UT BRAINSTORMS: A Conversation on the Brain

The Department of Neuroscience at the University of Texas at Austin presents UT Brainstorms: A Conversation on the Brain. The purpose of UT Brainstorms is to connect with the community to inform and educate about neuroscience research and the influences it has on our daily lives. We seek a two-way conversation where we share our expertise about the brain and we listen to what it means in people’s lives and to the challenges they face as it relates to the brain.

When: The dates for the 2021 UT Brainstorms Series are listed below. A different topic and faculty speaker will be featured each date. Please check back regularly to learn more about upcoming speakers and topics!

Where: All Brainstorms public outreach events are currently virtual, and will be livestreamed at: Youtube.com/c/UTbrainstorms.

2021 Virtual UT BRAINSTORMS

Live Streamed at: Youtube.com/c/UTbrainstorms

Jonathan Pierce, PhD

The University of Texas at Austin

Department of Neuroscience

The Drunken Brain: A Conversation About How Science Discovers Drug Targets to Unravel Addiction

Thursday, January 21, 2021 7:00 PM Central

WATCH VIDEO HERE ↗

ABOUT

During Jonathan Pierce's graduate career at the University of Oregon, Eugene, he studied the mechanisms for chemotaxis and taste discrimination in the nematode C. elegans with Dr. Shawn Lockery. He then switched to a more medically relevant topic — studying the molecular basis for intoxication by alcohol at University of California at San Francisco medical school. During this time, his elder son was born with Down syndrome. Back then, he was discouraged to find that very little research was being conducted on Down syndrome. Jonathan's son inspired him to study the genetic basis for Down syndrome in his own lab at The University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Here, a vibrant collection of researchers are dedicated to discovering the causes and potential cures for genetic disorders through innovative research.

Michela Marinelli, PhD

The University of Texas at Austin

Department of Neuroscience

The Fooled Brain: A Conversation on How We Are Easily Misled When Processing Information and Making Decisions

How do we navigate scientific information, and how do we know what to believe? This presentation reviews basic principles that allow accurate interpretation of data in a world full of imprecisions, irrationality, and lies. It will tap into notions of behavioral economics, experimental design, & probability/statistics, with a sprinkling of psychology.

Thursday, February 25, 2021 7:00 PM Central

WATCH VIDEO HERE ↗

ABOUT

Michela (Micky) Marinelli is an Associate professor of Neuroscience, in the College of Natural Sciences. She also holds an appointment in the Department of Neurology, and courtesy appointments in the Department of Psychiatry, at Dell Medical School, and the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, in the College of Pharmacy.

Prior to joining UT Austin, Dr. Marinelli was a faculty member at the French equivalent of the NIH: INSERM (2000-2003) and at the Chicago Medical School/Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (2003-2013).

Dr. Marinelli’s research seeks to understand the neurobiological bases of drug addiction, with an emphasis on the biological and environmental factors that enhance susceptibility to addiction. The team uses a “systems approach”, which means they examine and integrate different variables and levels of information to understand how systems work and interact. These variables are studied in rodent models, and they range from the cellular level (neuronal activity, using electrophysiological techniques), to the molecular level (protein expression), to the circuit level (optogenetics and functional neuroanatomy), and to the whole animal level (behavioral studies, such as drug self-administration). Current projects in the lab examine (i) age and sex-differences in the ability to withstand adversity to obtain rewards, (ii) the role of an under-explored brain area (the lateral preoptic area) in reward seeking, and (iii) the interplay between stress and dopamine in mediating addiction liability.

In addition to her research, Dr. Marinelli is invested in service, having served on NIDA’s Board of Scientific Counselors, and on numerous study sections.

Dr. Marinelli is also very involved teaching. She was the Director of the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at Rosalind Franklin University, and she directs and teaches, and taught numerous courses to undergraduate and graduate students as well as to students in health professions (medical, nursing, physician’s assistants, and pharmacy). These include communication skills, interprofessional education, experimental design and data analysis, neurological and psychiatric conditions, neuropharmacology, pharmacology, and physiology.

Harold Zakon, PhD

The University of Texas at Austin

Department of Neuroscience

The Sensing Brain: A Conversation About Animals, and Humans, with Extraordinary Sensory Systems

We detect a fraction of the stimuli around us. Some animals sense stimuli that we cannot: bats use ultrasonic sound, some fish “talk” with electricity, some insects sense the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate. Dr. Zakon will discuss the surprising evolution of color vision in our pets and in us, and he’ll also discuss unique humans who have super-normal color vision.

