Past events | The department of Brain Sciences

All events, 2015

בין "חביון הלב" ל"טוב למות בעד ארצנו" : ייצוגי התאבדות בספרות העברית המודרנית

Lecture

Date:

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Hour: 12:00

Location:

Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Brain Research

Maya Amitai, MD PHD

|

Dept of Psychological Medicine, Schneider Children’s Medical Center Sackler Faculty of Medicine and The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv University

תקציר: התאבדות היא תופעה אנושית שחוצה תרבויות ותקופות הנחקרת במסגרת דיסציפלינות רבות ומגוונות. למרות המאמץ הרב-תחומי הענף לפענח את התופעה, היא נותרת במובנים רבים חידתית ונטולת הסבר מְספק. העיסוק בתופעת ההתאבדות נפוץ מאוד בעולם היצירה הספרותית, כביטוי נוסף לניסיון הבלתי נלאה לפענח ולמשמע את החריגה המתגלמת בהתאבדות מסדריו הנורמטיביים של הקיום האנושי. אקט ההתאבדות הוא כשלעצמו אתר של עימות בין כוחות סותרים רבי עוצמה, דהיינו דחף החיים אל מול יצר המוות, והוא עשוי להיקרא גם כבעל משמעויות עמוקות בכל הנוגע ליצר החיים המתבטא ביצירה האמנותית בכלל ובכתיבה בפרט. קריאת מעשה ההתאבדות הספרותית עשויה לשפוך אור על אתרים "אפלים" בנפש האדם ועל האופן שבו הספרות עשויה להעניק להם מילים ולפענח אותם. מחקרי מתחקה אחר ייצוגים של התאבדות במבחר יצירות בפרוזה מן הספרות העברית המודרנית תוך הפניית מבט סינכרוני ודיאכרוני אל ייצוגיה של התופעה בהקשרים הפסיכולוגיים, החברתיים והפוליטיים, וכן אל תפקידה התמטי והאסתטי בטקסט הספרותי. מטרתו של המחקר היא לבחון את מעשה ההתאבדות כפי שהוא מיוצג בספרות כנקודת מפגש עוצמתית ומיוחדת במינה בין כוחות מנוגדים חברתיים, פוליטיים ופסיכולוגיים. בהקשר הספציפי של הספרות העברית, שמתוכה נבחר קורפוס המחקר, ושעניינה המתמשך הינו התהליכים ההיסטוריים שעברה תנועת התחייה הלאומית מסוף המאה התשע-עשרה ועד היום, מצטרף דיון זה אל הניסיון המחקרי-תיאורטי הקיים לשרטט את יחסי הגומלין המשתנים בין הקולקטיבי לאינדיווידואלי בתרבות העברית המתחדשת.

Insights into the Interplay Between Gait and Cognition

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Jeffrey M. Hausdorff

|

Director, Center for the Study of Movement, Cognition, and Mobility Dept of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Professor, Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

Walking was once considered to be an automatic task that requires minimal higher-level cognitive input. This presentation will briefly review emerging evidence that links cognitive function to gait and fall risk in healthy adults and in patients with neurodegenerative disease. We will attempt to explain why certain gait alterations predict the development of dementia and why safe ambulation depends on executive function and attention. Building on those insights, we describe preliminary findings that illustrate the potential of novel therapeutic approaches for enhancing mobility and cognition and for reducing fall risk. A final example illustrates that a motor-cognitive intervention may promote beneficial neural plasticity in frontal lobe activation during complex walking conditions.

