Neuroscience Seminar Series Academic Year 2022-2023

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". This seminar 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 November 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 November 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 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. The lab is currently moving to the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University. 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 Jankowsky’s lab and Sarah Donofrio (class of 2019) in Dr. Roy Sillitoe's lab. 

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: To be Announced. Faculty host: Xiaolong Jiang, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology, Baylor College of Medicine, and researcher 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. 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: To be Announced. Faculty host: Paul Pfaffinger, Ph.D., Professor and nterim Chair in the Departments of Neuroscience at 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: To be Announced. 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: To be Announced. 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: To be Announced. 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 (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Robert Gereau is the vice chair for research, chief of the Washington University Pain Center, and Dr. Seymour & Rose T. Brown professor of anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The mission of the Gereau Lab is to develop new therapies to reduce chronic pain and its impact on quality of life. Seminar title: To be Announced. Faculty host: Kara Marshall, Ph.D., assistant professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and faculty member at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Institute at Texas Children's Hospital.

11 a.m. in N-315 Auditorium in Alkek (and streamed by Zoom). Dr. Michael Dyer is a professor and chair of the Developmental Neurobiology Department, co-Leader of the Developmental Biology & Solid Tumor Program and Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The Dyer Lab examines the coordination of proliferation and differentiation during development and disease, exploring the bridge between developmental and cancer biology, concentrating efforts on two major areas of research: retinal development and disease and improving outcomes for children with solid tumors. Seminar title: To be Announced. Faculty host: Elizabeth Zuniga-Zanchez, Ph.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.