[bioundgrd] "Connectomics: Mapping the Brain" - Jeff Lichtman Lecture - Feb. 27 @ 7pm

[Joyce Roberge]

Dear Colleagues,

Harvard University, FAS, Division of Science is pleased to announce the resurrection of the long-standing tradition of a series of Harvard faculty-led lectures for the general public. This program, entitled the Science Research Lecture Series, seeks to introduce the broader local community to the exciting research of Harvard University faculty in a manner accessible to lay audiences. These talks will be scheduled throughout the year and open to all who are interested.

The first lecture in this relaunched series will take place on Wednesday, February 27 at 7:00pm in Harvard Science Center Hall C, One Oxford Street, Cambridge.

Jeff Lichtman, Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the Santiago Ramón y Cajal Professor of Arts and Sciences, will present his work in a talk titled, "Connectomics: Mapping the Brain." An abstract is appended below.

Abstract:  Despite intense interest in the ways brains work, we still have quite a rudimentary understanding of this organ, especially compared to our knowledge of the other organ systems in the body. One central problem is that brain function is based on a much more complicated cellular organization than found in any other part of the body. The brain contains billions of nerve cells and these are interconnected by trillions of synapses in a vast wiring diagram. This wiring diagram has not been described but likely contains the physical instantiations of all the brain does including all the memories we hold and all the skills we have learned. In addition such a wiring diagram may be disrupted when there are abnormalities in brain function such as learning disorders in children or psychiatric diseases in adults. In this lecture I will discuss how scientists are taking the first steps in imaging and understanding the wiring diagram of the brain.


Please share this announcement, and the attached flyer, with any who may be interested in attending.

Thank you
Science Lecture Series Team

Joyce Roberge
Undergraduate Program
Biology Education Office 68-120
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
31 Ames Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-253-4718
fax: 617-258-9329
email: roberge at mit.edu<mailto:roberge at mit.edu>



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