Dallas Area Neuroscience Group

Two Meetup Groups

2011-01-29T22:09:00.001-06:00

In addition to our monthly business meetings on the second Friday of the month, we now host two monthly Meetup groups. On the second Sunday of each month, we meet at the Cafe Brazil restaurant near U.T. Dallas and Half-Price Books to discuss a popular Neuroscience book. On the fourth Sunday of each month, we meet at an upstairs room at the Central Market in Dallas to study Computational Neuroscience (CNS):

http://www.meetup.com/sfndang/

After joining our Meetup group, please also join our announcements mailing list:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfndang-announce/

2010-05-26T17:48:00.001-05:00

We are discussing the first section of Antonio Damasio's "Decartes Error- Emotion, reason and the human brain" in a book club Friday May 28 7:30pm at the Borders Bookstore on Preston Rd in Plano. For more details:

http://www.meetup.com/sfndang/

SfN 2010 Travel Award

2010-05-12T14:36:00.001-05:00

For Graduate Travel Award eligibility requirements, please see the SfN website:

http://web.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_gradtravel

If you are a postdoctoral trainee and you would like to be considered for a Postdoctoral Travel Award, please send us your SfN annual meeting abstract to info@sfndang.org. For further details please see:
http://web.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_postdoctravel

The names of the author and institution will be stripped off the abstract before submission to an independent judge. The abstract selected by the independent judge will be nominated by our chapter to vie for the award amongst other nominees from other chapters in the nation. In the previous occasions that we nominated a student, our students won the travel award.

If your abstract is selected, we will be contacting you immediately
for these digital documents:
• Completed nomination form
• Copy of the abstract submitted for the annual meeting
• A one-page curriculum vitae from the nominee including the
following information: education, including the date at which nominee
advanced to candidacy for the PhD, honors/awards, publications
(abstracts and manuscripts)
• A one-page letter of recommendation from the advisor

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at lynda.wilmott@gmail.com

If you share an interest in growing in neuroscience by using SfN grant funds to meet eminent scientists, discuss neuroscience books or initiate newer ideas for academic growth, feel free to join our group. Members can vote to guide the group and choose to become an officer too.

Again, ***this is ONLY for the travel award, NOT for SfN Abstract Submission***

The Brain That Changes Itself

2010-01-31T11:50:00.000-06:00

In two weeks we are meeting to discuss the first one-third of the book The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge (2007).

For meeting location and time, please subscribe to our Meetup.com group.

Second Nature

2009-10-30T16:44:00.003-05:00

At our next meeting on 2009 Nov 13 Fri at 7:30 PM, our discussion will cover the first half of Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique by Michael S. Gazzaniga.

We will cover the second half of "Human" at our December meeting.

For 2010 January, we will cover Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge by Gerald M. Edelman.

Updated Reading Selection Schedule

2009-09-11T23:44:00.004-05:00

At our meeting tonight, we decided to stretch out the schedule for the two books we are currently discussing:

October: second half of "Soul Made Flesh"
November: first half of "Human"
December: second half of "Human"

Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain -- and How it Changed the World by Carl Zimmer.

Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique by Michael S. Gazzaniga.

Human

2009-08-14T22:54:00.002-05:00

For our September chapter meeting, we are discussing two books -- the second half of one and the first half of another. The first one is a quick entertaining read so we thought we would accelerate a bit and launch into the second as well.

We are discussing the second half of the book Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain -- and How it Changed the World by Carl Zimmer.

We are also discussing the first half (parts I and II, chapters 1 to 5) of Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique by Michael S. Gazzaniga.

Soul Made Flesh

2009-07-13T21:17:00.002-05:00

For our August chapter meeting, we are discussing the first half of the book Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain -- and How it Changed the World by Carl Zimmer.

For the following reading selection, we are leaning toward the book Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique by Michael S. Gazzaniga.

