Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health | DMCBH

Dr. Alicia Izquierdo: Translational models of frontocortical circuits in learning and decision making
2024-03-22 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”)
Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) have been assigned various overlapping roles ranging from learning and responding to reward, signaling value and uncertainty, and supporting economic decisions, to name a few. Both of these regions share reciprocal anatomical connections with basolateral amygdala, contributing to functional similarities among these circuits. Using a combination of novel behavioral paradigms, DREADDs, and 1P calcium imaging in freely-moving rats, our lab has sought better resolution of diverse frontocortical processes. In this talk I will present data comparing subregional frontal cortex contributions, together with basolateral amygdala, in reward learning and value-based decisions. With few exceptions, our results suggest mostly overlapping, less specialized, roles for ACC and OFC that point to complementary roles in keeping track of expected uncertainty, or the range of typically-experienced outcomes. Collectively these findings may have implications for how we view frontocortical contributions across rodent and primate species.

Jérôme Plumier: Novel Steroidal Mechanisms of Aggression
2024-03-22 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us for the UBC Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars (BNS), a lecture series featuring DMCBH trainees and professors in a casual setting. Talks take place from 3-4 pm every Friday in DMCBH 3402A-C and on Zoom. RSVP is not required.
This week’s speaker is Jérôme Plumier from the Soma lab.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/61318867702?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 613 1886 7702
Passcode: [REDACTED]

If you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive reminders each week, please email Melody Salehzadeh (msalehzadeh@zoology.ubc.ca) and/or Jackson Schumacher (schumacher@psych.ubc.ca).

Safety and Tolerability of Ketamine for Psychiatric Treatment: a Retrospective Chart Review
2024-03-25 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Vancouver) | St. Paul’s Hospital, SPPH 1500, 1081 Burrard, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 1Y6, Canada
This month, Dr. Vivian Tsang from the Department of Psychiatry, will present “Safety and Tolerability of Ketamine for Psychiatric Treatment: a Retrospective Chart Review.”
Zoom link if unable to attend in person:
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/5747966049?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 574 796 6049
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dr. Kaarina Kowalec: Depression polygenicity and its association with multiple sclerosis disease activity and progression.
2024-04-05 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Depression is a common comorbidity in those with multiple sclerosis (MS) and is associated with faster MS disability progression. Identifying who may be at higher risk for depression or faster disease activity or progression may facilitate earlier identification. We will examine the polygenicity of comorbid depression in MS and whether it is associated with MS disease activity & disability progression in multiple cohorts from Canada, the USA, Sweden, and UK Biobank.

Dr. Carrie Ferrario: Alterations in brain & behavior that contribute to obesity
2024-04-12 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

While urges to eat are regulated by hunger, satiety, and energy demand, they are also strongly influenced by sights, sounds, and smells that are associated with food (food cues). These food cues can influence feeding behavior, triggering cravings that can promote overeating. Dr. Ferrario’s lab examines the neurobiological mechanisms of cue-triggered food craving, and how these processes are influenced by susceptibility to diet-induced obesity and by consumption of sugary, fatty, “junk-food” diets. In her talk, she will discuss how enhanced responsivity to food cues contributes to obesity, and how eating “junk-foods” enhances excitatory transmission within the NAc to influence food “craving”. She will also highlight sex differences in these effects, and the role that susceptibility to obesity plays in diet-induced plasticity.

Gelareh Modara: Experience-Specific Tuning of Postnatally-Born Hippocampal Neurons
2024-04-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us for the UBC Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars (BNS), a lecture series featuring DMCBH trainees and professors in a casual setting. Talks take place from 3-4 pm every Friday in DMCBH 3402A-C and on Zoom. RSVP is not required.
This week’s speaker is Gelareh Modara from the Madhav and Snyder labs.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/61318867702?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 613 1886 7702
Passcode: [REDACTED]

If you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive reminders each week, please email Melody Salehzadeh (msalehzadeh@zoology.ubc.ca) and/or Jackson Schumacher (schumacher@psych.ubc.ca).