Thursday, March 25, 2021 7:00 PM Central

WATCH VIDEO HERE ↗

ABOUT

Harold Zakon received his Ph.D. in Neurobiology & Behavior from Cornell University in 1981. He did postdoctoral research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which is part of the University of California at San Diego from 1981-1983. He joined the faculty of the former Zoology Department at the University of Texas in 1983. He was the first Chairman of UT’s Section of Neurobiology (1999-2006) which is now the Dept. of Neuroscience. He has served on grant review panels at the NIH and NSF, editorial boards of a number of scientific journals and advisory boards of scientific societies. He has won awards for his research, such as an NIH Research Career Development Award and a Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, as well as teaching excellence at UT. He has been a director and faculty member of the “Neural Systems and Behavior” (1995-2005) and a faculty member of the “Workshop on Molecular Evolution” (2012) summer courses at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He has been the Chairman of international meetings including the “Gordon Research Conference in Neuroethology” at Oxford University (1999, 2002) and the International Society for Neuroethology (2010, 2018). He holds a position as Adjunct Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. He was a visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge in the UK (2012), the Ludwig Maximilian University and University of Konstanz in Germany (2015, 2017), and the University of Washington, Seattle (2014, 2019). He studies and teaches about the evolution of the brain and brain-related molecules.

Nigel Atkinson, PhD

The University of Texas at Austin

Department of Neuroscience

The Intoxicated Brain: A Conversation About Alcohol, Aggression and Fruit Flies

Thursday, APRIL 22, 2021 7:00 PM Central

RSVP HERE ↗

ABOUT

Nigel Atkinson received his doctoral degree, studying yeast RNA processing, from Hershey Medical Center at Penn State University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied Drosophila neurogenetics and cloned the first example of a BK type Ca2+-activated K+ channel gene.

William Schwartz, M.D.

The University of Texas at Austin

Dell Medical School, Department of Neuroology

Topic TBA

Thursday, May 20, 2021 7:00 PM Central

RSVP HERE ↗

ABOUT

William J. Schwartz is a professor of neurology and associate chair of research and education in the Department of Neurology at Dell Medical School. He is also a professor of integrative biology in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. He practices general neurology and is involved in the mentoring of trainees in basic and clinical neuroscience.

For nearly four decades, he has conducted NIH-funded research on biological clocks and especially on the “master” brain clock in the mammalian hypothalamus. He was elected chair of the Gordon Conference on Chronobiology (1993), president of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (2004-2006) and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Biological Rhythms (2014-2019). He delivered the plenary lecture of the founding congress of the Japanese Society of Chronobiology (1994), the 9th Pittendrigh/Aschoff Lecture of the SRBR (2014) and the 5th J. Ariëns Kappers Lecture of the European Biological Rhythms Society (2017). At Dell Med, he is working on the development of interdisciplinary courses at the intersection of biology and medicine for UT Austin undergraduates and the approach to patients with neurological disease for Dell Med students and residents. In 2020, he was inducted as a member of the Dell Med Academy of Distinguished Educators.

After completing his M.D. and neurology residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health, he served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Massachusetts before his current position. Since 2005, he has been awarded invited professorships for terms at universities in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, New Zealand, Japan and the United States.

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2020-21 Series

August 27, 2020: The eLearning Brain: A Conversation about Socializing and Connecting in Virtual Classrooms, Dr. Kristin Patterson
October 15, 2020: 2020 Stresses on the Brain: A Conversation on the Neuroscience of Studying and Focusing in a Challenging Time, Dr. Michael Mauk
November 12, 2020: The COVID Brain: A Conversation About How COVID May Impact Our Brain Health, Dr. Esther Melamed