Phantoms in the Brain-Book Discussion

2009-07-08T12:13:00.003-05:00

We shall be discussing the second half of "Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind" by V.S.Ramachandran, Friday 10th July, 2009 at 7:30pm. The venue is at The University of Texas at Dallas(UTD), in the hallway adjacent to the Neuroscience labs opposite room MP 2.102 in the Multi-purpose Building.

A visitors parking permit can be obtained from the visitor center on University Parkway by coming into the campus from Campbell road.
http://www.utdallas.edu/maps/

Link to a map with the location of the building (flashing red) in UTD. With a visitors parking permit, you can park in a Green designated area in Parking Lot A beside the police station
http://www.utdallas.edu/locator/?externalKey=LocMP

SFN Travel Grant

2009-05-17T08:20:00.000-05:00

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Trainees:

The Dallas Area Neuroscience Group (www.sfndang.org) is pleased to participate once again in the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Graduate Student Travel Award Program.

The program provides a travel stipend to the SfN annual meeting to a graduate student nominee selected by our chapter. If you would like to be considered, please e-mail your annual meeting abstract to info@sfndang.org before 5pm May 20th 2009.
For eligibility requirements, please see the SfN website:
http://web.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_gradtravel

If you are a postdoctoral trainee and you would like to be considered
for a Postdoctoral Travel Award,please send us your SfN annual
meeting abstract to info@sfndang.org. For further details please see:
http://web.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_postdoctravel

The names of the author and institution will be stripped off the abstract before submission to an independent judge. The abstract selected by the independent judge will be nominated by our chapter to vie for the award amongst other nominees from other
chapters in the nation. In the previous occasions that we nominated a
student, our students won the travel award.

If your abstract is selected, we will be contacting you immediately
for these digital documents:
• Completed nomination form
• Copy of the abstract submitted for the annual meeting
• A one-page curriculum vitae from the nominee including the
following information: education, including the date at which nominee
advanced to candidacy for the PhD, honors/awards, publications
(abstracts and manuscripts)
• A one-page letter of recommendation from the advisor

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jaymemcreynolds@gmail.com

If you share an interest in growing in neuroscience by using SfN grant funds to meet eminent scientists, discuss neuroscience books or initiate newer ideas for academic growth, feel free to join our group. Members can vote to guide the group and choose to become an officer too.

Phantoms in the Brain

2009-05-10T13:53:00.002-05:00

Our next reading group selection is Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V. S. Ramachandran. Please read the first half of the book for discussion immediately following our June chapter meeting.

New Chapter Officer

2009-03-06T14:15:00.002-06:00

I am pleased to announce that Jayme McReynolds has volunteered to serve as an officer of the Dallas Area Neuroscience Group. She will serve as the Secretary of our Chapter for the remainder of the 2009 calendar year.

Dr.Kristen Harris to speak on Feb 13th,2009

2009-02-11T12:09:00.002-06:00

The Dallas chapter of the Society for Neuroscience received a $1200 grant from SfN Washington to invite an eminent scientist. Based on UTD faculty's input, Dr. Kristen Harris was invited and will be giving a talk at the Brown Bag on Feb 13th ,2009 at 12pm in MP 2.204A at UTD Richardson campus.

http://synapses.clm.utexas.edu/lab/harris/kristen.stm

Dr. Harris will be available to meet with faculty members/labs/graduate students from 1:15pm to 4pm. Please let us know if you are interested in meeting her and we will be happy to work out timings convenient to all.

How the Mind Works

2009-01-16T15:25:00.002-06:00

In addition to regular monthly chapter business meetings on the second Friday of each month, we are also restarting the reading/discussion group. If you would like to join us, please read the first half of the book "How the Mind Works" by Steven Pinker for discussion at our March meeting. We will cover the second half at our April meeting. If you want to participate in the reading/discussion group and you do not already have a parking permit for the U.T. Dallas campus, please let us know and we will arrange to meet at a coffee shop at a central location.

