April 17, 2012 Vanderbilt Conte Center Research Program Monthly Meeting U-­‐1202 Learned/Neuroscience Conference Room Welcome and Program Update: Randy Blakely • No NOGA, no JIT at this time • Animal protocols for new projects: cannot use old animal protocols with the new funds, as the new Conte is not a continuation • Welcome new pilot grantees o Heidi Hamm o Allison Limpert o Ran Ye Conte Outreach & Education: Mark Wallace • NAMI Walk was held this past weekend o Had 28 walkers on our team (not counting dogs!) o Raised over $1500 for NAMI o If you are interested in making a $50 donation to NAMI, you can get a Blues Buster t-­‐shirt • Corporate and Foundation support for outreach, including OHO exhibit content • Licensing agreement to extend our exhibit—being picked up by a new science museum in Dallas and another in Minnesota. • Funds available in the new Conte for undergraduate education, summer programs and contributions to graduate student support. New summer programs through Conte will integrate with existing summer program architecture Administrative Review: Mary Michael-­‐Woolman (financial packets for PIs, Cores & Pilot Grantees) • Monthly PI packets with budget update • Reminder to keep Mary aware of progress spending the $4K for each project. Denise is working with Levitt and Deneris and keeping track of their spending for Mary. This money needs to be spent by the end of May • Keep Mary aware of the status of new animal protocols for the Conte, as she needs that information to complete required paperwork to process grant • Approximately $20-­‐30K available to spend on equipment we can use for cores at Vanderbilt. Must purchase as soon as possible, as equipment must be installed/invoiced by the end of June • VBI has ~$50K in money for equipment to spend. One possible option for portion of these funds could be for EEG facility for rodent work, which would be housed at the Laboratory for Neurobehavior Program Support Review: Denise Malone • Upcoming Meeting Calendar—posted on the website. Our next meeting is on May 16th, then we will have a break during June, July and August, resuming again in the fall on September 18th o Upcoming Conte Meeting Schedule: • WEDNESDAY, May 16, 2012: Emeson • September 18, 2012: Levitt • October 9, 2012: Deneris •
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November 2, 2012: Symposium (no dinner meeting) December 11, 2012: McMahon January 15, 2013: Blakely February 19, 2013: Emeson March 19, 2013: Levitt April 16, 2013: Deneris May 21, 2013: Blakely 2012 Symposium is scheduled for Friday, November 2nd. Our speaker line up is o Pat Gaspar, INSERM o Elizabeth Hammock, Vanderbilt o Mark Ansorge, Columbia o Rick Lin, University of Mississippi Medical Center o Andrew Holmes, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol o The tentative title is The Younger Games: the legacy of normal and compromised serotonin signaling during development OHO content o We will be filming the segment for Neuroscience Discovery again—I’ll let you know when o Working with School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt (slide) § Worked on readability and editing text to appeal to a broader audience § Worked on publicity by contacting schools within a 20 mile radius § Created additional content in case studies in Neuroscience History § Created a new section for Brain Matters targeted to elementary through middle aged kids called Lolo, the Brain (slide) § Did a great job of injecting fresh energy into the project Digital Signage o Working with Gregg and his crew to update content for the mouse core o Kiosk in lobby by VBI § Denise is the interface with VBI to funnel information into the kiosk § Each Conte Investigator is featured on the kiosk with their latest Conte related publication Brief Updates Cores: • Paul Gresch, Bioanalytical • Gregg Stanwood, Biobehavioral • Bing Zhang, Biostatistics and Informatics Brief Updates from Pilot Projects: • Heidi Hamm/Katherine Betke, 5-­‐HT Receptor Regulation of Synaptic Transmission by Gβγ Subunits • Allison Limpert, The Role of Phagocytosis in SSRI Mediated Neurogenesis • Ran Ye, Neuroligin 2/Neurexin Complexes Supporting 5-­‐HT Signaling Brief Updates Conte Investigators: • Evan Deneris • Pat Levitt • Ron Emeson • Doug McMahon Project Discussion: Randy Blakely