Past BNS Seminars

Fall 2018

Sep 6 Neuroscience Fellows Data Blitz
Oct 11 Eric Nunes, Yale University VTA cholinergic receptors mediates cocaine seeking, mood-related behaviors and phasic dopamine release in NAc
Oct 18 Student Talk: Naixin Ren Model-based detection of putative synaptic connections from multi-electrode spike recordings
Oct 25 Greg Sartor, UConn Pharmacy Epigenetic pharmacotherapy for substance use disorder
Nov 1 Student Talk: Samantha Marques
Student Talk: Caitlyn Cody
Categorical Perception of Auditory Stimuli: Studying Onset Slope and Duration Cues
Enhancing Categorical Sound Perception with Envelope Timing Cues
Nov 15 Student Talk: Ruth McLeod
Student Talk: Michael Gyetvan
Cancelled due to weather
Nov 29 Mariana Pereira, UMass How do mothers mother? Flexibility and Plasticity in the Maternal Circuitry across the Postpartum Period
Dec 6 Alex Kwan, Yale Frontal cortical dynamics during decision-making
Dec 13 Student Talk: Carla Carratala
Student Talk: Sarah Ferrigno
Animal models of preference for physical activity vs inaction: Impact of dopamine depletion and antidepressants
Investigating the neurobiology of motivational deficiencies in Major Depressive Disorder: 5-HT1B receptor mechanisms

Spring 2018

Feb 1 Susana Mingote, Columbia University Uncovering the Function of Dopamine Neuron Glutamate Cotransmission
Mar 8 Student Talk: Naixin Ren
Student Talk: Ruth McLeod
Inferring Synaptic Connections Using Spike Data
Effects of Caffeine and Sex on Preterm Hypoxic Ischemia Outcomes
Mar 22 Student Talk: Peter Perrino Developing a novel rule learning paradigm in mice
Mar 29 Sam McKenzie, NYU Medical College Excitatory control of feedback inhibition in the hippocampus
Apr 5 Jake Hinman, Boston University Navigating with Multiple Reference Frames: Entorhinal and Striatal Representations of Space
Apr 12 Student Talk: Renee Rotolo
Student Talk: Rose Presby
Serotonin Receptors and Effort-related Choice: 2A, 2C, 2B… or not 2B?
The Inflamed side of Depression: Cytokines, Motivation and Major Depressive Disorder
Apr 19 Linnaea Ostroff, PNB UCONN Local protein synthesis at synapses during consolidation of fear memory
Apr 26 Student Talk: Ryan Troha New directions in examining observational learning in rats
May 3 Andrie Kozlov, Imperial College, London UK Gating without swinging: a two-channel model of hair-cell mechanotransduction with membrane-mediated cooperativity

Fall 2017

Sep 21 Student Talk: Peter Perrino Behavioral Assessment of USH2A KO Mice
Sep 28 Stephen Macknik, SUNY Downstate The Temporal Neural Mechanisms Underlying Brightness and Visibility Perception
Oct 12 Student Talk: Rose Presby For the love of chocolate: Effects of lisdexamfetamine on behaviors supported by foods with varying degrees of palatability
Oct 26 Douglas Storace, Yale Defining the functions of olfactory bulb processing
Nov 2 Student Talk: Naixin Ren Interaction Between Social Categories in the Composite Face Paradigm
Nov 9 Student Talk: Ruth McLeod
Student Talk: Caitlin Cody
Behavioral Outcomes of Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Injury in Rats After temperature Modulation
Investigating the effects of varied species-specific vocalizations in rats
Nov 30 Student Talk: Ryan Troha
Student Talk: Michael Gyetvan
Observational learning in a foraging paradigm for rodents
The Role of Adenosine A1 Receptors in Learning
Dec 7 Student Talk: Rebecca Schwartz
Student Talk: Renee Rotolo
Examining the Effects of the Novel Dopamine Transport Blocker CE-123 on Effort-Related Choice Behavior in Rats
Effects of the serotonin transport inhibitor fluoxetine on effort-related decision making in male and female rats

