The Special Fields Neuroscience Seminar 2008
Convener
Professor Iain McGregor, Room 245 Top South Badham, tel 9351 3571 email:
iain@psych.usyd.edu.au
Time and Venue: Thursday at 12 noon in Eastern
Ave 404.
Website: http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/staff/iain/honsseminar.htm
How does it work? Each week, individual students or pairs of students do a powerpoint based
presentation on a relevant topic in an area of Neuroscience or
Psychopharmacology. There is one key paper to read each week and every student
is expected to read it – not just those presenting. The talk should not
be all about the paper but should draw on the wider area of science surrounding
it. Every Honours student attending the seminar must participate in at least
one presentation. Below is a list of suggested topics and key papers. You are
welcome to pick your own topic if you prefer but please check with seminar
co-ordinator that topic is appropriate.
Assessment. The presentation will contribute
25% towards a students total mark (including a one page written summary of
presented topic). Another 5% will be based on contributions towards discussion
throughout the semester. The remaining 70% will be based on a 2,500-word essay
in which students are required to evaluate one of a number of recent research
studies. Topics will be posted just after the Easter break. This essay is due
on 18th June.
List of papers. A preliminary list of
topics/key papers is presented below.
|
WEEK |
DATE |
SPEAKER(S) |
TOPIC
(PAPER) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
13-Mar |
Sarah Wood |
14. PARKINSONS & GAMBLING |
|
|
3 |
20-Mar |
Nissa Allnut |
19. COGNITIVE ENHANCERS |
|
|
|
|
EASTER BREAK |
|
|
|
4 |
|
Kate Harris/Nicole Wright |
22. ANTIPSYCHOTIC WEIGHT GAIN |
|
|
5 |
|
Tamara Yuen |
12. TEENAGE BRAIN |
|
|
6 |
|
Craig Motdey |
2. MIND READING |
|
|
7 |
24-Apr |
Johnny/Jiwon |
10. BRAIN AND PHOBIAS |
|
|
8 |
1-May |
Jordan and Emily Harkness |
11. ANAESTHETICS |
|
|
9 |
8-May |
Claire and Aleksandra |
17. BRAIN & ECONOMIC VALUE |
|
|
10 |
15-May |
Alex Davis |
6. DEPRESSION & 5-HT |
|
|
11 |
22-May |
Joanne Carpenter/Kristi Griffiths |
4. OCCASIONAL ECSTASY |
|
|
12 |
29-May |
Kat Simcoe-Fitzmaurice |
3. NEURAL BASIS OF BIPOLAR |
|
|
13 |
5-Jun |
Lachlan Barber |
TBA |
|
Atallah HE, Lopez-Paniagua D, Rudy JW, O'Reilly RC (2007) Separate neural substrates
for skill learning and performance in the ventral and dorsal striatum. Nat Neurosci
10(1):126-31.
Kay, K. N., Naselaris, T., Prenger, R. J. & Gallant, J. L. Nature advanced
online publication doi:10.1038/nature06713 (5 March 2008).
3. NEURAL BASIS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER AND BENEFTIS OF LITHIUM TREATMENT
Yucel K, McKinnon MC, Taylor VH, Macdonald K, Alda M, Young LT, MacQueen GM
(2007). Bilateral hippocampal volume increases after long-term lithium treatment
in patients
with bipolar disorder: a longitudinal MRI study. Psychopharmacology (Berl)
195: 357-367.
4. IS OCCASIONAL ECSTASY BAD FOR THE BRAIN?
Jager G, de Win MM, Vervaeke HK, Schilt T, Kahn RS, van den Brink W, van Ree
JM, Ramsey NF (2007). Incidental use of ecstasy: no evidence for harmful effects
on cognitive brain function in a prospective fMRI study. Psychopharmacology
(Berl) 193: 403-414.
5. NEW IDEAS ABOUT PSYCHOSIS
Gonzalez-Maeso J, Ang RL, Yuen T, Chan P, Weisstaub NV, Lopez-Gimenez JF, Zhou
M, Okawa Y, Callado LF, Milligan G, Gingrich JA, Filizola M, Meana JJ, Sealfon
SC (2008). Identification of a serotonin/glutamate receptor complex implicated
in psychosis. Nature.
6. DOES DEPRESSION ACTUALLY INVOLVE A "NEUROCHEMICAL IMBALANCE" IN
5-HT?
Lacasse JR, Leo J (2005). Serotonin and depression: a disconnect between the
advertisements and the scientific literature. PLoS Med 2: e392.
7. WHAT ARE MICROGLIA AND HOW DO THEY PROTECT THE BRAIN?
Hanisch UK, Kettenmann H (2007). Microglia: active sensor and versatile effector
cells in the normal and pathologic brain. Nat Neurosci 10: 1387-1394.
8. ENHANCING MEMORY WITH DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION
Hamani C, McAndrews MP, Cohn M, Oh M, Zumsteg D, Shapiro CM, Wennberg RA, Lozano
AM (2008). Memory enhancement induced by hypothalamic/fornix deep brain stimulation.
Ann Neurol 63: 119-123.
