2014 Neuroscience Day – May 16

Abstract Submission is Now Closed
Please register for the meeting via the link provided below.

Neuroscience Day 2014 will take place on the Wright State University Campus on May 16th, 2014.  The program is available here and maps to the meeting location are here.

We are thrilled that Dr. Harald Sontheimer will be the keynote speaker at Neuroscience Day 2014. Dr. Sontheimer is a professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the Director of the Center for Glial Biology in Medicine, the Civitan International Research Center, and the Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate program at UAB.Dr. Harald Sontheimer

The goal of Dr. Sontheimer’s research is to understand how glial cells contribute to neuronal function in the healthy and diseased brain. His lab has investigated glial cell migration during development, after injury, and in malignancy with a focus on the intrinsic adaptations that facilitate cell shape changes during migration. His laboratory hopes to determine whether malignant transformation induces novel mechanisms allowing brain tumor cells to migrate and invade other portions of the brain. His laboratory recently discovered the important role that chloride secretion through anion channels plays as glia move through the extracellular spaces of brain tissue.

Dr. Sontheimer’s laboratory uses molecular biology, confocal and fluorescent cell imaging techniques, patch clamp electrophysiology, and quantitative measures of migration and cell invasion to examine glial cell function and pathophysiology. His studies employ cell culture models and tissues derived from biopsies of patients who present with glial tumors and other nervous system diseases.

Additional information and links to Dr. Sontheimer’s research and publications can be found here.

In addition to Dr. Sontheimer’s presentation, Neuroscience Day 2014 will include Professional Development Sessions aimed at graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The graduate student session will describe strategies for getting the most out of a post-doctoral experience. For post-doctoral fellows, the session will provide a glimpse into the workings of professional search committees in academia, industry, and government/policy positions.

As in the past, Neuroscience Day 2014 will include invited oral presentations from each OMV-SfN member institution and posters presented by graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and faculty. Awards will be given to the best student poster from each OMV-SfN institution plus an award for the best presentation from a post-doctoral fellow at any institution.

Please take the time now to register for Neuroscience Day 2014. There is no fee for registration. The deadline for abstract submissions is May 1, 2014.

Finally, if you are not an OMV-SfN member or have not renewed your membership for 2014, please join/renew now!