Dr. Aki Taruno: A chemical synapse that lacks vesicles
2024-04-19 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Chemical neurotransmission is essential for a variety of neural processes and is traditionally understood to be mediated by Ca2+-dependent exocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Nevertheless, it has been recognized for decades that taste receptor cells in taste buds do not possess synaptic vesicles, yet they can transmit gustatory information to the nervous system. Here I will describe the identification of a unique synapse of taste receptor cells where the ion-conducting pore of a voltage-gated channel, CALHM1/3, serves as the conduit for action potential-dependent neurotransmitter (ATP) release. This mechanism has been termed a ‘channel synapse.’ Anatomically, a channel synapse is characterized by its tripartite structure, which includes a presynaptic mitochondrion adjacent to a CALHM1/3-enriched plasma membrane that faces a post-synaptic afferent nerve. Our recent discoveries extend the roles of channel synapses to various extraoral physiological and pathophysiological processes.

Family in crisis: Family as a resource
2024-04-22 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Vancouver) | Meeting Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
This month, Dr. Michael Krausz from the Department of Psychiatry, will present “Family in crisis: Family as a resource.”
Zoom link if unable to attend in person:
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/5747966049?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 574 796 6049
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dr. Edward Boyden: Tools for Analyzing and Repairing the Brain
2024-05-03 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Understanding and repairing complex biological systems, such as the brain, requires technologies for systematically observing and controlling these systems. We are discovering new molecular principles that enable such technologies. For example, we discovered that one can physically magnify biological specimens by synthesizing dense networks of swellable polymer throughout them, and then chemically processing the specimens to isotropically swell them. This method, which we call expansion microscopy, enables ordinary microscopes to do nanoimaging – important for mapping molecules throughout cells, and cells throughout brain circuits. Expansion of biomolecules away from each other also decrowds them, enabling previously invisible nanostructures to be labeled, and seen. As a second example, we discovered that microbial opsins, genetically expressed in neurons, could enable their electrical activities to be precisely controlled in response to light. These molecules, called optogenetic tools, enable causal assessment of how neurons contribute to behaviors and pathological states, and are yielding insights into new treatment strategies for brain diseases. They are also beginning to be used in human patients, in experimental clinical contexts like treating blindness. Finally, we are developing, using new strategies such as robotic directed evolution, fluorescent reporters that enable the precision measurement of signals such as voltage. In order to reveal relationships between different molecular signals within a cell, we are developing spatial and temporal multiplexing strategies that enable many such signals to be imaged at once in the same living cell, using ordinary microscopes, and requiring only fully genetically encoded constructs. We share all these tools freely, and aim to integrate the use of these tools so as to enable comprehensive understandings of neural circuits.

Dr. Anne West: From chromatin regulation to synapse development in neurodevelopmental disorders
2024-05-10 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Chromatin regulatory proteins are a major class of gene products for which sequence variants are associated with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability; however, the functional consequences of these mutations for brain development remain poorly understood. We are identifying molecular mechanisms through which chromatin regulatory enzymes promote the expression of synaptic gene products and functional neuronal maturation. I will discuss how our studies are working to build a foundation for understanding how dysregulation of chromatin regulation in the developing brain leads to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Brian Corneil: Responding when time is of the essence: a subcortical substrate for rapid visually-guided reaching.
2024-05-24 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Humans operate in a dynamic and uncertain world; sudden changes in an object’s position require rapid changes in motor control. Previous research in humans has shown that on-going visually-guided actions can be altered at latencies that approach minimal afferent and efferent conduction delays. The contribution of such a fast visuomotor system to overall motor control has long been recognized, but fundamental questions remain about the underlying neural substrates, and about the comparative contribution of cortical versus subcortical pathways.
My talk will focus on converging work on express responses in humans and non-human primates (NHPs). One type of express response is the express saccade, and another type is what we term an “express visuomotor response”, which can appear on upper-limb muscles in humans in less than 100 ms, and in less than 65 ms in animal models. Such remarkably short latencies limit the opportunity for extensive cortical processing, leading to the hypothesis that express visuomotor responses arise via tecto-reticulo-spinal signalling through the superior colliculus. Ongoing experiments establish that visually-related reaching signals arise within ~50 ms in the movement related layers of the superior colliculus, which appears early enough to generate express visuomotor responses. These results set the stage for comparative analysis of signal timing in frontal cortical areas. In the final part of my talk, I will discuss recent findings which show that express visuomotor responses persist in Parkinson’s Disease, despite degradation of signals related to deliberative reaching. Across all studies, we are seeing compelling similarities between the properties of express responses and the visual transient in the superior colliculus (SC). Such findings lead us to suggest that a subcortical tecto-reticulo-spinal circuit, which itself can be primed by cortical inputs, distributes the earliest visuomotor response that is shared across multiple body effectors.