Spring 2017

Jan 19 Alexander Petrenko, RAS Cellular alkali sensor: a new chapter in homeostasis physiology
Jan 26 Student Talk: Fatemeh Khatami Neural Coding and Models for Natural Sounds Recognition
Feb 2 Jocelyn Richard (Johns Hopkins) 3:30p Neural Circuits Underlying the Invigoration of Reward Seeking
Feb 6 Elizabeth Lucas (Mt Sinai) 3:30p Losing Your Inhibition: GABAergic Plasticity in Emotional Learning
Feb 9 Kathryn Nautiyal (Columbia) 3:30p Distinct circuits underlie the effects of serotonin on impulsive and aggressive behavior
Mar 9 Etan Markus The hippocampus, episodic memory, navigation and moreā€¦ – insights from rats
Mar 16 Spring Break
Mar 23 Christine Constantinople, Princeton
Rob Froemke, NYU (5pm)
Economic decision making in rats
Synaptic plasticity in ‘real life’: maternal behavior and cochlear implants
Mar 30 Josh McDermott, MIT Computational Neuroimaging of Human Auditory Cortex
Apr 6 Student Talk: Peter Perrino
Student Talk: Ryan Troha
Behavioral Assessment of USH2A KO Mice
Developing an observational learning paradigm: comparing an escape and foraging task in female rats
Apr 13 Ben Saunders (Johns Hopkins) Midbrain Circuit Mechanism of Motivated Behavior
Apr 20 Student Talk: Jen-Hau Yang
Student Talk: Rose Presby
Catechol-o- methyltransferase (COMT) functions and Val 158 Met polymorphisms: A review and behavioral study.
Pharmacological Studies of Effort-related Choice Behavior in Mice
Apr 27 Student Talk: Renee Rotolo
Student Talk: Erica Eddy
Reversing Effort-Related Impairments with the Adenosine A2A Antagonist Preladenant
Overcoming the Behavioral Discrimination Biases in a Two-Alternative Forced Choice Paradigm
May 4 Student Talk: Tommy Lee From place cell to behavior: Functional processing along the hippocampus longitudinal axis

Fall 2016

Date Speaker Title
Sep 1 Organizational Meeting
Sep 8 ITL Workshop Effective Scientific Communication
Sep 15 Student Talk: Justin Ellenberg
Student Talk: Ryan Troha
Proportional suppression of NMDA and AMPA mediated synaptic responses… by adenosine
Effects of artificial sweeteners, sugar, and high-fat diet on glucose homeostasis in rats
Sep 22 Student Talk: Mike Jacobs
Student Talk: Rose Presby
Spatiotemporal patterns of rat cortical activation during auditory discrimination
Binge Eating Disorder: A review of various models with a look to the future
Sep 29 Student Talk: Peter Perrino
Student Talk: Renee Rotolo
The use of touchscreen operant systems to study complex cognitive behavior in mouse models
Chronic Caloric Restriction and Behavioral Tasks Ameliorate Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis…
Oct 6 Student Talk: Emily Errante Fear Within Virtual Reality Environments
Oct 13 Rebecca Shansky, Northeastern A neural basis for sex differences in fear expression
Oct 20 Kamal Sen, BU Cortical Spatial Computations for Solving the Cocktail Party Problem
Oct 27 Steve Chang, Yale University Supralinear enhancements of social gaze dynamics with oxytocin under opioid antagonism
Nov 3 Student Talk: Jen-Hau Yang Behavioral economics and dopamine function: The VMAT-2 inhibitor tetrabenazine…
Nov 10 No Seminar – SfN
Nov 17 No Seminar – SfN
Nov 24 Fall Break
Dec 1 Student Talk: Abed Ghanbari Estimating short-term synaptic plasticity from pre- and post-synaptic spiking
Dec 8 Student Talk: Erica Eddy Understand Temporal Cue Discrimination in Rats via SRAF Auditory Cortical Region

Spring 2016

Date Speaker Title
Jan 21 Organizational Meeting
Feb 4 Karen Menuz, UConn PNB Molecular components underlying olfactory signaling in insects
Feb 11 Beata Jarosiewicz, Brown University BrainGate: Toward a self-calibrating intracortical brain-computer interface for people with tetraplegia
Mar 10 Student Talk: Soniya Assudani The Effects of Estrogen on Memory in Females
Mar 17 Spring Break
Mar 24 Jeff Beeler, Queens College The sound of silence: new frontiers on dopamine and thrift
Mar 31 Student Talk: Charlie Wasserman Finding the Beat: Neural Responses to Missing Pulse Rhythms
Apr 7 PhD Defense: Samantha Yohn (BOUS160 @ 2pm) Induction and Treatment of Motivational Dysfunctions…
Apr 20 PhD Defense: Nicholas Bannon (BOUSA101A @ Wed, 11am) Modulation of Homosynaptic and Heterosynaptic Plasticity…
Apr 21 PhD Defense: Amanda Smith (BOUS160 @ 2pm) The Detrimental Effects of Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury…
Student Talk: Emily Errante
Student Talk: Jen-Hau Yang
Fear Within Virtual Reality Environments
Assessment of effort-related motivational function in mouse models
Apr 28 Student Talk: Kodi Udeh
Student Talk: Tommy Lee
Spike-timing neural discrimination of sound envelope shape in primary and non-primary auditory cortices
Analyzing Single Unit Recordings in the Dorsal and Ventral Hippocampus to Investigate the Processing of Spatial Memories

