural neuroscience.

The Department of Psychology is an internationally recognised centre of research excellence and interdisciplinarity across the breadth of psychological and behavioural science. We are currently ranked in the top 100 of Psychology Departments world-wide according to the QS World Rankings. The department's research groups each lead a taught Masters programme, alongside our prestigious undergraduate programme in Psychology and a new undergraduate programme in Behavioural Science. In addition, the department houses a number of University Research Centres which bring in staff from across the department, university, and region to focus on key research issues. The department's broad approach to the discipline places it in an excellent position to take advantage of emerging opportunities and challenges, and our collegiate approach allows staff to work across research areas to provide novel solutions to global problems.

Durham University is one of the world's top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences. The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience. Less than 3 hours north of London, an hour and a half south of Edinburgh, and ten minutes from the centre of Newcastle, County Durham is a region steeped in history and natural beauty. Close to the Northumberland National park and coastline, the Durham Dales, including the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, our University is situated within truly breath-taking scenery and local attractions

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Assistant Professor in Mental Health (PSYC22-8) job with DURHAM UNIVERSITY | 278855 - Times Higher Education (THE)