The University of Pennsylvania’s Neuroscience Graduate Group proudly presents A PENN NEUROSCIENCE PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES The Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences The ‘Plastic’ Brain: How Stress, Injury, and Sleep Change Your Brain THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014 AT 6:30 PM SMILOW CENTER FOR TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH 3400 CIVIC CENTER BLVD, PHILADELPHIA, PA PROGRAM 6:30 PM Leonardo Guercio Introduction Neuroscience graduate student 6:45 PM Tracy Bale, PHD Blaming your parents for everything: How parental stress changes brain development 7:05 PM Akiva Cohen, PHD Traumatic brain injury, it’s all about balance 7:25 PM Amita Sehgal, PHD Staying healthy: the importance of timing and sleep in daily life 7:45 PM Reception – meet the neuroscientists! WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BRAIN? Check out the Franklin Institute’s new monthly “Let’s Talk About Your Brain” lecture series. The next talk, on October 28th, is entitled “Born Bad? Violence, Punishment, and the Brain.” Learn more at www.fi.edu/special-events/let’s-talk-about-your-brain The Penn Center for Neuroscience and Society also hosts a public talk series. Their next talk, on November 6th, will be about “Mechanical Brains and Responsible Choices.” Find out more at neuroethics.upenn.edu/events/category/public-talk-series ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Tracy Bale, PHD Tracy is a professor of Neuroscience in the Animal Biology Department of the School of Veterinary Medicine and in the Department of Psychiatry of the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn. She received her PhD in Pharmacology and Neurobiology from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute in California was focused on stress and hormones. Her lab at Penn is interested in understanding the role of stress dysregulation in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric diseases, with a focus on sex differences. Recent studies from her lab have identified novel mechanisms involved in the effects of stress on multiple generations of offspring. Tracy has received many prestigious awards, including the Medtronic Award from the Society for Women’s Health Research for outstanding research that has led to the improvement of women’s health. Akiva Cohen, PHD Akiva is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Pediatrics here at Penn. He received his BS in Microbiology from the University of Maryland and his PhD in Biophysicis from the University of Maryland, School of Medicine for his work on viscerosensory neuronal excitability. Akiva did his postdoctoral work at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, where he focused on synaptic plasticity in brain slices. His lab studies the physiological mechanisms underlying and contributing to cognitive impairment caused by traumatic brain injury. He recently received a prestigious MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health. Amita Sehgal, PHD Amita is an HHMI Investigator and John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine. After receiving her BSc and MSc in India, she matriculated at Cornell University for graduate school, where her research focused on cell biology and genetics. During her postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University in New York with Michael Young, she began studying the genetics underlying circadian rhythms. Her research focuses on circadian rhythms that govern many physiological processes, including sleep. She is also interested in understanding why and how we need to sleep. Her work has been featured in many top tier journals as well as in popular media, including WHYY, NOVA, the BBC, the New York Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. This event is generously supported by the Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Special thanks to Jackie Fowlkes, Josh Gold, and Jane Hoshi. Penn Neuroscience Public Lecture Planning Committee: David Reiner, committee chair Yunshu Fan, Kaitlin Folweiler, Leonardo Guercio, Meghan Healey, Ari Kahn, Julia Kahn, Blake Kimmey, Wade Mayes, Ceren Ozek, Trishala Parthasarathi, Isaac Perron, and M. Morgan Taylor. Logo design by Kate Christison-Lagay. Program design by M. Morgan Taylor. All members of the planning committee are graduate students in the Neuroscience Graduate Group at Penn. Mahoney Institute for Neuroscience at Penn: med.upenn.edu/ins Neuroscience Graduate Group (NGG) at Penn: med.upenn.edu/ngg NGG Graduate-Led Initiatives & Activities: NGGglia.wordpress.com Stay tuned for a Neuroscience public outreach website from the students of the NGG, coming soon at knowyourmind.org