Max Planck Floridas Neurotransmissions Podcast

On this episode Jeremy and new guest co-host Alex Gribizis chat with Dr. W. Martin Usrey, Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and the University of Davis. With Dr. Usrey we learn more about the structure of the visual system, the interactions between these different structures, and things Dr. Usrey has learned along the way about mentorship.

In this episode, Joe and Misha talk with Kaela Singleton, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Cell Biology at Emory University and co-founder and president-elect of Black in Neuro. We learn about her research into Menkes Disease, how her career in science has evolved throughout the years, and the work she is doing to help raise visibility and cultivate opportunities for black neuroscientists through the #BlackinNeuro movement.

How does the clinic influence the bench? Joe, Jeremy, and Audrey are joined by Dr. Peter Tsai Assistant Professor in the departments of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, Neuroscience, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry at UT South Western. Learn how Dr. Tsai's experience in the clinic led him down a path of investigating the surprising role of the cerebellum in autism spectrum disorder and how Dr Tsai's findings in the lab could impact the development of future treatments.

How did an ancient virus help shape the human brain? In this episode, Joe and Jeremy sit down with Dr. Jason Shepherd, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Biochemistry and Opthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Utah School of Medicine, to discuss the role of Arc (activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein) in the regulation of synaptic plasticity. Learn also how Dr. Shepherd and his group discovered a possible new role for Arc in transcellular signaling that may indicate its origin as an ancient retrovirus that integrated into the genome. If you can bear the puns, this episode packs a fascinating story of a career bridging molecular and in vivo processes and an unanticipated discovery.

Cells that fire together wire together. Hebbian mechanisms of plasticity, summarized by that simple phrase, have dominated the field of learning and memory for decades. However, they present limitations when applied to many behavioral paradigms. On this episode Jeremy, Audrey, and Andre sit down with Dr. Jeff Magee, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, The Cullen Foundation Distinguished Endowed Chair at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, and Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. They'll discuss how Dr. Magee's work looking at dendritic processes led him and his group to discover a new plasticity paradigm, in place field learning that breaks from traditional Hebbian rules. Hear also how Dr. Magee keeps active in the lab and his advice for young investigators.

On the final episode recorded live from the Society for Neuroscience Conference 2019, Jeremy sits down with Dr. Kurt Thoroughman, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Washing University in St. Louis, and Director of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Cognitive Neuroscience program. Learn about how NSF is structured, the role of a program director, how a grant application is evaluated, and the opportunities available for trainees.

At the 2019 Society for Neuroscience Conference in Chicago Misha catches up with an old friend of the podcast Dr. Lauren Ullrich (Ep #13), Scientific Program Manager at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Learn about the process of applying for funding from the NIH and how Dr. Ullrich's new podcast 'Building up the Nerve' is giving a peek into the life cycle of a grant.

Our series of interviews at the Society for Neuroscience Conference 2019 in Chicago keeps on rolling as Jeremy sits down with Dr. Marina Picciotto Charles B.G . Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center of Neuroscience and of Pharmacology, Deputy Chair for Basic Science Research in the Dept of Psychiatry, Deputy Director of the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale University, and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Neuroscience. They'll chat about how the Journal of Neuroscience supports the Society for Neuroscience, publishing in and training opportunities at the Journal of Neuroscience, Dr. Picciotto's approach to mentorship, and her lab's work looking at nicotine addiction. Enjoy!

The neuro-revolution is coming. In this episode Jeremy sits down with Drs. Greg Gage and Etienne Serbe in Chicago from Backyard Brains. From an exciting challenge centered around the SfN conference to programs centered around designing new experiments, learn about how Backyard Brains is bringing new opportunities to learn about neuroscience to the next generation of scientists.

Once again Neurotransmissions traveled to the annual Society for Neuroscience conference to chat with some new and old friends. In the first episode of our five-part miniseries, Misha is joined by Tavita Garrett former MPFI post-baccalaureate and current graduate student at Oregon Health & Science University to chat about postbac programs, the path to graduate school, and the joys of electrophysiology. But first, we're joined by previous guest co-host Dr. Paul Evans and current MPFI Head of Scientific training to learn more about the MPFI postbac program (formerly the PRE program) and upcoming deadlines for applications.