The dark arts of naturalistic neuroscience: Using movie-fMRI to study functional brain organization in child psychiatric disorders
2024-05-27 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Vancouver) | BC Children’s Hospital (BCCHR) Room 2108 (across from Chan Auditorium), 938 W 28th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4H4
This month, Dr. Tamara Vanderwal from the Department of Psychiatry, will present “The dark arts of naturalistic neuroscience: Using movie-fMRI to study functional brain organization in child psychiatric disorders.”
Zoom link if unable to attend in person:
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/5747966049?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 574 796 6049
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dr. Khaled Abdelrahman: Decoding the Intricacies of GPCR Signaling in neurodegenerative diseases
2024-05-31 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Our research focuses on the intricate role of specific G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. A key aspect of our focus is unraveling the sex-specific regulation of GPCR signaling in these conditions. Through exploring these intricacies, we aim to illuminate novel therapeutic avenues and enhance our understanding of the complex interplay between GPCRs and neurodegeneration.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/67841144478?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 678 4114 4478
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dr. Mike Hildebrand: Bridging the translational divide: Development of human spinal cord assays for investigating molecular mechanisms and treatments for pain
2024-06-05 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Summary: In this talk, Dr. Hildebrand will highlight his recent work aimed at bridging the translational divide between rodent preclinical work on spinal pain processing and new treatment approaches for humans. His team has developed new human spinal cord tissue models of pain signaling that parallel rodent in vivo and ex vivo pain models. Using these complementary approaches, they are investigating molecular mechanisms of pain processing across development, sex and species, including the regulation of excitatory glutamate receptors and neuronal excitability in dorsal horn nociceptive circuits.

Mike Hildebrand Bio: Dr. Mike Hildebrand completed his PhD in neurophysiology in Dr. Terry Snutch’s lab at UBC, followed by an industrial R&D fellowship at Neuromed Pharmaceuticals in Vancouver. After this, Dr. Hildebrand completed an academic postdoctoral fellowship in Mike Salter’s lab at Sick Kids Hospital. Dr. Hildebrand is now leading a translational pain research program as a Professor in the Neuroscience Department at Carleton University and as an Affiliate Investigator at The Ottawa Hospital. His research team is studying mechanisms of acute and chronic pain processing using animal and human spinal cord tissue models. Dr. Hildebrand is also the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the Canadian Pain Society and an Associate Dean in Graduate Studies at Carleton.

CLEAR 2024 Research Update Event
2024-06-06 15:00 - 18:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join the Canadians For Leading Edge Alzheimer Research (CLEAR) for their 2nd annual research update to learn about the latest research breakthroughs, participate in behind-the-scenes lab tours and network with the medical community and other supporters.
Speakers:

Dr. Freda Miller
Dr. Brian MacVicar
Dr. Anthony Phillips
Heather Sosa

RSVP: https://signup-can.keela.co/clear-2024-research-update-event
For any event inquiries, please contact marketing@clearalzheimers.ca

Dr. Peri Kurshan: Protein-lipid interactions drive presynaptic assembly prior to cell-adhesion molecule recruitment
2024-09-20 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Our lab uses C. elegans to study the molecular mechanisms of synapse development, focusing on how presynaptic proteins such as neurexins and active zone scaffold molecules interact and assemble. We have found a surprising role for protein-lipid interactions early in the process of synapse assembly. We also use C. elegans to model human patient mutations in presynaptic calcium channels to gain a better understanding of how and why these mutations lead to varied patient manifestations.

Distinct cognitive/perceptual/motor modes of fMRI brain activity: The proof is in the BOLD signal
2024-09-23 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
This month, Dr. Todd Woodward from the Department of Psychiatry, will present “Distinct cognitive/perceptual/motor modes of fMRI brain activity: The proof is in the BOLD signal.”
Zoom link if unable to attend in person:
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/63135246816?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 631 3524 6816
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dr. Katharine Smith: Illuminating mechanisms of inhibitory synapse function and plasticity
2024-09-27 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

The Smith lab investigates the molecular mechanisms that underly synaptic inhibition, its plasticity and how it is disrupted in disease. We use advanced microscopy techniques like super-resolution microscopy to analyze the fine details of the synapse, and link these findings to synapse function and diversity, therefore providing a new logic to synaptic inhibition.

