Neuroscience Seminar Series Academic Year 2022-2023

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Angelique Bordey is Rothberg professor of neurosurgery and professor of cellular & molecular physiology at Yale School of Medicine. The key research aims are: understand how a circuit is formed from neural stem cells to synaptic integration in health and in developmental mTORopathies, prevent lesion formations and associated neurological symptoms in TSC and similar developmental mTORopathies, and understand the molecular basis of cognitive dysfunctions in TSC. Seminar title: "Understanding the Mechanisms of Epilsepsy and Neurological Deficits in mTORpathies." Faculty host: Xiaolong Jiang, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology, Baylor College of Medicine, and investigator in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Lan Luan is an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Her research focuses on the development of multimodal neural interfaces that combine the state-of-art electrical, optical and other technologies to monitor and manipulate brain activity. Seminar title: "Ultraflexible Neural Electrodes for bi-directional, long-lasting interface in the CNS." Faculty host: Xaq Pitkow, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Nuo Li is an associate professor of Neuroscience and McNair Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine. The focus of Dr. Li's research is in understanding fundamental principles of how brain-wide circuits encode and maintain information, and how interactions across multiple brain regions allow the brain to prepare and initiate voluntary movements. These studies have provided important insights into how voluntary movements are internally generated and where and how engrams of movements are stored in the brain. Seminar title: “Multi-Regional Circuits for Volitional Movements." Faculty host: Paul Pfaffinger, Ph.D., Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine.

11 a.m. in N-315, Alkek Auditorium (also streamed via Zoom). Dr. Ukpong Eyo is an assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Virginia. Research in the Eyo Lab is focused on understanding microglial activity in neurodevelopment and neurodevelopmental pathologies. Seminar title: "Microglial roles in physiology and pathology." Seminar host: Melanie Samuel, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience and the Huffington Center on Aging at Baylor College of Medicine.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Maura Boldrini is associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia Medical College, Director of the Human Brain Biology Institute (Brain QUANT), and the Human Neurobiology laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her research focuses on understanding underlying mechanisms of behavioral, cognitive and emotional changes associated with brain diseases. Seminar title: "Multiome biosignatures of depression in human hippocampus." Faculty host: Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, M.D. Ph.D., associate professor of Pediatrics, Neurology and of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and Investigator in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Sandeep Datta is a professor of neurobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School. The Datta lab wishes to address how the brain uses sensation to inform action, how the brain uses action to more effectively sense the world, and how the brain integrates information about sensation and action to meaningfully interact with the environment. Seminar title: "Spontaneous Behavior is Structured by Reinforcement without Reward." Faculty host: Benjamin Arenkiel, Ph.D., professor of Molecular and Human Genetics and of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, and Investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Institute at Texas Children's Hospital.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek. Dr. Francois St-Pierre is an assistant professor in the Departments of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Seminar title: "Evolving Fluorescent Indicators to Monitor Neuronal Voltage Dynamics in Vivo." Dr. St-Pierre's seminar is hosted by Dr. Paul Pfaffinger, professor and Chair of the Neuroscience Department and Dr. Melanie Samuel, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology, Department of Neuroscience and the Huffington Center on Aging, Baylor College of Medicine. 

11 a.m. in N-315 Alkek Auditorium. Dr. Jennifer Groh is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Research in the Groh laboratory concerns how sensory and motor systems work together, and how neural representations play a combined role in sensorimotor and cognitive processing (embodied cognition). Seminar title: “Computing the Location(s) of Sound(s) in the Visual Scene.” Faculty host: Xaq Pitkow, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience and the Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence at Baylor College of Medicine and Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. 

This seminar was cancelled.

11 a.m. in N-315 Alkek Auditorium. Dr. Mingshan Xue is an assistant professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Molecular & Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and Caroline DeLuca Scholar in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital. Seminar title: "Building a Path Towards Genetic Therapies for Neurodevelopmental Disorders Faculty." Faculty host: Dr. Paul Pfaffinger, professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. 

