UCI MIND Seminar Series: Omonigho M. Bubu, PhD
2021-12-02 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Amyloid and Tau Burden, and Alzheimer’s Disease Time-Dependent Progression
Guest Speaker: Omonigho M. Bubu, PhD

Dr. Bubu is an Assistant Professor and physician scientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in the Departments of Psychiatry and Population Health, with a highly impactful programmatic research focus on sleep, aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in blacks. He did his Ph.D. from University of South Florida and a postdoctoral fellow at NYU. Dr. Bubu was awarded an NIA funded Columbia Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Alzheimer’s disease Disparities Pilot grant to conduct original research on the interaction of obstructive sleep apnea and race on plasma tau, and neurofilament light protein. Dr. Bubu’s research focuses on examining how micro-and-macro architectural sleep changes, and vascular risk, impact AD risk in blacks. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with multifactorial risk factors. Recent evidence implicates disturbed sleep as an important risk factor. This presentation will include evidence implicating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as a risk factor for AD, as a physiologic marker associated with AD pathology/biomarkers (i.e. amyloid and tau), and as a modifier of AD risk. Results from our recent study examining whether OSA has a direct neurotoxic effect that is independent of amyloid or tau, sufficient to induce a prospective clinical diagnosis of cognitive decline, and whether OSA’s indirect effect that promotes amyloid or tau accumulation, combine with OSA to act synergistically to significantly increase AD progression risk will be presented. OSA’s association with novel plasma AD biomarkers, race and sex specific mechanisms underlying OSA-AD risk as well as future research directions will also be discussed.

For questions, contact vswarup@uci.edu and bmander@hs.uci.edu

UCI MINDcast | What is Parkinson's Disease?
2021-12-02 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Join Claire Henchcliffe, MD, DPhil, Stanley van den Noort Professor and Chair of Neurology, UCI School of Medicine on Thursday, December 2 @ 12 PM PT for a live discussion and Q&A. Bring your questions! See you this Thursday on Facebook & YouTube LIVE.

Embodiology®: From Ancestral Movement-Music Practices to Phenomenal Being
2021-12-02 13:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Embodiology®: From Ancestral Movement-Music Practices to Phenomenal Being
A Neuro-Arts Symposium Led by Professor S. Ama Wray and Professor Michael Yassa
When: Dec. 2, 1-2:15 pm and 7-8:30 pm PDT
Where: The Herklotz Conference Center

James L. McGaugh Distinguished Lecture: "A Motor Theory of Sleep Control", Guest Speaker: Yang Dan Ph.D.
2021-12-07 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Join us Tuesday, December 7th, 2021 for a James L. McGaugh Distinguished Lecture: “A Motor Theory of Sleep Control”, Guest Speaker: Yang Dan Ph.D. from the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology at University of California Berkeley.
Hybrid Event
Note: this event will be held virtually via Zoom and In-Person in the Herkltoz Conference Room

Abstract
To identify neurons involved in sleep generation, we have performed whole-brain screening for sleep active and sleep promoting neurons. Sleep is controlled by a highly distributed network spanning the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain, and most sleep neurons are part of the central somatic and autonomic motor circuits. The intimate association between the sleep and the two motor control networks suggests that a primary function of sleep is to promote biological processes incompatible with movement.

CNCM Seminar: Dr. Guang Yang
2021-12-07 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
In vivo studies of pain-related changes of neuronal activity in the peripheral and central nervous system
Please join the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping in a virtual seminar featuring, Dr. Guang Yang of Columbia University.

Conte Center Seminar Series - Thomas Kash PhD
2022-01-11 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Join us Tuesday, January 11th, 2022 for a Conte Center@UCI Seminar: “Probing the Role of Serotonin in Alcohol Use Disorders”, Guest Speaker: Thomas L. Kash PhD from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Pascal Kaeser, MD
2022-01-13 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Mechanisms for Fast Dopamine Signaling
Please join the UCI School of Medicine Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology for a virtual seminar featuring, Pascal Kaeser, MD, Associate Professor of Neurobiology of Harvard Medical School.

CNLM Colloquium with Melissa Sharpe, Ph.D.
2022-01-25 11:00 - 12:00 UTC | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
The CNLM will be hosting, Dr. Melissa Sharpe, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles in a colloquium where she will be presenting her latest research.
This year, the series will be held in a virtual format with some speakers presenting in-person as well. We will keep registered participants updated on the possibility of an in-person event as the situation with COVID-19 evolves.

