November 29, 2011

http://www.sfn.org/am2011/

Upcoming Events
•BBS Brown Bags – FRIDAYS in GR 4.301 from 1-2:00pm
•Dec. 2 – Patrick Beall.
•Dec. 9 – Marise Parent.
•Center for Vital Longevity Lunch Series – MONDAYS at CVL
Conference Room (8 th Floor) from 12-1:00pm
•Dec. 5 – John Jonides, PhD. Improving Intelligence.
•FLASH Brown Bag – FRIDAYS in Callier Center Dallas room J108
(videolink in Callier Center Richardson in 1.508) from 12-1:00pm
•Dec. 9 – Melissa Sherman.

UTD BBS News
Nov. 1, 2011

A student uses equipment that is part of haptics research, which could help identify how the brain can best signal the body to move a prosthesis.
UTD BBS News
$7 Million in Awards Fund Research for Veterans
Research by the Center for BrainHealth Aims to Help
Veterans Deal with Post-Combat Issues
Nov. 11, 2011
“We do not want to be a last resort for the injured but rather a place to test, define, and deliver effective training protocols to elevate brain fitness much in the same way service members are expected to train for physical fitness,” said Dr. Dan Krawczyk, program leader at the Center for BrainHealth.
A student is fitted with equipment for Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation. A new study aims to help those who suffer from
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

UTD BBS News
Research Widens Study of Brain's Role in Tinnitus
Experiments Find Functioning Changed by Noise in
Previously Undetected Ways
Nov. 14, 2011
UT Dallas neuroscientists are examining whether multiple areas of the brain are culpable in causing tinnitus, research that could enable new medical interventions against the disabling effects of severe “ringing in the ears.”
Dr. Tres Thompson found that exposure to loud noises induces plasticity in the hippocampus, a section of the brain not primarily associated with hearing but known for learning-related plasticity.
This neuroplasticity – changes in the function of the brain in reaction to experiences – could open the door to long-term tinnitus, he said.
A three-year, $135,000 grant from the American Tinnitus Association supports this work in Thompson’s lab. The next stage of research will focus on drug treatments aimed at reducing or reversing plasticity. Thompson wants to test whether certain drugs targeting plasticity mechanisms might inhibit or change plasticity, protecting against tinnitus.

UTD BBS News
Prof Shares Facial Recognition Security
Research
Technology Draws Interest at UK Conference
Ahead of 2012 Olympics
Nov. 29, 2011
Dr. Alice O’Toole, a professor of cognitive neuroscience went to London to present her findings at the Biometrics
Exhibition and Conference. Biometrics is the measurement of physical characteristics to identify individuals, such as fingerprints, DNA, retinal patterns or facial features.
During the October conference, the United Kingdom’s
Home Office hosted a smaller meeting for prominent academics and government officials. The Olympics are slated for London in 2012, so security leaders were particularly interested in how biometrics might be used to protect against terrorism or other types of crime, O’Toole said.
She presented her latest face-recognition research to a group that included representatives of the
Communications-Electronics Security Group, the UK information assurance agency; the United States FBI; the
British Foreign and Commonwealth Office; the Australian attorney general’s office; and the London Metropolitan
Police, also known as Scotland Yard.
Research in Dr. O’Toole’s lab is funded by the U.S.
Department of Defense
The figures, which show information about gender, are part of research in the School of Behavioral and Brain
Sciences Face Perception and
Research Laboratories.

Student Title Faculty Advisor
Alice O’Toole
Allyson Rice Facial recognition: expert and novice comparison
Angela Johnston Candice Mills
Srihari Lella
What Factors Influence Children's
Evaluation of Sources of Information?
The role of dendritic localization and nonsense mediated decay of the activity-regulated cytoskeletalassociated protein's (Arc/Arg 3.1) mRNA in learning & memory
Jonathan Ploski
Alex Partin
Lauren Houston
Dayra Lorenzo Mercado The Role of 5HT1A Receptors in a Rat
Model of Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder
Francisco Garcia The stress-induced cytokine
Interleukin-6 decreases synaptic inhibition and excitation in the rat temporal cortex
Marissa Co
Effects of Dequalinium on Protein
Expression in the Amygdala
Exploration of Compensatory
Strategies in Children with Specific
Language Impairment
Timothy Daniels
Investigation of the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in auditory working memory in rats
A Study on the Importance of
Noradrenergic Receptors in Divided
Attention
Chris Im and Nicole
Moreno
Eric Meyers
Jessica Pruett
Neural Mechanisms of Speech
Discrimination in Modulated
Background Noise
Unilateral Neglect Rehabilitation Using
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
Effect of Vagus Nerve Stimulation on
Extinction Learning and Addiction
Behavior
Lucien Thompson
Mandy Maguire
Marco Atzori
Marco Atzori
Marco Atzori
Marco Atzori
Michael Kilgard
Robert Rennaker
Sven Kroener

Spring Semester
•Meeting Times
•Mondays @ 4pm & Thursdays @ 7pm
•Journal Clubs
•Immediately following general meetings
•Tab will be added to website with journal selections past and present, and method to submit a journal for discussion.
•Occurrence – twice a month
•1 led by an NSA officer
•1 led by an NSA member (sign up through website or by contacting UTDNSA@gmail.com)
•Special Events/Volunteer Events
•Registration sheets – feedback
•Make sure to show up if you commit to attending as we will deduct hours if you do not cancel >24 hrs ahead of time

Spring Semester
•Upcoming Guest Speaker/Networking Events
•Faculty/Student Mixer in January in collaboration with Psi Chi
Coalition
•Workshop on creating a CV and searching for jobs that can be attained with a Neuroscience degree presented by the Career
Center
•Panel Discussion from employees working in various fields with neuroscience backgrounds/degrees
•End of Year banquet – catered luncheon to honor members, present awards and network
•Community Outreach
•Outreach to local high schools/grade schools
•Study Groups
•Feedback email will be sent out to those that participated to make assignments next semester even better

Spring Semester
•Fundraising
•For meetings, events, travel to SfN 2012 New Orleans
•Will be mandatory that a portion of your NSA service hours are fundraising related (1 hr or more)
•Nu Rho Psi
•Update on status of Neuroscience Honor Society