Fall 2015

Date Speaker Title
Sep 3 Organizational Meeting
Sep 10 Student Talk: Samantha Yohn Not all Antidepressants are created equal: differential effects of monoamine uptake inhibitors on effort-related choice behavior
Oct 1 Student Talk: Jen-Hau Yang Dissociable contribution of nucleus accumbens and dorsolateral striatum to the acquisition of risk choice behavior in the rat
Oct 7 Donna Korol, Syracuse Note: Wed, 3:30p A106 Jog Your Memory with Physical and Mental Activity
Oct 22 No Seminar – SfN
Oct 29 Student Talk: Tommy Lee Effects of muscimol inactivation of mPFC, dorsal, or ventral hippocampus in a temporal order spatial navigation task
Nov 5 Memming Park, Stony Brook University Dynamic correlations between visual and decision areas during perceptual decision-making
Nov 11 Student Talk: Nick Bannon Note: Wed, 3:30p, BOUS160 Adenosine and Synaptic Plasticity in the Neocortex
Nov 12 Student Talk: Soniya Assudani The Effects of Estrogen on Memory in Females
Nov 19 David Moorman, UMass Candy, drugs, and alcohol: Neural systems underlying motivation, decisions and addictions
Nov 26 Fall Break
Dec 2 Dan Sanes, NYU Note: Wed, 3:30p, A106 Cortical encoding of auditory temporal cues is enhanced during task engagement
Dec 3 Student Talk: Charlie Wasserman Finding the Beat: Neural Responses to Missing Pulse Rhythms
Dec 10 Student Talk: Kodi Udeh
Student Talk: Emily Errante
Laminar response differences in the primary auditory cortex to vocalizations and discrimination
Fear Within Virtual Reality Environments

Spring 2015

Date Speaker Title
Jan 22 Sabine Kastner, Princeton University Neural Network Dynamics for Attentional Selection in the Primate Brain
Feb 18 Manolo Malmierca, USal (note: Wed at 3:30p) Cortical feedback for adaptations to sounds
Feb 25 James Chrobak, UConn (note: Wed at 3:30p) Theta/gamma, motion/memory, and space/time
Feb 26 Christopher Harvey, Harvard Medical School Neuronal circuit dynamics in the mouse parietal cortex during virtual navigation
Mar 5 Student Talk: Megan Rowland Assessing antidepressants with animal models of effort-related motivation in depression
Mar 12 Student Talk: Nick Bannon Neuromodulation and synaptic plasticity: searching for balance in a changing brain
Mar 19 Spring Break
Mar 25 Sara Lazar, MGH (note: Wed at 3:30p) Meditation and Neuroplasticity
Apr 2 Jared Schwartzer, Mount Holyoke College Maternal Allergic Asthma and its Implications for Autism Spectrum Disorders
Apr 9 Student Talk: Alex Palmisano Effects of Nicotine on Conditioning, Extinction, and Reinstatement
Apr 16 Student Talk: Soniya Assudani
Student Talk: Xiao Li
The Effects of Estrogen on Memory in Females
Analysis of Running Speed During Acquisition of a Place and Response Task
Apr 23 Student Talk: Jinah Yoon Changes in Hippocampal Theta Oscillations during Place and Response Task Learning in Rats
Apr 30 Student Talk: Tommy Lee
Student Talk: Charlie Wasserman
Temporal order spatial navigation: A behavioral analysis using a radial arm water maze
Discrimination of Temporal Cues In Rats and Humans

Fall 2014

Date Speaker Title
Aug 28 PSYC5200 Organizational Meeting
Sep 4 Lab Safety & Chemical Waste Management Training Note: BOUS A106, 4:00-5:30p
Sep 18 Yael Amitai, Ben Gurion University Long-range Noise Correlations in the Barrel Cortex Reveal Distinct Roles for the Cortical Layers
Oct 2 Elissa Chesler, The Jackson Laboratory Integrative Genetic and Genomic Strategies for the Classification of Psychiatric Disorders
Oct 9 Student Talk: Charlie Wasserman
Student Talk: Chris Lee
Working in and with Noise: The Impact of Audio Environment
Spike-timing Error Encodes Sound Envelope Shape in Ventral Auditory Cortical Fields
Oct 16 Student Talk: Alex Palmisano Factors Affecting Conditioned Place Preference in a Virtual Reality Environment
Oct 23 Shig Kuwada, UConn Health Center Neural Processing of Sound Location & Content
Oct 30 Steve van Hooser, Brandeis University Choosing which way to go: the development of direction selectivity in visual cortex
Nov 6 Student Talk: Emily Errante & Aileen Haque Recording of Muscle and Neural Activity in a Pharmacological Rodent Model of Parkinsonism
Nov 13 No Seminar – SfN
Nov 20 Student Talk: Jinah Yoon Changes in Hippocampal Theta Oscillations during Place and Response Task Learning in Rats
Nov 27 Fall Break
Dec 4 Carmen Varela, MIT Thalamo-Cortico-Hippocampal Interactions and Memory Consolidation
Dec 11 Student Talk: Soniya Assudani
Student Talk: Tommy Lee
The Effects of Estrogen on Memory in Females
Relationship Between Dorsal and Ventral Hippocampal Inactivation on Spatial Navigation