The finding that dopamine neurons support intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) has been taken to suggest that phasic firing of dopamine neurons is reinforcing. This is one of the last findings preventing a move away from the value hypothesis of dopamine. Yet there are almost no studies investigating the cognitive basis of ICSS. We tested how dopamine stimulation is represented in the brain during ICSS. We found that physiological frequencies did not support robust ICSS or promote behavior that would indicate the stimulation was represented as a meaningful reward in a specific or general sense. However, supraphysiological frequencies supported robust ICSS and this was associated with a representation of the stimulation as a specific sensory event that was capable of acting as a goal to motivate behavior. This demonstrates that dopamine neurons only support ICSS at supraphysiological frequencies, and in a manner that does not reflect our subjective experience with endogenous firing of dopamine neurons during learning. These data provide important considerations for the interpretation of ICSS when used to interrogate the physiological function of dopamine and other neuronal populations.

CNCM Seminar: Dr. Joshua Trachtenberg
2022-01-25 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Please join the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping in a seminar featuring Dr. Joshua Trachtenberg of UCLA.
For more information, please visit: https://cncm.som.uci.edu/seminars/

What Matters to Me & Why: Leslie M. Thompson, PhD
2022-01-25 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
2021-22 UCI Health Series
Leslie M. Thompson, PhD, is a Donald Bren and Chancellor’s Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of California, Irvine.
For more information on Dr. Thompson and the What Matters to Me & Why program, please visit:
https://chancellor.uci.edu/campus-climate/wmmw/index.php

CNLM Colloquium with Barry Setlow, Ph.D.
2022-02-01 11:00 - 12:00 UTC | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Sex, drugs, and getting old; influences on decision making and executive functions
The CNLM will host Dr. Barry Setlow, professor of psychiatry at the University of Florida College of Medicine, in a colloquium where he will present his latest research.

19th Annual EpiCenter Symposium
2022-02-08 09:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
19th Annual EpiCenter Symposium Brain Development & Epilepsy
The 19th Annual EpCenter Symposium includes keynote speaker Bina Santoro, PhD, assistant research scientist at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University.

Carlos Portera Cailliau, MD
2022-02-08 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center and Virtually via Zoom
Cortical interneuron hypofunction in Fragile X Syndrome
The Department of Neurobiology and Behavior will host Carlos Portera Cailliau, from the Department of Neurology & Neurobiology of the University of California, Los Angeles, for a James L. McGaugh Distinguished Lecture.

Abstract

Cortical circuit dysfunction is a primary pathophysiology in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Considering how symptoms in NDDs/autism become apparent in toddlers, circuit changes must emerge very early in cortical development. Over the last decade, developmental differences in cortical synaptic dynamics, neuronal adaptation, and network synchrony have been reported in the Fmr1 knockout (KO) mouse model of Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), a prototypical NDD. In addition, the density, maturity and activity of parvalbumin (PV) cortical interneurons are all reduced in Fmr1 KO mice and in other autism mouse models. We find that the density of PV neurons in S1 is reduced in both juvenile and adult Fmr1 KO mice, as well as in post-mortem tissue from human FXS cases. Furthermore, the density and the firing of Nkx2.1-expressing interneuron precursors are also reduced in early Fmr1 KO mice. Increasing MGE-derived interneuron activity using excitatory DREADDs significantly increases the density of PV cells at P15. Moreover, increasing PV cell firing in Fmr1 KO mice with a novel allosteric modulator of Kv3.1 channels improves deficits in the tuning and the adaptation of excitatory neurons in S1 to repetitive whisker stimulation.

Bruce Herring, Ph.D.
2022-02-10 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Cell-specific expression of SAP97 links augmented glutamatergic synapse function to Schizophrenia
Join the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology for a virtual seminar featuring Bruce Herring, PhD, assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Southern California.

13th Annual Emerging Scientists Symposium
2022-02-15 12:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | UCI Student Event Center, 311 W Peltason Dr # A, Irvine, CA 92697, Doheny Beach Meeting Room, 311 W Peltason Dr # A, Irvine, CA 92697, Irvine, 92697, United States
Join REMIND and UCI MIND for the 13th Annual Emerging Scientists Symposium featuring keynote speaker, Cynthia Lemere, PhD, associate professor at the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School.