Reviews

2009 Officer Election Results

2008-12-23T00:03:00.001-06:00

Dallas area SfN Members:

Our chapter officers for 2009 are as follows:

Dr. Vikram Jakkamsetti, President
Gef Farmer, Vice President / President Elect / Treasurer
David Wallace Croft, Secretary

Please help spread the word about our announcements mailing list:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfndang-announce/

2009 Officer Nominations

2008-11-21T14:44:00.000-06:00

Dallas area Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Members:

We are now accepting nominations for the SfN chapter Dallas Area Neuroscience Group officers for 2009. As a volunteer chapter officer, you will help us arrange for speakers to come to Dallas to present to us. You will also help us award SfN conference travel grants to local graduate students and postdocs.

Our tradition to ensure continuity is to elect a Vice President (VP)/President-Elect each year. After serving as VP for a year, the President-Elect automatically becomes President in the following year. This year I will finish my term as President and our VP Dr. Vikram Jakkamsetti will become our 2009 President.

If you would like to serve as our 2009 VP/President-Elect and 2010 President, please contact us. We are also seeking individuals to serve as Secretary and Treasurer. Any Dallas area SfN Member, student, regular, or emeritus, is eligible to serve.

--
David Wallace Croft
2009 President, Dallas Area Neuroscience Group
(214) 636-3790 m

Nominees win 2008 SfN Travel Award

2008-08-07T23:12:00.000-05:00

We congratulate our graduate student nominee Terina Martinez and postdoctoral nominee Cory Blaiss from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas for winning the 2008 SfN travel award. The award includes free registration and a $750 (graduate student) or $1000 (postdoctoral trainee) check to assist in managing travel and lodging expenses.

2008 Chapter Officers

2008-06-13T14:58:00.002-05:00

SfN Members:

At the Dallas Area Neuroscience Group chapter meeting today, we held elections for chapter officers. Our officers, to serve for the remainder of the 2008 calendar year, are as follows:

President: David Wallace Croft
Vice President/President Elect: Vikram Jakkamsetti

We will begin accepting nominations for the 2009 chapter officers in 2008 November with elections in December.

2008 Chapter Nominees

2008-06-10T22:53:00.002-05:00

Dallas Area Neuroscience Group SfN Members:

Our 2008 SfN conference travel grant award chapter nominees are:

Postdoc: Cory A. Blaiss, Ph.D., UTSW
"Neuroligin 3R451C point mutation, but not NL3 deletion, leads to autism-relevant behavioral abnormalities, suggesting that the R451C mutation acts through a gain of function"

Graduate Student: Terina Martinez, UTSW
"Adipose derived adult stromal cell transplants repair rat spinal cord contusion injury by modulating extra cellular matrix proteins"

Our thanks to our anonymous judges and Vikram Jakkamsetti for their help in making these chapter nominations happen.

We are having chapter officer elections this Friday:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfndang-announce/message/108

SfN Travel Award

2008-06-05T00:34:00.001-05:00

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Trainees:

The Dallas Area Neuroscience Group is pleased to participate once
again in the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Graduate Student Travel
Award Program.

The program provides a travel stipend to the SfN
annual meeting to a graduate student nominee selected by our
chapter. If you would like to be considered, please e-mail your
annual meeting abstract to info@sfndang.org before 5pm June 9th 2008.
For eligibility requirements, please see the SfN website:
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_gradTravel

If you are a postdoctoral trainee and you would like to be considered
for a Postdoctoral Travel Award,please send us your SfN annual
meeting abstract to info@sfndang.org. For further details please see:
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=travelawards_postdoctravel

The abstracts (minus the author list and institute name) will be sent to an independent Professor and the abstract selected by the independent professor will be nominated by our chapter to vie for the award amongst other nominees from other
chapters in the nation. In the three occasions that we nominated a student, our students won the travel award.