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek.  Dr. Karen Zito, Ph.D., is a professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior at the University of California Davis. Research in the Zito laboratory is focused on investigating how neural circuit connections are formed during development, and how they are refined by experience and altered in disease. Specifically, we have been investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the growth, stabilization, functional maturation, and elimination of dendritic spines and their associated synapses in health and disease. Seminar title: "Role of Ion Flux-Independent NMDA Receptor Signaling in Synaptic Plasticity and Disease.”  Faculty host: Dr. Kimberley Tolias, Professor of Neuroscience and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek. Dr. Viviana Gradinaru is a professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering and the Director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Combining neuroscience, protein engineering, and data science, the Gradinaru Laboratory at Caltech has produced microbial opsins that are tolerated by mammalian cells and viral capsids capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier in adult mammals, which could enable high-precision, minimally invasive repair of diseased nervous systems. Seminar title: "Getting Across Barriers: Gene Delivery Across the Blood-Brain Barrier for Precise and Minimally-Invasive Study and Repair of Nervous Systems.”  Dr. Gradinaru’s seminar is hosted by Francois St-Pierre, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. 

11 a.m. in N-315 Alkek Auditorium. Dr. Kymberly Young is an associate professor of psychiatry at University of Pittsburg. The Biological Affect Modulation (BAM) lab is devoted to understanding onset and recovery from emotional disorders, such as depression and anxiety, with a specific focus on developing new neuroscience-derived behavioral treatments, including real-time fMRI neurofeedback. Seminar title: "Real-Time fMRI amygdala neurofeedback for major depressive disorder: Progress and Challenges." Faculty host: Dorina Papageorgiou, Ph.D., assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University.

11 a.m. in N-315 Alkek Auditorium. Dr. Jay Henning is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Harvard University, in the Lab of Dr. Sam Gershman. His research focuses on understanding how populations of neurons modify their activity during learning, in domains spanning sensory, cognitive, and motor systems. Seminar Title: “Neural Representations of Learning and Uncertainty: Bridging Theory and Data.” Faculty Host: Dr. Jeffrey Yau, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.   

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek. Dr. Kevin Staley is the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Child Neurology and Mental Retardation at Harvard Medical School and the Chief of the section of Child Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. The lab has a longstanding interest in signaling by the neurotransmitter GABA. GABA signals are carried by anion currents that are uniquely reversible.  The lab studies how and why these signals reverse, how these reversals may engender seizures; and how the direction of GABA currents can be manipulated to prevent seizures. Translational efforts include studies of ion and fluid shifts that underlie brain swelling and seizures after injury.  These studies form the basis of a just-published trial of the chloride transport inhibitor bumetanide for neonatal seizures (clinicaltrials.gov #NCT00830531).  The lab’s other major interest is in the mechanisms by which epileptic activity is initiated and spread through neural networks.  Computational models are being tested using new imaging and optical stimulation methods.

Seminar Title:  “New Fluorophores Illuminate Old Problems in Translational Neuroscience.”  Faculty Host: Hsiao-Tuan Chao, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Pediatrics-Division of Neurology and Developmental, Neuroscience, and of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor of College of Medicine, and Investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital. 

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek. Dr. Guohong Cui is a Principal Investigator and Head of the In Vivo Neurobiology Group in the Neurobiology Laboratory at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).  The In Vivo Neurobiology Group aims to synthesize task-specific neural activity maps in the normal brain and in animal models of neurological disorders.  Seminar title: “New Methods for Investigating and Treating Parkinson’s Disease.”  Seminar Host:  Mingshan Xue, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and Caroline DeLuca Scholar in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.  

11 a.m. in N-315, Alkek Auditorium (also streamed via Zoom). Dr. Adam Kepecs is the Robert J. Terry professor of neuroscience and professor of psychiatry at the Washington University School of medicine in St. Louis. the Kepecs Lab seeks to understand the neurobiological and computational principles underlying cognition and decision-making and apply these insights to biological psychiatry. Seminar title: "Reverse engineering confidence: from neural circuits to psychiatry." Seminar host: Matthew McGinley, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

11 a.m. in N-315, Alkek Auditorium (also streamed via Zoom). Dr. Amy Orsborn is a Clare Boothe Luce assistant professor in electrical & computer engineering and bioengineering at the University of Washington. She works at the intersection of engineering and neuroscience to develop therapeutic neural interfaces. Seminar title: "Using neural interfaces to probe sensorimotor learning & control." Seminar host: Jeffrey Yau, Ph.D., associate professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.