William A. Carlezon Jr. Ph.D.
2022-02-15 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Enduring effects of early developmental immune activation
The Conte Center@UCI Seminar Series will feature guest speaker William A. Carlezon Jr. Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

UCI MSTP Distinguished Lecture Series Talk | Speaker: Garret Stuber , Ph.D. on Tuesday, February 22nd 2022
2022-02-22 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual/Hybrid Event (Telecast via Zoom, and in-person in Tamkin F110), Tamkin F110 Academy Wy, Irvine, CA, 92617, United States
Wednesday, February 22, 2022
Neurocircuits for Motivation and Reward featuring Guest Speaker, Garret Stuber, PhD
Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington
4 – 5 p.m. PT
Free to attend. RSVP encouraged.
Virtual/Hybrid Event
Telecast via Zoom, and in-person in Tamkin F110

Organized by: MSTP students Dhruba Banerjee, and Heechul Jun
Event Contacts: Heechul Jun | heechulj@hs.uci.edu

CNCM Seminar: Dr. Edward Zagha
2022-03-01 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Neural mechanisms of target stimulus selection and distractor stimulus suppression
Join the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping in a Hybrid (Virtual and In-Person) Seminar featuring Edward Zagha, MD, PhD from UC Riverside.
Those who wish to attend in person will receive details upon registration.
Abstract:
Goal-directed behavior requires the ability to respond to task-relevant target stimuli (selection) while inhibiting responses to extraneous distractor stimuli (suppression). To better understand the neural mechanisms underlying these processes, we trained mice in an operant whisker detection task in which they learned to respond to brief stimuli in one whisker field (target) and ignore identical stimuli in the opposite whisker field (distractor). We subsequently performed a range of neuronal recording and perturbation experiments in expert mice while they were performing this selective detection task. In this talk, I will present data from three studies related to the differential neural processing of target and distractor signals. First, I will demonstrate the robust attenuation of distractor-evoked responses downstream of primary somatosensory cortex (Aruljothi et al., 2020). Second, I will show that frontal cortex and dorsolateral striatum have highly similar task-related neuronal representations, and yet make drastically different functional contributions to target selection and distractor suppression. Third, I will provide evidence for a novel mechanism by which top-down signals from frontal cortex to sensory cortex contribute to target-distractor selectivity. Overall, these studies reveal cortical and subcortical mechanisms by which sensory signals are appropriately routed according to goal direction (Zagha 2020).

UCI Stem Cell Seminar Lecture Series - Helen Bateup, Ph.D.
2022-03-04 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Click here to join:
https://ucihealth.zoom.us/j/5279515874?pwd=[REDACTED]

2022 Irvine Brain Bee
2022-03-05 09:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Qureshey Research Laboratory, 506 C Student Center, Irvine, CA 92697, Qureshey Research Laboratory, 506 C Student Center, Irvine, CA 92697-3800, Irvine, CA, 92697-3800, United States
Join us for a day of neuroscience fun at UC Irvine! Laboratory tours, hands-on brain activities, keynote lecture and an opportunity to meet neuroscientists. The competition is a small portion of the day and we invite all high schoolers to participate regardless of how much you know about the brain!

Anatomy & Neurobiology Seminar with Jill K Leutgeb, PhD
2022-03-10 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual Event
Hippocampal Network Computations for Memories and Decisions
Join the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology for a virtual seminar featuring Jill K Leutgeb, PhD, Walter F. Heiligenberg Professor of Neuroethology and Professor of Neurobiology in the Division of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego.

2022 Brain Awareness Week
2022-03-14 08:00 - 2022-03-20 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 320 Qureshey Research Lab, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Join the CNLM in celebrating Brain Awareness Week, taking place from March 14 – 20, 2022. Be sure to check: https://cnlm.uci.edu/baw/ to keep up with various events happening all week along!

Brain Awareness Week is the global campaign to foster public enthusiasm and support for brain science. Every March, partners host imaginative activities in their communities that share the wonders of the brain and the impact brain science has on our everyday lives.

Brain Awareness Week was founded by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives (DABI) and the European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB), and is coordinated by the Dana Foundation.

'Brain, copy and paste' featuring Guest Speaker: Professor Donhee Ham Ph.D.
2022-03-17 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) 1200, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Brain, copy, and paste
Prof. Donhee Ham, Gordon McKay Professor
Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering
Harvard University
Thursday, March 17th, 2022; 11:00am-noon; Location: ISEB 1200

Abstract
Reverse engineering the brain by mimicking the structure and function of biological neuronal networks on a silicon chip was the original goal of neuromorphic engineering, but remains a distant dream. The focus of neuromorphic engineering has thus been eased from the rigorous brain mimicry to brain-inspired design. In this talk, I would like to share a technology that may return neuromorphic electronics to its original goal of reverse engineering the brain. The essence of this technology is to ‘copy’ the functional synaptic connectivity map of a mammalian neuronal network using our breakthrough CMOS nanoelectrode array that can intracellularly interface with biological neuronal networks. This technology could potentially create what better approximates the unique computing traits of the brain. This talk is a build from our recent work published in:
Nature 601, 211 (2022)
Nature Electronics 4, 635 (2021)
Nature Biomedical Engineering 4, 232 (2020)
Nature Nanotechnology 12, 460 (2017)

