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Today, our guest is Dr. Tianyi Mao, Assistant Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Vollum Institute. We’ll talk about dissecting thalamo-cortical circuits in a systematic way; using sCRACM to understand how circuits are wired; how this approach and these maps could help us understand cortico-striatal-thalamic loops; and, how Dr. Mao’s got to where she is today.
Our guest is in this episode is Takaki Komiyama, a professor at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of Neurosciences and in the Neurobiology Section of the Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior.
Small blast from the past: this episode was recorded in October, 2014, but never broadcast; we wanted to bring this back from our archives and present it to you now, because it’s a great interview!
In this interview, we talk about the anatomy of the sense of smell, baseball (Royals fans, sorry this was 2014...but we're in 2015 now), and neural ensembles in motor cortex during learning. Please enjoy!
Today, our guest is Nils Brose, Professor and Director of the Dept. of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany. We speak with him about the mechanisms of neurotransmitter release, how synapses might be built, and the role of the luck in the career of a scientist.
Pregnant women who are hospitalized for infections, including the flu, have a slightly higher risk for giving birth to a child with a neurodevelopmental disorder like autism. What's going on? Is the immune system influencing the developing brain?
Spoilers: yes. And it all starts when immune cells (microglia) are lured into the brain by the siren call of neural progenitor cells.
Read MoreMolecular biology is still defined by its "central dogma," but we often don’t use the word dogma in science unless we are about to contradict it. Here, Nick Kramer tells us about how circular RNAs, a newly discovered, highly conserved class of RNA molecules, are abundant in the brain and may contribute to its development.
Read MoreToday we'll be speaking with Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Carson Family Professor and at Rockefeller University. We'll be speaking with him about fundamental discoveries of new axon guidance molecules; his career path including many roles in both basic and translational science; and exciting unsolved mysteries in the field of axon guidance.
[Note: Our S5E6 interview with last week's speaker, Tianyi Mao, upcoming!]
"How can the brain think that the brain itself hurts (e.g., during a headache)? Are headaches and migraines (excluding secondary headaches) essentially psychosomatic in nature?"
Before I answer your question, I need to say one important thing: ouch!
That’s right – as I sat down at my keyboard to answer your question, I stubbed my toe quite painfully on my desk. Fortunately, this is a great time to explain how the brain processes pain, which will help answer your question.
Read MoreNeural stem cells help create new cells for the brain to maintain itself in normal circumstances and to heal itself after injury, but they come in a variety of flavors. What causes some types of neural stem cell to activate and drive regeneration, while others remain dormant?
Read MoreHow much does the brain know about itself? In this Ask a Neuroscientist, Guillaume Riesen considers three different types of "knowledge" that the brain might have about itself: physical sensations, energy usage, and abstract thought.
Read MoreToday, our guest is Mark George, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), where he is director of the Brain Stimulation Laboratory. We’ll be speaking with him about using TMS to probe causality in the human brain, how vagal nerve stimulation could be working to treat depression, and a little bit of entemology /beekeeping.
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Note: The NeuWrite West team consists of research scientists. Therefore, we can not provide answers to questions of a medical nature; we are not medical doctors.
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