Neural Basis of Motion Opponency in the Fly

Lecture

Date:

Monday, February 2, 2015

Hour: 13:00

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Alexander Borst

|

Dept of Systems and Computational Neurobiology Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology Martinsried, Germany

Alexander Borst aims at understanding the foundations of information processing at the level of small neural circuits, focusing on the visual course control system in Drosophila. Borst’s lab uses a comprehensive approach , combining electron microscopy-aided anatomical reconstructions of the circuit, physiological characterization by both imaging and whole cell patch recordings, genetic circuit manipulation in behaving flies, computational modeling and last but not least, engineering of fly-inspired robots that implement the theoretical principles and test their functionality. Borst’s outstanding research has yielded a very precise and detailed description of the circuit at the single cell resolution as well as a thorough understanding of the computations it performs. Several of his major scientific contributions include the discovery that the direction of visually perceived motion is calculated following the Reichardt Model (Single & Borst, Science 1998), the separation of visual information in the fly brain into ON- and OFF-channels, similar to bipolar cells in the retina of vertebrate eyes (Jösch, Schnell, Raghu, Reiff & Borst, Nature 2010) and the existence of four types of neurons in each channel, tuned to one of the four cardinal directions (right, left, up, down) that project into four separate neuronal layers based on their preferred direction (Maisak et al, Nature 2013). https://www.neuro.mpg.de/borst

In Search of the Holy Grail of Fly Motion Vision

Lecture

Date:

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Alexander Borst

|

Dept of Systems and Computational Neurobiology Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology Martinsried, Germany

Alexander Borst aims at understanding the foundations of information processing at the level of small neural circuits, focusing on the visual course control system in Drosophila. Borst’s lab uses a comprehensive approach , combining electron microscopy-aided anatomical reconstructions of the circuit, physiological characterization by both imaging and whole cell patch recordings, genetic circuit manipulation in behaving flies, computational modeling and last but not least, engineering of fly-inspired robots that implement the theoretical principles and test their functionality. Borst’s outstanding research has yielded a very precise and detailed description of the circuit at the single cell resolution as well as a thorough understanding of the computations it performs. Several of his major scientific contributions include the discovery that the direction of visually perceived motion is calculated following the Reichardt Model (Single & Borst, Science 1998), the separation of visual information in the fly brain into ON- and OFF-channels, similar to bipolar cells in the retina of vertebrate eyes (Jösch, Schnell, Raghu, Reiff & Borst, Nature 2010) and the existence of four types of neurons in each channel, tuned to one of the four cardinal directions (right, left, up, down) that project into four separate neuronal layers based on their preferred direction (Maisak et al, Nature 2013). https://www.neuro.mpg.de/borst

Advances in Brain Sciences: RIKEN BSI and WIS Workshop

Conference

Date:

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Hour:

Location:

Dolfi and Lola Ebner Auditorium

Homepage

The CNS as an immune-privileged site and the mechanisms underlying this function:The Importance of the CD200L for the Healing Process Following Spinal Cord Injury and for Regulating the Barriers to the CNS

Lecture

Date:

Monday, January 19, 2015

Hour: 11:30

Location:

Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Brain Research

Hila Ben Yehuda

|

MSc Student, Prof. Michal Schwartz Group, Department of Neurobiology

Odor Identity Coding

Lecture

Date:

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Dmitry Rinberg

|

NYU Neuroscience Institute New York University Langone Medical Center

Figure-ground segregation of smells

Lecture

Date:

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hour: 14:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Dan Rokni

|

Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology Harvard University Cambridge, MA

Sensory stimuli in natural environments arise from many sources and the segregation of these sources into perceptually distinct objects is critical for an animal’s adaptive behavior. While segregation of visual and auditory signals has been studied extensively, little is known about the segregation of odors. I will describe our study aiming to provide a description of the behavioral ability of macrosmatic mammals to segregate odors. Specifically, we asked how the ability to segregate odors relates to features of the individual odors that are mixed. We developed a behavioral task for mice in which they were trained to report the presence of specific target odorants embedded in random background mixtures. We found that mice are highly capable of segregating an odor-figure from a background. Relating behavioral accuracy to the representations of target and background odors by olfactory receptor neurons, we found that the difficulty of segregation is not related to the similarity between odors, but rather is explained by the amount of overlap in the representations of background and target odors.