Biography
Donhee Ham is Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and EE at Harvard and Fellow
at Samsung Electronics. He received a BS degree in physics from Seoul National University,
and an MS degree in physics and a PhD degree in EE from Caltech. Research web:
https://donheehamlab.org

Jun Nagai, PhD
2022-03-22 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
EpiCenter 2021-2022 Seminar Series
Join the UCI Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in their EpiCenter Seminar Series featuring Jun Nagai, PhD, Team Leader of the Glia-Neuron Circuit Dynamics Lab at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science.

Conte Center@UCI 9th Annual Symposium, featuring Keynote Speaker, Dr. Diego Pizzagalli
2022-03-23 09:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering, 100 Academy Wy, Irvine, CA, 92617, United States
Join the UCI Conte Center at its 9th Annual Symposium titled, Origins of Mental Health and Disease: Research and Reality, happening on March 23, 2022. The event features keynote speaker, Diego Pizzagalli, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and the Center Director for a Silvio O. Conte Center for Basic Translational Mental Health Research focused on the neurobiology of and novel treatment targets for depression and anxiety disorders.
View the event flyer here.

Cannabinoid regulation of stress responsive neural circuits, featuring Matthew Hill, Ph.D.
2022-03-25 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Hybrid Event (This event will be held virtually via Zoom and In-Person in the Herkltoz Conference Room), 300 Qureshey Research Lab Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States

Chantal Stern, D.Phil.
2022-03-29 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Hippocampal-prefrontal interactions for context-dependent learning and memory
The CNLM will be hosting Dr. Chantal Stern, Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Boston University, in a colloquium where she will present her latest research.
This year, the series will be held in a virtual format with some speakers presenting in-person as well. We will keep registered participants updated on the possibility of an in-person event as the situation with COVID-19 evolves.

UCI CNCM Seminar: Jianhua Cang, PhD
2022-04-05 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) 1200, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Visual Processing in the Mouse Superior Colliculus
Join the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping in a hybrid seminar featuring Dr. Jianhua Cang of the University of Virginia.
Abstract:

The superior colliculus (SC), or optic tectum, is an evolutionarily conserved structure that receives direct retinal input in all vertebrates. It was the most sophisticated visual center until the neocortex evolved in mammals. In mice, a mammalian species that has become a useful model in vision research, 85–90% of retinal ganglion cells project to the SC, making it the most prominent visual structure in this species. In the past several years, we have performed a series of functional studies of the mouse SC, especially the aspect of motion processing. In these studies, we have (1) revealed diverse visual response properties in the mouse SC (Wang, Sarnaik et al., J. Neuroscience, 2010; Zhao, Liu and Cang, Neuron, 2014; Savier et al., 2019; Chen et al., 2021); (2) discovered a highly specialized lamina in the most superficial SC for movement direction (Inayat, Barchini et al., J. Neuroscience, 2015); (3) demonstrated a retinal origin ofSC direction selectivity (Shi, Barchini et al., Nature Neuroscience, 2017); and (4) studied how SC neurons encode motion contrast (Barchini et al., 2018). In this presentation, I will briefly review these published findings and describe our recent efforts in linking visual response properties to genetically identified cell types in the SC.
For those registering for in-person there is a 22 max capacity.
In-Person Location:
Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB)
S. Circle View Dr, Irvine
Conference Room 5020

CNLM Colloquium with Tirin Moore, Ph.D.
2022-04-05 11:00 - 12:00 UTC | CNLM Herklotz Conference Center, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Shared Neural Circuitry of Visuomotor Integration and Visual Cognition
The CNLM will be hosting Dr. Tirin Moore, Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University, in a colloquium where he will present his latest research.
This year, the series will be held in a virtual format with some speakers presenting in-person as well. We will keep registered participants updated on the possibility of an in-person event as the situation with COVID-19 evolves.

Sleep and Pain: Opportunities for Integrative Medicine
2022-04-05 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States
Sleep and Pain:
Opportunities for Integrative Medicine
Tuesday, April 5th
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
This lecture will be held via Zoom – Register Here

Abstract: This lecture will provide general background on sleep and chronic pain and discuss human experiments related to effects of sleep disruption on pain inhibition and morphine analgesia and measures of central sensitization. The treatment implications of this work will be discussed, highlighting an opportunity for novel integrative medicine approaches.