9. NEURAL BASIS OF MATERNAL LOVE
Noriuchi M, Kikuchi Y, Senoo A (2008). The functional neuroanatomy of maternal
love: mother's response to infant's attachment behaviors. Biol Psychiatry 63:
415-423.
10. BRAIN ACTIVATION IN PHOBIAS
Straube T, Mentzel HJ, Miltner WH (2007). Waiting for spiders: brain activation
during anticipatory anxiety in spider phobics. Neuroimage 37: 1427-1436.
11. HOW DO ANAESTHETICS WORK?
Kelz MB, Sun Y, Chen J, Cheng Meng Q, Moore JT, Veasey SC, Dixon S, Thornton
M, Funato H, Yanagisawa M (2008). An essential role for orexins in emergence
from general anesthesia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105: 1309-1314.
12. WHAT DOES THE TEENAGE BRAIN LOOK LIKE?
Powell K (2006). Neurodevelopment: how does the teenage brain work? Nature
442: 865-867.
13. NEUROBIOLOGY OF OLFACTION: NOBEL PRIZE WINNER RETRACTS KEY WORK
Heidi Ledford (2008) Nobel prizewinner's paper retracted http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/ejYJ0SplEu0HjB0BpOs0EP
14. DRUGS THAT CAN CAUSE PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING
Imamura A, Geda YE, Slowinski J, Wszolek ZK, Brown LA, Uitti RJ (2008). Medications
used to treat Parkinson's disease and the risk of gambling. Eur J Neurol.
15. UNSEEN DRUG AND SEXUAL CUES ACTIVATE THE BRAIN
Childress AR, Ehrman RN, Wang Z, Li Y, Sciortino N, Hakun J, Jens W, Suh J,
Listerud J, Marquez K, Franklin T, Langleben D, Detre J, O'Brien CP (2008).
Prelude to
passion: limbic activation by "unseen" drug and sexual cues. PLoS ONE
3: e1506.
16. NEW INSIGHTS INTO HOW THE HIPPOCAMPUS WORKS IN SPATIAL LEARNING
Nakashiba T, Young JZ, McHugh TJ, Buhl DL, Tonegawa S (2008). Transgenic inhibition
of synaptic transmission reveals role of CA3 output in hippocampal learning.
Science 319: 1260-1264.
17. HOW DOES THE BRAIN ENCODE ECONOMIC VALUE?
Plassmann H, O'Doherty J, Rangel A (2007). Orbitofrontal cortex encodes willingness
to pay in everyday economic transactions. J Neurosci 27: 9984-9988.
18. DO DRUG ADDICTS MAKE STUPID DECISIONS?
Stalnaker TA, Roesch MR, Franz TM, Calu DJ, Singh T, Schoenbaum G (2007). Cocaine-induced
decision-making deficits are mediated by miscoding in basolateral amygdala.
Nat Neurosci 10: 949-951.
19. DRUGS FOR ENHANCING COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE
Sahakian B, Morein-Zamir S (2007). Professor's little helper. Nature 450: 1157-1159.
20. EPIGENETICS AND PSYCHIATRY: WHEN IDENTICAL TWINS ARE NOT IDENTICAL
Isles AR, Wilkinson LS (2008). Epigenetics: what is it and why is it important
to mental disease? Br Med Bull.
21. THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF AGGRESSION
Miczek KA, de Almeida RM, Kravitz EA, Rissman EF, de Boer SF, Raine A (2007).
Neurobiology of escalated aggression and violence. J Neurosci 27: 11803-11806.
22. WHY DO ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS MAKE PEOPLE FAT?
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2007/1860792.htm
PARTICIPANTS
|
Surname |
Given
name(s) |
Email |
|
|
Allnutt |
Nissa Edith |
nall7646@ysyd.edu.au |
|
|
Barber |
Lachlan |
lachlan.l.barber@gmail.com |
|
|
Carpenter |
Joanne Sarah |
jcar4148@mail.usyd,edu.au |
|
|
Davis |
Alexander Patrick |
alexanderpdavis@gmail.com |
|
|
Delaney |
Jordan James |
deadholt@yahoo.com.au |
|
|
Griffiths |
Kristi |
kristig85@hotmail.com |
|
|
Harkness |
Emily Louise |
ehar5637@mail.usyd.edu.au |
|
|
Harris |
Kathryn Anne |
kathryn_harris44@hotmail.com |
|
|
Kim |
Jiwon |
jkim87@hotmail.com |
|
|
Klimova |
Aleksandra |
akli7853@mail.usyd.edu.au |
|
|
Motbey |
Craig Phillip |
cmot5383@mail.usyd.edu.au |
|
|
O'Callaghan |
Claire |
o_callaghan_claire@hotmail.com |
|
|
Simcoe-Fitzmaurice |
Katherine Grace |
katfitzy@hotmail.com |
|
|
Wood |
Sarah Grace |
swoo5556@usyd.edu.au |
|
|
Wright |
Nicole |
|
|
|
Young |
Johnny |
jyou2833@mail.usyd.edu.au |
|
|
Yuen |
Tamara Charn Yin |
tyue4693@mail.usyd.edu.au |
|