If your abstract is selected, we will be contacting you immediately
for these digital documents:
• Completed application form
• Copy of the abstract submitted for the annual meeting
• A one-page curriculum vitae from the nominee including the
following information: education, including the date at which nominee
advanced to candidacy for the PhD, honors/awards, publications
(abstracts and manuscripts)
• A one-page letter of recommendation from the advisor

If you have any questions, please feel free to email info@sfndang.org

2008 Officer Elections

2008-06-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

Dallas Area SfN Members:

We are overdue for elections for officers of our local SfN chapter. We plan to fix this by holding elections in two weeks on Friday the 13th at 1 PM. We will meet in the neuroscience lab hallway in the UT Dallas multi-purpose building. Elected officers will serve for the remainder of the 2008 calendar year. For more details, please call.

We are also gearing up for the annual travel grant award selections. We have a volunteer to head the selection committee for the post-doc travel grant awardee. Now we need a volunteer to head the selection committee for the graduate student travel grant awardee. If you are interesting in volunteering, please call or e-mail: (214) 636-3790 or info@sfndang.org

Nominee wins FENS Forum 2008 Travel Award

2008-04-30T23:55:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to our 2008 SfN Chapter nominee William Renthal, winner of a Graduate Student Travel Award for the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Forum 2008 in Geneva(July). William Renthal is based in UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Travel Award for FENS Forum 2008

2008-02-05T16:28:00.000-06:00

The Dallas Area Neuroscience Group (a chapter of the Society for Neuroscience) is pleased to participate in the Graduate Student Travel Award Program for the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Forum 2008 in Geneva(July).

The program provides a travel stipend to the FENS Forum to a graduate student nominee selected by our chapter. If you would like to be considered, please e-mail your FENS Forum 2008 abstract to info@sfndang.org before 5pm Feb 8, 2008.

For eligibility requirements, please see the SfN website:
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=FellowshipAndAwards§ion=professionalDevelopment

The abstract selected by an independent committee (faculty members of universities in the Dallas area) will be nominated by our chapter to vie for the award amongst other nominees from other chapters in the nation.

If your abstract is selected, we will be contacting you immediately for these digital documents:
• Completed application form
• Copy of the abstract submitted for the meeting
• A one-page curriculum vitae from the nominee including the following information: education, including the date at which nominee advanced to candidacy for the PhD, honors/awards, publications (abstracts and manuscripts)
• A one-page letter of recommendation from the advisor

Thank you Dr.Jonathan Fritz

2008-01-17T13:42:00.000-06:00

We are grateful to Dr.Jonathan Fritz for giving us a presentation on 14th Dec, 2007 of his work at the University of Maryland. His talk was titled "Quest for the Elusive Mechanisms of Auditory Attention - The Role of Adaptive Plasticity in A1". It was enriching to interact with him and have his comments on research presented by graduate students after the talk. The talk was made possible by a Grass Traveling Scientist Grant from SfN.

2007 SfN Travel Awards

2007-12-14T11:01:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to our 2007 SfN Chapter nominees Dr. Tamy Frank-Cannon, recipient of the Postdoctoral Trainee Travel Award, and Euiseok Joshua Kim, recipient of the Graduate Student Travel Award, both of UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Thank you Dr. Johnston

2007-09-14T17:12:00.000-05:00

We would like to thank Dr. Daniel Johnston from the University of Texas at Austin for his recent presentation to us on 2007 August 24th on "Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Excitability in Hippocampal Neurons".

I would also like to thank our Secretary Vikram Jakkamsetti for securing the speaker grant from the SfN and making the arrangements for Dr. Johnston to come visit with us.