11 a.m. in M112 Auditorium, DeBakey (also streamed via Zoom). Dr. George Dragoi is an associate professor of psychiatry and of neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. He studies the neurophysiological basis of the organization of hippocampal neurons into cellular assemblies and their dynamic grouping during novel spatial exploration and in response to long-term synaptic plasticity. Current research focuses on the role of neuronal activity and prior experience in cellular assembly organization and animal learning with implications for our better understanding of neuropsychiatric diseases. Seminar title: "Ontogeny and syntax of a memory system." Dr. Dragoi's is hosted by neuroscience postdocs, represented by Ahmet Uysal, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate in the lab of Dr. Daoyun Ji.

11 a.m. in N-315, Alkek Auditorium (also streamed via Zoom). Dr. Jean-Pierre Roussarie is an assistant professor of anatomy & neurobiology in the Center for Systems Neuroscience at Boston University. The Roussarie lab is interested in deciphering the molecular events leading to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. Seminar title: "Molecular Dissection of selective neuronal vulnerability in Alzheimer's disease." Seminar host: Joanna Jankowsky, Ph.D., professor in the Departments of Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine.

11 a.m. in N-315, Alkek Auditorium (also streamed via Zoom). Dr. Dritan Agalliu is an associate professor of pathology and cell biology in the Department of Neurology at Columbia University. Research in the Agalliu laboratory is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate formation of the blood-brain barrier in the central nervous system and the mechanisms of barrier breakdown in a variety of CNS diseases such as stroke and autoimmune diseases having symptoms that include blood-brain barrier failure. Seminar title: "Mechanisms of Angiogenesis and Neurovascular Barrier Development, Breakdown and Repair in the Central Nervous System." Seminar host: Hyun Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Section of Neurology, and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, and member of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

11 a.m. in N-315, Alkek Auditorium (also streamed via Zoom). Dr. Subhojit Roy is a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego. The broad interest of the Roy Lab is to explore movement in neurons – mechanisms that convey, deposit, and retain cargoes in axons, dendrites and synapses. A related interest is to manipulate trafficking-pathways for therapeutics in neurodegenerative diseases (particularly gene- and CRISPR- based therapies). Seminar title: "Biogenesis and Trafficking of Endocytic and Cytoskeletal proteins." Seminar host: Matthew Rasband, Ph.D., professor and Vivian L. Smith Endowed Chair in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Jennifer Groh's seminar on Nov0 4, 2022 was rescheduled to March 31, 2023. 

11 a.m. in N-315 Alkek Auditorium (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Jennifer Groh is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Research in the Groh laboratory concerns how sensory and motor systems work together, and how neural representations play a combined role in sensorimotor and cognitive processing (embodied cognition). Seminar title: To be Announced. Faculty host: Xaq Pitkow, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience and the Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence at Baylor College of Medicine and Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University.

Dr. Kymberly Young's seminar on Nov. 11, 2022 was rescheduled to May 5, 2023. 

11 a.m. in N-315 Alkek Auditorium (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Kymberly Young is an associate professor of psychiatry at University of Pittsburg. The Biological Affect Modulation (BAM) lab is devoted to understanding onset and recovery from emotional disorders, such as depression and anxiety, with a specific focus on developing new neuroscience-derived behavioral treatments, including real-time fMRI neurofeedback. Seminar title: "Real-Time fMRI amygdala neurofeedback for major depressive disorder: Progress and Challenges." Faculty host: Dorina Papageorgiou, Ph.D., assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. 

11 a.m. in N-315 Alkek Auditorium (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Catherine Collins is an associate professor of molecular, cellular & developmental biology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. The lab is currently moving to the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University. The Collins lab is interested in the cellular mechanisms that neurons use to alter synaptic structure in response to environmental and developmental cues. Of particular interest is the cell biology of signaling within axons, which connect neurons to distant parts of the brain and body. Seminar title: "Circuit plasticity and inflammation gated by a conserved axonal damage signaling pathway." Faculty host: Trent Watkins, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Yarimar Carrasquillo is an investigator in the Pain and Integrative Neuroscience Branch of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the National Institutes of Health. Her research program is focused on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the physiological sensation of pain as well as the alterations that occur at the cellular and circuit levels that lead to pathological pain states. Seminar title: "Cells and Circuits for Pain Modulation in the Amygdala.” This seminar is hosted by neuroscience graduate students, represented by Caleb Wood (class of 2017) who trains in Dr. Joanna Jankowski’s lab and Sarah Donofrio (class of 2019) in Dr. Roy Sillitoe's lab.