Regulation of excitatory-inhibitory balance in cortical circuits by sensory-induced gene programs

Lecture

Date:

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Hour: 14:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Ivo Spiegel

|

Dept of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Abstract: The ability to adapt to and learn from sensory experiences is crucial for an animal’s survival and underlies many of our cognitive capabilities, and a central question in neurobiology thus concerns the place within a neural circuit where these adaptions happen and the molecular mechanisms that mediate them. Neural circuits in the neocortex adapt to sensory experience by the induction of genes that function at synaptic sites to regulate circuit activity and to maintain the balance between excitation and inhibition (E/I balance). While the molecular mechanisms associated with the modulation of specific synapses has been studied extensively in excitatory neurons, far less is known about how sensory experience regulates synaptic inputs to inhibitory neurons and how these mechanisms might regulate E/I-balance in cortical circuits. In my talk, I will discuss our recent findings regarding the nature of the gene programs that are induced by sensory experience in cortical inhibitory neurons and the molecular mechanisms through which these gene programs modulate specific synaptic inputs to functionally distinct inhibitory neuron subtypes and thereby regulate E/I-balance within cortical circuits. Our experiments reveal that experience-induced gene programs in cortical neurons are far more subtype-specific than previously appreciated and that these gene programs are adapted to the function of each neuronal subtype within the circuit in a manner that mediates circuit homeostasis and plasticity in the neocortex.

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All events, 2015

Insights into the Interplay Between Gait and Cognition

Lecture

Date:

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Jeffrey M. Hausdorff

|

Director, Center for the Study of Movement, Cognition, and Mobility Dept of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Professor, Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

Walking was once considered to be an automatic task that requires minimal higher-level cognitive input. This presentation will briefly review emerging evidence that links cognitive function to gait and fall risk in healthy adults and in patients with neurodegenerative disease. We will attempt to explain why certain gait alterations predict the development of dementia and why safe ambulation depends on executive function and attention. Building on those insights, we describe preliminary findings that illustrate the potential of novel therapeutic approaches for enhancing mobility and cognition and for reducing fall risk. A final example illustrates that a motor-cognitive intervention may promote beneficial neural plasticity in frontal lobe activation during complex walking conditions.

Neural Basis of Motion Opponency in the Fly

Lecture

Date:

Monday, February 2, 2015

Hour: 13:00

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Alexander Borst

|

Dept of Systems and Computational Neurobiology Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology Martinsried, Germany

Alexander Borst aims at understanding the foundations of information processing at the level of small neural circuits, focusing on the visual course control system in Drosophila. Borst’s lab uses a comprehensive approach , combining electron microscopy-aided anatomical reconstructions of the circuit, physiological characterization by both imaging and whole cell patch recordings, genetic circuit manipulation in behaving flies, computational modeling and last but not least, engineering of fly-inspired robots that implement the theoretical principles and test their functionality. Borst’s outstanding research has yielded a very precise and detailed description of the circuit at the single cell resolution as well as a thorough understanding of the computations it performs. Several of his major scientific contributions include the discovery that the direction of visually perceived motion is calculated following the Reichardt Model (Single & Borst, Science 1998), the separation of visual information in the fly brain into ON- and OFF-channels, similar to bipolar cells in the retina of vertebrate eyes (Jösch, Schnell, Raghu, Reiff & Borst, Nature 2010) and the existence of four types of neurons in each channel, tuned to one of the four cardinal directions (right, left, up, down) that project into four separate neuronal layers based on their preferred direction (Maisak et al, Nature 2013). https://www.neuro.mpg.de/borst

In Search of the Holy Grail of Fly Motion Vision

Lecture

Date:

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Alexander Borst

|

Dept of Systems and Computational Neurobiology Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology Martinsried, Germany