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Workshop

2007-08-17T12:44:00.000-05:00

2007 IEEE Dallas Engineering in Medicine and Biology Workshop

The University of Texas at Dallas

November 11-12, 2007

http://www.eac.utdallas.edu/biomed

The IEEE Dallas Chapter of Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society is conducting a two day workshop to provide a forum for sharing ideas related to research and development in EMBS related fields. The workshop will be held on the campus of The University of Texas at Dallas. The workshop will provide a forum for and welcomes original technical papers on the engineering applications towards advancement of life and health science systems. Global leaders from academia, industry, and government will be invited to address novel technologies. The technical program committee invites people from academia and industry to contribute new and previously unpublished results in the following areas:

Biomedical Signal Processing
Physiologic System Modeling
Biomedical Imaging and Image Processing
Biomedical Instrumentation and Biosensors
Therapeutic Ultrasound
Brain and Neural Engineering
Telemedicine and Rural Healthcare
Hospital Management Information Systems
Cardiovascular System Engineering
Emergency and Critical Care Medicine
Clinical Engineering
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering
Neuromuscular Systems and Biomechanics
Bionic Prosthesis and Rehabilitation
Medical Robotics and Surgery
Wireless Technologies for Medical Applications
RFID in Medicine
Energy Harvesting
Patient Monitoring devices and systems
Pain Management
Packaging for Implantable Devices
Educational Outreach for Medicine and Engineering

2007 Chapter Officers

2006-12-13T14:28:00.000-06:00

I would like to thank the following individuals for volunteering to serve as our chapter officers for the 2007 calendar year, elected at our meeting today by acclamation:

Devin Lewis, President
Chikara Dablain, Vice President/President Elect
Vikram Jakkamsetti, Secretary

I offer my special thanks to Vikram Jakkamsetti who served us as President for 2006 and is staying on in another role to help ensure the continuity of our new organization.

Thank You Drs. Floody and Greenwald

2006-12-01T17:52:00.000-06:00

We would like to thank Dr. Owen Floody for serving as the Chairman of the Selection Committee for the SfN Graduate Student Travel Award this year. He came through when we were in a pinch and as a result we were able to submit a nominee before the deadline. The end result was that our nominee Penny Lea went on to become one of the 50 award recipients selected by the national committee.

We would also like to thank Dr. Ralf Greenwald for his presentation of "Cognitive Electrophysiology and Source Localization of Language Processing" at our meeting in November. It is my understanding that Dr. Greenwald is visiting us for just one year so we were pleased to be able to have him present to us before he left.

We have enjoyed reading In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R. Kandel, winner of the Nobel Prize for his work in neuroscience, so we are going to continue with our discussion of his book at our December meeting. Please read as much as you can of the book before then and join us.

At our December meeting, we will be seeking new volunteers to serve as officers for 2007. I am the President-Elect for 2007 but unfortunately I might be moving out of the Dallas area soon so we will have vacancies. If you would like to help us continue with travel grant awards, speakers, and our reading group, please contact us.

Conference on Goal-Directed Neural Systems

2006-09-27T15:15:00.000-05:00

The following notice is from Dr. Dan Levine of U.T. Arlington:

The Conference on Goal-Directed Neural Systems, jointly sponsored by MIND and the Texas SIG of the International Neural Network Society, is slowly taking shape. The date is set for Friday and Saturday November 3 and 4 (all day both days). Tentative location is Nedderman Hall at UTA. A block of rooms will be reserved this week at one of three hotels in the Arlington entertainment district.
The current list of speakers is:
From outside Texas: Paul Werbos (National Science Foundation); Donald Wunsch (U of Missouri at Rolla); Robert Kozma (University of Memphis); Leonid Perlovsky (Air Force Research, Bedford, MA); Jose Principe (U of Florida).
From within Texas: Frank Lewis (UT Arlington); Daniel Levine (UT Arlington): Yoonsuck Choe (Texas A&M); Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna (Texas A&M); Derek Harter (Texas A&M Commerce); Gerhard Werner (UT Austin); Risto Miikkulainen (UT Austin): Haluk Ogmen (U of Houston); Horatiu Voicu (U of Texas, Houston)

Please subscribe to our announcements list for additional information as it becomes available.