Our two-part series of interviews with Dr. Bert Sakmann continues as he explains to Joe and Misha how he got interested in neuroscience, his work on characterizing ion channels, the finer points of electrophysiology and the importance of synapses. If you have not had a chance yet, make sure to check out part one of our conversation with Dr. Sakmann.

How does a Max Planck Institute end up in Florida? On this special 50th episode we have the first part of a two-part series of interviews recorded in June 2016, with Dr. Bert Sakmann, Nobel Prize Recipient and the Inaugural Scientific Director of Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. Joe and Misha sit down with Dr. Sakmann as he recounts the early days of Max Planck Florida: kiteboarding, recruiting scientists to the institute and developing a scientific program.

How does language get processed in the brain? New research is taking our understanding of how the brain processes language and speech beyond Broca and Wernicke's areas. This week Joe and Misha are joined by Dr. David Poeppel Director of the Department of Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt and Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University to discuss the finer details of language.

In this episode, Misha and Andre are joined by Dr. Bernardo Rudy, Valentino D.B. Mazzia, MD, JD Professor of Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Care, and Pain Medicine and Professor, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at New York University. Learn the curious path Dr. Rudy took to obtaining two PhDs, his labs work on the types and roles of cortical interneurons and the challenges that still remain in classifying types of neurons.

How visual is the visual cortex? In this episode, Joe and Jeremy are joined by Dr. Nathalie Rochefort, Sir Henry Dale Fellow and Chancellor's Fellow at the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh to discuss why long-held views about the function of the visual cortex are being challenged today. Learn how Dr. Rochefort went from studying the history of sciences to making her own new discoveries and how new approaches are allowing her team and others to understand functions of the visual cortex beyond vision.

What approaches are researchers taking to understand which neurons talk to each other in the brain? Joe and Misha sit down with Dr. Moritz Helmstaedter, Scientific Director and Head of the Department of Connectomics at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt Germany. They'll discuss the current state of connectomics, the approaches researchers are taking, the challenges of working with the large datasets necessary to understand neuronal connections, and the work that Dr. Helmstaedter's group is doing with electron microscopy to map the connections within the brain.

We dug up another episode from our archive for you to enjoy this week. Misha, Joe, and guest co-host Dr. Helena Decker, MPFI's Head of Scientific Communications, sit down with Dr. Roberto Lent, head of the Laboratory for Neuroplasticity of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal do Rio de Janeiro. They will discuss Dr. Lent's efforts in counting the neurons of the brain, the concept of the disconnectome, and the work Dr. Lent is doing in science outreach and education.

Joe and Andre sit down with Dr. Pierre Vanderhaeghen, Group leader at VIB research institute. Learn about what makes the human brain special methods that Dr. Vanderhaeghen's group uses to investigate the development of the human brain, and how the preservation of early traits through adulthood could play a role in making the human brain adaptable.

On this episode Joe and first time co-host Jeremy Chang sit down with Dr. Gyorgy Buzsaki, Biggs Professor of Neuroscience at New York University. They explore the types of oscillatory activity that occurs within the brain and how this activity may aid in the packaging of information within the brain. They also discuss the classical empiricists viewpoint of the brain and how approaching the questions of how the brain works can be benefited by taking an inside-out viewpoint that looks at how the brain predicts and interacts with the external world and the importance of sharing data. We hope you enjoy this wide-ranging episode, and Dr. Buzsaki's open data sets can be found at www.buzsakilab.com.

On this episode, we returned to our vault and found this March 2016 discussion (our first recording ever!), where Joe, Misha, and Ben were joined by Dr. Jason Kerr, Director of the Department of Behavior and Brain Organization the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (caesar). In a wide-ranging conversation, they’ll discuss the adventure in neuroscience that would end up with a New Zealander living in Germany, what it is like to be a group leader and director in the Max Planck system, the importance of studying natural behaviors and dive deep into the specialization of the visual system across species.