This seminar will address molecular determinants that regulate prion transmission and the development of distinct clinical phenotypes of prion disease. Examples of therapeutic approaches that take advantage of these determinants will be discussed.

 I am interested in elucidating how neuromodulatory systems induce reward-dependent plasticity of the neural circuits involved in visual perception. I use a multi-disciplinary approach: using optogenetics and robotics to map neural circuits in vitro, and extra- and intracellular electrophysiological recordings in vivo. I use the mouse primary visual cortex (V1) as a model system, as it combines the ease of manipulating visual stimulus with accessibility for in vivo recordings in a genetically tractable animal model. This combination of in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology with the optogenetic tools provides an integrated platform to dissect and manipulate specific circuits relevant for visual perception, and study diseases affecting perception and neural circuit function, such as autism.   

Read More:https://www.bio.purdue.edu/People/profile/achubyki.html 

Ethics of biologically inspired AI - what is most likely to go wrong? Abstract: Researchers are increasingly modelling artificial intelligence on biological brains, while the public is increasingly relating to AIs as if they were persons—“parasocial” was recently named word of the year. Together, these trends generate serious ethical concerns. Biologically inspired AI and so-called “organoid intelligence” invite the claim that minds are nothing more than sophisticated machines, eroding the intuitive boundary between persons and objects. Yet that boundary underwrites our ideas of human dignity, human rights, and the prohibition on treating people as mere objects. In this talk, I draw on the neuroscience of human reasoning to explain why our brains are so prone to confusion about what is human and what is machine. As that confusion deepens, what is most likely to go wrong first: the belief that brain organoids are conscious subjects, or the doubt that human beings have moral value? mindinvitro.illinois.edu

Paul A. Janmey, PhD 
Institute for Medicine and Engineering, Center for Engineering Mechanobiology
University of Pennsylvania

"Activity of chromatin remodeling motors controls nuclear mechanics and tumor cell migration in 3D environments" 

We use optical techniques to measure and manipulate the activity of cells and circuits in the brain involved in the formation and recall of complex memories. We use mice as our animal model, and virtual reality as a platform for learning and memory related tasks. Our goal is to understand how the brain forms and recalls memories at the scale of synapses and dendrites through to the level of large ensembles of neurons and across brain regions. 

Read More: https://neurograd.uchicago.edu/faculty/mark-sheffield-phd

Join A-WIS for our monthly seminar series, Science Uncorked. Our events this semester will be at 6 p.m.at The Literary in downtown Champaign on the following Thursdays:

• September 11
• October 9
• November 13
• December 11

All are welcome! Interested in presenting in the future? Contact a-wis@illinois.edu.