Dallas Chapter wins $1200 award to invite renowned neuroscientist

2006-09-13T22:41:00.000-05:00

The Dallas Area Neuroscience Group applied and won an award for the Grass Travelling Scientist Program from the Society for Neuroscience.The Grass Travelling Scientist Program allows for the invitation of a renowned neuroscientist to ones institution for lectures/seminars/laboratory visits.The award consists of $1200, which includes $300 as honorarium to the invited scientist. $900 is meant for the scientist's travel, stay and lecture arrangements. Speakers usually agree to visit a chapter for 1 or 2 days, allowing ample time for a formal seminar presentation and extensive informal interaction with faculty and students. Beyond the seminar, the precise nature of the visit is determined by the chapter in conjunction with the speaker. Many visiting neuroscientists have agreed to present additional, more specialized seminars; participate in graduate courses; and offer personal consultations, etc. Past experience indicates that the informal scientific aspects of the Grass tours are often their most outstanding features.

Penny Lea wins SfN Graduate Student Travel Award

2006-09-13T22:28:00.000-05:00

The Dallas Area Neuroscience Group congratulates Penny Lea in being selected for the SfN Graduate Student Travel Award. This award is supported by Eli Lilly & Co. and the Vernon Rowland Memorial Fund.It has been designed to recognize the promising work of graduate students who have been nominated by their local chapters for excellence in neuroscience.
THE AWARD CONSISTS OF:
As a travel award winner, Penny is entitled to a) a stipend to defray some of the travel expenses - this usually takes care of an economy class airline ticket to the venue b) receive complimentary registration to the Society for Neuroscience 36th Annual Meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia.
SELECTION PROCESS:
The selection process was such:Six graduate student abstracts were submitted to a selection committee chaired by an independent neuroscience professor. Care was taken that the Chairman selected did not have a graduate student applying for the award.There are 117 SfN chapters and each chapter submits one Graduate Student Nominee. Of these, this year, 50 of the most promisingcandidates were selected by a committee based in SfN headquarters,Washington DC. Awardees are chosen on the basis of the scientific merit of the abstract, evidence of outreach activities, as well as letters of nomination from the Principal Investigator/Mentor and the local nominating chapter. Further details about the award protocol can be accessed at
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_gradtravel

Neuroengineering Conference

2006-05-31T13:15:00.000-05:00

The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) is hosting a Neuroengineering conference June 26th through June 28th. For more information, please see the conference webpage.

Graduate Student Travel Award

2006-05-03T13:25:00.000-05:00

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Trainees:

The Dallas Area Neuroscience Group is pleased to participate once again in the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Graduate Student Travel Award Program. The program provides a travel stipend to the SfN annual meeting to a graduate student nominee selected by our chapter. If you would like to be considered, please e-mail your annual meeting abstract to info@sfndang.org before May 24th. For eligibility requirements, please see the SfN website:
http://web.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_gradtravel

If you are a postdoctoral trainee and you would like to be considered for a Postdoctoral Travel Award, please contact us as soon as possible at the same e-mail address so that we can form a selection committee:
http://web.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=TravelAwards_postdoctravel

If you have any questions, please feel free to call.

--
David Wallace Croft, Vice President
Dallas Area Neuroscience Group (www.SfNDANG.org)
(214) 636-3790 m

New Officers / February Speakers

2006-01-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

Our newly elected officers for the 2006 calendar year are Vikram Jakkamsetti as President and David Wallace Croft as Vice President/President-Elect. If you would like to serve in a volunteer officer position, please contact us.

At our next meeting on 2006 Feb 10 Fri 12:00, Vikram Jakkamsetti will speak on his research on the "Effect of Environmental Enrichment on Posterior Auditory Cortex" and David Wallace Croft will demonstrate his "Real-time Simulation and Processing of Peripheral Nerve Spike Activity" project.

For more informaton about our upcoming meetings, please subscribe to our announcements mailing list.