Dr. Carrie Esopenko: Intimate Partner Violence-Brain Injury: What We Know and How Can We help?
2024-10-18 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
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Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dr. Carrie Esopenko is an Associate Professor in the Brain Injury Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She is also holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion Center at the University of Utah, as well as in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Rutgers – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She is the principal investigator of a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke R01-funded multi-site study examining the psychological, cognitive, and neural signatures of IPV-related head trauma. She is the Lead Investigator of the ENIGMA Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Working Group seeking to increase IPV brain injury research collaborations worldwide, and co-leads ENIGMA Global Knowledge Exchange Network which seeks to provide education and training supports to service providers and advocates working with IPV-related brain injury. Her research focuses on understanding the effects of neurotrauma and mental health conditions across populations, and identifying methods for injury prevention and patient-specific and community-based intervention strategies.

Peiying Wen: The effect of adult-neurogenesis in ECS (electroconvulsive shocks)-induced amnesia
2024-10-18 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us for the UBC Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars (BNS), a lecture series featuring DMCBH trainees and professors in a casual setting. Talks take place from 3-4 pm every Friday in DMCBH 3402A-C and on Zoom. RSVP is not required.
This week’s speaker is Peiying Wen from the Snyder / Vila-Rodriguez labs.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/62773707502?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 627 7370 7502 | Passcode: [REDACTED]
Visit the BNS website to view the full presentation schedule for the term and to subscribe to the mailing list for updates: https://bnsseminar.psych.ubc.ca/

BC Brain Wellness Program 5th Year Anniversary Celebration
2024-10-19 13:00 - 16:30 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
We are thrilled to invite you to celebrate the BC Brain Wellness Program’s 5th year anniversary -”Impact and Inspiration”!
Since its inception in October 2019, the Brain Wellness Program has provided lifestyle programming and presentations at no cost to individuals with chronic brain conditions, their care partners, and healthy agers. Join us for a day of reflection, celebration, and inspiration as we honour the past and embrace new possibilities to make even bigger impacts here at BC Brain Wellness.
The anniversary event will be a half-day hybrid event with programming that will include speakers, snack catering, door prizes, interactive workshops, a creative gallery, booths, and a reception-style networking session. There will also be a keynote presentation by Dr. Dean Ornish.

Dr. Catherine Peña: Early life stress primes sensitivity to future stress: from engrams to epigenetics
2024-10-25 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”)
Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Early life stress increases sensitivity to stress later in life, which may be at the root of increased risk for mental health disorders. Our work seeks to understand the mechanistic underpinnings of this heightened stress sensitivity. Using transgenic mice to label and capture experience-actiated neurons, we show that neurons active during early life stress are more likely to be reactivated during adult stress experience, and that chemogenetically inhibiting these neurons rescues behavioral changes. Heightened cellular reactivity may be due to long-lasting changes in the epigenome that leave chromatin more open and transcriptionally reactive to additional stimuli, particularly in stress-activated neurons. Together, this work supports a biological model in which stress alters chromatin development, leading to increased cellular reactivity and ultimately behavioral sensitivity to future stress.

Annie Kim: Novel Virtual Reality (VR) Spatial Navigation Task, Neural Circuits for Computation, Cognition and Control
2024-10-25 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us for the UBC Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars (BNS), a lecture series featuring DMCBH trainees and professors in a casual setting. Talks take place from 3-4 pm every Friday in DMCBH 3402A-C and on Zoom. RSVP is not required.
This week’s speaker is Annie Kim from the Madhav lab.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/62773707502?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 627 7370 7502 | Passcode: [REDACTED]
Visit the BNS website to view the full presentation schedule for the term and to subscribe to the mailing list for updates: https://bnsseminar.psych.ubc.ca/

Mind and Mood: Innovative Methods for Understanding and Treating Cognitive Dysfunction in Mood Disorders
2024-10-28 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
This month, Dr. Trisha Chakrabarty from the Department of Psychiatry will present “Mind and Mood: Innovative Methods for Understanding and Treating Cognitive Dysfunction in Mood Disorders.”
Zoom link if unable to attend in person:
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/5936706150?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 593 670 6150
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dr. Edmund Au: Elucidating Principles of Cortical Interneuron Synaptic Organization
2024-11-01 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”)
Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Cortical interneurons are the most transcriptionally and morphologically diverse neurons in the brain, characterized in part by their striking degree of synaptic specificity. However, little is known about the extent of their synaptic diversity due to the lack of unbiased methods to extract features of synaptic organization among interneuron subtypes. In this talk, I will introduce an approach we developed that combines imaging and computational extraction of synaptic features from genetically-identified interneuron synapses and their subcellular specificity among postsynaptic targets. A machine-learning approach (1) reveals hundreds of spatial and structural features from each analyzed synapse, (2) constructs a multidimensional data set, consisting of millions of synapses, and (3) uncovers novel synaptic subgroups. By analyzing this dataset, we found that dendrite-targeting synaptic subgroups were clustered onto distinct subdomains of the dendrite along the proximal to distal axis; Soma-targeting subgroups were enriched onto different postsynaptic cell types; Finally, the two main subclasses of interneurons, basket cells and somatostatin interneurons, utilize distinct strategies to enact inhibitory synaptic coverage. Thus, we uncover previously unknown structural and topological features of inhibitory synaptic organization and establishes a conceptual framework for studying inhibitory synaptic diversity in health and disease.

