Neuroscientists Talk Shop

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 David  Weiss, (Professor & Chair Dept of Physiology, University of Texas  Health Sciences Center - San Antonio) talks about modeling GABA receptor structure and function via fluorescence spectroscopy. Duration: 44 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res. Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, April 9, 2009 Sridhar  Raghavachari, (Assistant Professor of Neurobiology, Duke University  Medical Center) talks about the breakdown of stochasticity in PSD  nanodomains. Duration: 39 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res. Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Rama Ratnam (Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, March 5, 2009 Nick  Spitzer (Professor & Co-director, Kavli Institute for Brain and  Mind at UCSD) discusses stimulus-driven neurotransmitter specification  in the dopamine system, and how calcium, electrical activity and  experience can rewire the brain. Duration: 55 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Gary Gaufo (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, February 19, 2009 Stephen  DeArmond, (Professor, UCSF School of Medicine) talks about his  pioneering work on the pathogenesis of prion-related neurodegenerative  disease. Duration: 42 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Gary Gaufo (Asst Prof, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) George Perry (Dean & Professor, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res. Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, February 12, 2009 Fred  Dick, (Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, Birkbeck College,  University of London) talks about current approaches to studying speech  and language, and discusses his fMRI studies of plasticity in audiomotor  areas strongly associated with speech. Duration: 55 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Salma Quraishi (Res. Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Nicole Wicha (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, January 29, 2009 Jian-Young Wu (Professor, Georgetown University Medical Center) discusses the use of voltage-sensitive dyes to visualize patterns of population electrical activity in the cortex. Duration: 42 minutes Discussants: (in alphabetical order) Salma Quraishi (Res Asst Prof, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, January 22, 2009 Richard  Palmiter (Professor, HHMI Investigator, University of Washington School  of Medicine) discusses the biological basis of motivational behavior,  and ends with a personal account of the early days of transgenic  technology. Duration: 51 minutes Discussants: (in alphabetical order) Gary Gaufo (Asst Prof, UTSA Salma Quraishi (Res Asst Prof, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Rama Ratnam (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, January 15, 2009 Michael Ryan (Professor, University of Texas at Austin) discusses sexual selection and communication in tungara frogs. Duration: 32 minutes Discussants: (in alphabetical order) Michael Farries (Post-doc, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Rama Ratnam (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, October 30, 2008 Elizabeth Torres (Assistant Professor, Rutgers University New Brunswick) discusses internal models in sensory-motor integration. Duration: 32 minutes Discussants: (in alphabetical order) Gary Gaufo (Asst Prof, UTSA Salma Quraishi (Res Asst Prof, UTSA) Rama Ratnam (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Nicole Wicha (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, October 23, 2008 Gary  Westbrook (Co-director Vollum Institute, OHSU) talks about science  publishing, and muses on organizing principles in the CNS. Duration: 38 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Gary Gaufo (Asst Prof, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res Asst Prof, UTSA) Nicole Wicha (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, October 2, 2008 Greg  Macleod, (Assistant Professor, Dept of Physiology, UTHSCSA) talks about  mitochondrial mechanisms contributing to neuronal calcium homeostasis  in the Drosophila model. Duration: 35 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, September 25, 2008 Bard  Ermentrout, (University Professor, Dept of Mathematics, University of  Pittsburgh) talks about synchrony and oscillations in networks,  biological applications of math, (from mescaline induced seizures to  firefly mating behavior) and muses on the "how" vs "why" in mathematical  biology. Duration: 49 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Jim Bower (Professor, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res. Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 Mark Bevan, (Associate Professor, Dept of Physiology, Northwestern  University) describes and comments on the classic model of basal ganglia  function. Duration: 40 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Chris Deister (PhD student, UTSA) Ramana Dodla (Fellow, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res. Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 Tim  Lewis, (Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of  California, Davis) talks about mathematical analysis of neuronal  synchrony, and the theory of weakly-coupled oscillators. Duration: 44 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Ramana Dodla (Fellow, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, September 4, 2008 Michael  Mauk, (Professor of Neurobiology, Center for Learning and Memory,  University of Texas at Austin) talks about timing, prediction, and  mechanisms of information processing in cerebellar models of motor  learning. Duration: 49 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Res. Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 William Armstrong, (Professor & Director, Neurosciences Institute, The University of Tennessee College of Medicine)  talks about vasopressin and oxytocin secreting neurons of the  hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system in a discussion hosted by Charles  Wilson. Duration: 54 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, April 24, 2008 Patricia Janak, (Principal Investigator, Ernest Gallo Instute - UCSF)  discusses theories of amygdala function, cue-reward learning and its  neural correlates in a discussion hosted by Salma Quraishi. Duration: 41 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Brian Derrick (Assoc Prof, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Research Coord, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, April 17, 2008 David Linden, (Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) discusses reductionism, cerebellar learning and plasticity in a discussion hosted by Salma Quraishi. Duration: 59 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Gary Gaufo (Asst Prof, UTSA) Michael Farries (Post-doc, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Research Coord, UTSA) Rama Ratnam (Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Monday, April 14, 2008 2007 Nobel Laureate Mario Capecchi, (co-Chair, Dept of Human Genetics, University of Utah) discusses the impact of his seminal gene targeting work on the future of neuroscience in a discussion hosted by Gary Gaufo. Additional Links: Nobel Lecture Capecchi Laboratory Duration: 58 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Edwin Barea-Rodriguez (Assoc Prof, UTSA) Gary Gaufo (Asst Prof, UTSA) Brian Derrick (Assoc Prof, UTSA) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Research Coord, UTSA) Rama Ratnam (Asst Prof, UTSA) Todd Troyer (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 Jennifer Morgan, (Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin)  provides an overview and shares her perspectives on the "kiss and run"  vs collapse models of synaptic vesicle recycling in a discussion hosted  by Salma Quraishi. Duration:  58 minutes Discussants:(in alphabetical order) Carlos Paladini (Asst Prof, UTSA) Salma Quraishi (Research Coord, UTSA) Rama Ratnam (Asst Prof, UTSA) Fidel Santamaria (Asst Prof, UTSA) Charles Wilson (Prof, UTSA) acknowledgement: R Ratnam for generous loan of recording equipment; JM Tepper for original music.