2019-20 Series

September 6, 2019: The Floating Brain: A Conversation about Navagation, Memory, and Weightlessness in Space, Dr. James Knierim
October 12, 2019: The Parkinson's Brain: A Conversation about Brain Circuits, OScillations and Deep Brain Stimulation, Dr. Charles Wilson
November 16, 2019: The Embodied Brain: A Conversation about Intersecting Physical and Mental Health, Dr. Marisa Toups
December 5, 2019: The Remembering Brain: A Conversation About How Memory Contributes to Children and Adults’ Ability to Navigate the World, Acquire New Knowledge, and Imagine Their Future, Drs. Christine Coughlin, Hannah Roome, and Nicole Varga
January 24, 2020: The Student Brain: A Conversation about the Neuroscience Behind Effective Studying, Dr. Michael Mauk
February 15, 2020: The Cyberman Brain: A Conversation about Mind Control, Dr. Boris Zemelman
March 7, 2020: The Ancient Brain: A Conversation about How Our Brains Evolved, Dr. Harold Zakon
May 28, 2020: The Threatened Brain: A Conversation about the Neuroscience of Stress and Resilience, Dr. Michael Drew
July 23, 2020: COVID on the Brain: A Conversation about Viruses, Pandemics and Vaccines, Dr. Daniel Leahy

2018-19 Series

September 29, 2018: The Craving Brain: A Conversation about Vulnerability to Drug Addiction, Dr. Micky Marinelli
October 18, 2018: The Developing Brain: A Conversation about Learning During Childhood & Adolescence, Dr. Alison Preston
November 10, 2018: The Inflamed Brain: A Conversation about Immune Responses, Addiction, Depression & PTSD, Dr. R. Adron Harris
December 13, 2018: The Artificial Brain: A Conversation about Brains, Computers, and Artificial Minds, Dr. Michael Mauk
January 19, 2019: The Curious Brain: A Conversation about How Basic Neuroscience Research Can Have Unexpected Clinical Relevance, Dr. Alex Huk
February 21, 2019: The Distracted Brain: A Conversation about Attention, Memory, and ... Uh, I Forget, Dr. Jarrod Lewis-Peacock
March 23, 2019: The Diminishing Brain: A Conversation about the Search for a Cure for Alzheimer's Disease, Dr. Michael Mauk
April 18, 2019: The Regenerating Brain: A Conversation about how Growing New Neurons Relates to Learning, Anxiety and Depression, Dr. Michael Drew
May 9, 2019: The Listening Brain: A Conversation about our Sonic World, Music and Hearing Impairments, Dr. Nace Golding

2017-18 Series

September 16, 2017: The Forgetting Brain, A Conversation about Memory, Alzheimer's, and Other Memory Disorders, Dr. Michael Mauk
October 14, 2017: The Miswired Brain, A Conversation about Autism, Dr. Audrey Brumback
November 9, 2017: The Eloquent Brain, A Conversation about Language and Thought, Dr. Alexander Huth
January 27, 2018: The Addicted Brain, A Conversation about Alcohol and Drug Addiction, Dr. Robert Messing
February 15, 2018: The Frightened Brain, A Conversation about Fear and Anxiety, Dr. Michael Drew
March 24, 2018: The Plastic Brain, A Conversation about Learning and Memory, Dr. Laura Colgin
April 21, 2018: The Vulnerable Brain, A Conversation about Predisposition to Alzheimer's and Other Neurological Disorders, Dr. Jonathan Pierce
May 17, 2018: The Electrical Brain, A Conversation about Neural Signaling and Epilepsy, Dr. MacKenzie Howard
June 9, 2018: The Broken Brain: A Conversation about How Brain Damage Informs Us About Brain Function, Dr. Michael Mauk

Updates

Brainstorms

UT BRAINSTORMS: A Conversation on the Brain

2021 Virtual UT BRAINSTORMS

Live Streamed at: Youtube.com/c/UTbrainstorms

The Drunken Brain: A Conversation About How Science Discovers Drug Targets to Unravel Addiction

Thursday, January 21, 2021 7:00 PM Central

ABOUT

The Fooled Brain: A Conversation on How We Are Easily Misled When Processing Information and Making Decisions

Thursday, February 25, 2021 7:00 PM Central

ABOUT

The Sensing Brain: A Conversation About Animals, and Humans, with Extraordinary Sensory Systems

Thursday, March 25, 2021 7:00 PM Central

ABOUT

The Intoxicated Brain: A Conversation About Alcohol, Aggression and Fruit Flies

Thursday, APRIL 22, 2021 7:00 PM Central

ABOUT

Topic TBA

Thursday, May 20, 2021 7:00 PM Central

ABOUT

PAST UT BRAINSTORMS

2020-21 Series

2019-20 Series

2018-19 Series

2017-18 Series

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