Ava Momeni & Abhijit Chinchani: Using fMRI to Detect Cognitive Modes and tACS to Modulate the Neural Underpinnings of Cognitive Modes
2024-11-01 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us for the UBC Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars (BNS), a lecture series featuring DMCBH trainees and professors in a casual setting. Talks take place from 3-4 pm every Friday in DMCBH 3402A-C and on Zoom. RSVP is not required.
This week’s speakers are Ava Momeni & Abhijit Chinchani from the Woodward lab.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/62773707502?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 627 7370 7502 | Passcode: [REDACTED]
Visit the BNS website to view the full presentation schedule for the term and to subscribe to the mailing list for updates: https://bnsseminar.psych.ubc.ca/

Dr. Federico Bolanos: Exploring neural circuits for visual texture discrimination
2024-11-08 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us for the UBC Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars (BNS), a lecture series featuring DMCBH trainees and professors in a casual setting. Talks take place from 3-4 pm every Friday in DMCBH 3402A-C and on Zoom. RSVP is not required.
This week’s speaker is Dr. Federico Bolanos from the NINC.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/62773707502?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 627 7370 7502 | Passcode: [REDACTED]
Visit the BNS website to view the full presentation schedule for the term and to subscribe to the mailing list for updates: https://bnsseminar.psych.ubc.ca/

Dr. Anna Phan: How social isolation impairs learning
2024-11-15 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Zoom option if unable to attend in person:
Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”)
Meeting ID: 91512 289258
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Social isolation and loneliness has been on the rise for the last 20yrs. Many studies have linked increased rates of isolation and loneliness to dementia, depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders, but how isolation affects the brain to alter behaviors is unknown. Here, we focus on how isolation impairs learning and memory in the model organism Drosophila. We’ve found that isolation impairs learning and reduces synaptic proteins in the brains of fruit flies. This appears to cause alterations to their neural circuitry that impairs learning by reducing the capacity for synaptic plasticity.

Judy Cheng: Neuromodulatory control of glutamate transmission and motor learning in Huntington’s Disease mice
2024-11-15 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | DMCBH Room 3402, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us for the UBC Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars (BNS), a lecture series featuring DMCBH trainees and professors in a casual setting. Talks take place from 3-4 pm every Friday in DMCBH 3402A-C and on Zoom. RSVP is not required.
This week’s speaker is Judy Cheng from the Raymond lab.
Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/62773707502?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 627 7370 7502 | Passcode: [REDACTED]
Visit the BNS website to view the full presentation schedule for the term and to subscribe to the mailing list for updates: https://bnsseminar.psych.ubc.ca/

"Capturing Grace" film screening
2024-11-16 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | Rudy North Lecture Theatre, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Join us on November 16 for a FREE screening of the award-winning documentary “Capturing Grace,” which follows individuals with Parkinson’s as they prepare to stage a first-ever dance performance. Through determination, adversity, and contending with doubt, the film highlights the transformative power of art and the strength of the human spirit.
Coincidentally, 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of both the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and the documentary film. Join us either in person or virtually for this moving experience!
The screening will be followed by a discussion with:

Dr. Silke Appel-Cresswell, Associate Professor and Marg Meikle Professor in Parkinson’s Disease
Dr. Cheryl Wellington, Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
David Leventhal, Program Director, Dance for PD

Registration is now closed.

Event schedule (subject to change):
9:30-10:00 am: Registration/check-in and light refreshments
10:00-10:05 am: Welcome and introduction
10:05-11:05 am: Film screening
11:05-11:15 am: Interactive dance activity with Megan Walker-Straight, BC Brain Wellness Program instructor
11:15-11:35 am: Discussion/Q&A
11:35 am-12:00 pm: Refreshments