Alexander Borst aims at understanding the foundations of information processing at the level of small neural circuits, focusing on the visual course control system in Drosophila. Borst’s lab uses a comprehensive approach , combining electron microscopy-aided anatomical reconstructions of the circuit, physiological characterization by both imaging and whole cell patch recordings, genetic circuit manipulation in behaving flies, computational modeling and last but not least, engineering of fly-inspired robots that implement the theoretical principles and test their functionality. Borst’s outstanding research has yielded a very precise and detailed description of the circuit at the single cell resolution as well as a thorough understanding of the computations it performs. Several of his major scientific contributions include the discovery that the direction of visually perceived motion is calculated following the Reichardt Model (Single & Borst, Science 1998), the separation of visual information in the fly brain into ON- and OFF-channels, similar to bipolar cells in the retina of vertebrate eyes (Jösch, Schnell, Raghu, Reiff & Borst, Nature 2010) and the existence of four types of neurons in each channel, tuned to one of the four cardinal directions (right, left, up, down) that project into four separate neuronal layers based on their preferred direction (Maisak et al, Nature 2013). https://www.neuro.mpg.de/borst

The CNS as an immune-privileged site and the mechanisms underlying this function:The Importance of the CD200L for the Healing Process Following Spinal Cord Injury and for Regulating the Barriers to the CNS

Lecture

Date:

Monday, January 19, 2015

Hour: 11:30

Location:

Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Brain Research

Hila Ben Yehuda

|

MSc Student, Prof. Michal Schwartz Group, Department of Neurobiology

Odor Identity Coding

Lecture

Date:

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Hour: 12:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Prof. Dmitry Rinberg

|

NYU Neuroscience Institute New York University Langone Medical Center

Figure-ground segregation of smells

Lecture

Date:

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hour: 14:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Dan Rokni

|

Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology Harvard University Cambridge, MA

Sensory stimuli in natural environments arise from many sources and the segregation of these sources into perceptually distinct objects is critical for an animal’s adaptive behavior. While segregation of visual and auditory signals has been studied extensively, little is known about the segregation of odors. I will describe our study aiming to provide a description of the behavioral ability of macrosmatic mammals to segregate odors. Specifically, we asked how the ability to segregate odors relates to features of the individual odors that are mixed. We developed a behavioral task for mice in which they were trained to report the presence of specific target odorants embedded in random background mixtures. We found that mice are highly capable of segregating an odor-figure from a background. Relating behavioral accuracy to the representations of target and background odors by olfactory receptor neurons, we found that the difficulty of segregation is not related to the similarity between odors, but rather is explained by the amount of overlap in the representations of background and target odors.

Regulation of excitatory-inhibitory balance in cortical circuits by sensory-induced gene programs

Lecture

Date:

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Hour: 14:30

Location:

Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall

Dr. Ivo Spiegel

|

Dept of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Abstract: The ability to adapt to and learn from sensory experiences is crucial for an animal’s survival and underlies many of our cognitive capabilities, and a central question in neurobiology thus concerns the place within a neural circuit where these adaptions happen and the molecular mechanisms that mediate them. Neural circuits in the neocortex adapt to sensory experience by the induction of genes that function at synaptic sites to regulate circuit activity and to maintain the balance between excitation and inhibition (E/I balance). While the molecular mechanisms associated with the modulation of specific synapses has been studied extensively in excitatory neurons, far less is known about how sensory experience regulates synaptic inputs to inhibitory neurons and how these mechanisms might regulate E/I-balance in cortical circuits. In my talk, I will discuss our recent findings regarding the nature of the gene programs that are induced by sensory experience in cortical inhibitory neurons and the molecular mechanisms through which these gene programs modulate specific synaptic inputs to functionally distinct inhibitory neuron subtypes and thereby regulate E/I-balance within cortical circuits. Our experiments reveal that experience-induced gene programs in cortical neurons are far more subtype-specific than previously appreciated and that these gene programs are adapted to the function of each neuronal subtype within the circuit in a manner that mediates circuit homeostasis and plasticity in the neocortex.