Brain Awareness 2005! Schedule of Events

Programs for Everyone:

Brain Blast! Family Fun at the Adventure Science Center
Saturday, March 5, 2005, 11 am – 3 pm
Adventure Science Center
800 Fort Negley Blvd., Nashville

Come to the Adventure Science Center and enjoy a variety of hands-on activities led by Vanderbilt neuroscience undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.

Brain Blast is free, but participants must pay the museum entry fee.

Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, the Middle Tennessee Chapter Society for Neuroscience and the Adventure Science Center

7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
1st TN Conference Center/Vanderbilt Children's Hosp. Theater
"Insights into the Neurobiology and Pathophysiology of Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome" (Flyer - HERE)

Hannah Kinney, M.D.
Department of Neurology
Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a leading cause of mortality in infants. How and why it strikes is beginning to be understood.

Refreshments immediately following the presentation

Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Department of Pediatrics, the Vanderbilt Center for Molecular Neuroscience and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute

Parking is available in the South Parking Garage, 2200 Children's Way, at no charge.

7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Adventure Science Center
800 Fort Negley Blvd., Nashville
"Genes, Parents and Brain Development" (Flyer - HERE)

Michael Meaney, Ph.D.
Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery
McGill University

Remarkable new evidence suggests that mother-infant interactions influence subsequent behavior and brain chemistry in the adult

Refreshments immediately following the presentation

Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and the Adventure Science Center

Brain Awareness Keynote Address/
Neuroscience Student Organization Invited Speaker
The Shape of Minds to Come (Flyer - HERE)

Wednesday, March 30, 4 pm
103 Wilson Hall
"Brain Plasticity Contributing to Human Impairment and to Neurologically Corrective Rehabilitation"

Michael Merzenich, Ph.D.
Department of Otolaryngology
University of California, San Francisco

Changes in the functional architecture of the brain are critical to how we learn; respond to injury and possibly, the key to new therapeutics. Dr. Merzenich, a pioneer in the field of cortical plasticity, relates new findings in the field and their significance for new therapies.

Neuroscience Graduate Student Sponsored Reception immediately following the presentation

Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Neuroscience Student Organization, the Vanderbilt Center for Integrative andCognitive Neuroscience, and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute

Parking is available in spaces 52-170 at the Wesley Place Garage on 21st Avenue South and Scarritt Place at standard Central Parking rate

Family Ties in Brain Disorders
Thursday, March 31st

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
241 MRL/Kennedy Center
"Autism and Families: Genes and Environment” (Flyer - HERE)

Susan E. Folstein, M.D.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Johns Hopkins University

Defects in a variety of genes expressed in the brain during development have been linked to autism. This genetic heterogeneity may explain individual differences in core characteristics and developmental profiles.

Refreshments immediately following the presentation

Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Center for Human Genetics Research, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute

Parking is available in spaces 52-170 at the Wesley Place Garage on 21st Avenue South and Scarritt Place at standard Central Parking rates

Hard copies of the Brain Awareness 2005! brochure & posters are available by request. For more information, call 615-936-2637, email: brain.institute@vanderbilt.edu, or drop by our main office at U1205 Medical Center North (Learned Labs) during working hours.