BrainWaves: The Neuroscience Graduate Program Newsletter

SAVE THE DATE!

Commemorating the Scientific Contributions of Dr. Jack Diamond:

The 3rd Annual Jack Diamond Memorial Lecture

Date: May 24th, 2018 at 3 pm in MDCL 1105


AUTHOR: Crystal Mahadeo
In Memory of Dr. Jack Diamond (MD, PhD)


This year marks the third annual memorial lecture in honour of Dr. Jack Diamond. Dr. Diamond was a world-renowned neuroscientist who graduated from University College London (UK) with both medical and doctoral (Physiology) degrees. He continued in research, obtaining a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University and then a position in the Physiology Department at University College before joining McMaster in 1970 as the first Chair of the Department of Neuroscience (now the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences). 


A leader in his field, he focused on developmental neuroscience and worked to understand the maintenance and development of the nervous system and its degeneration in aging and Alzheimer’s disease.Among his many accomplishments was serving as one of the founders of the Society for Neuroscience and, later, as the Scientific Director Emeritus for the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada. After Dr. Diamond’s passing in August of 2014, a generous gift from his wife Dusica was matched by his department to host a memorial lecture annually in Dr. Diamond’s honor,with the first inaugural Jack Diamond Memorial lecture held in May 2016. This lecture is organized by students from the MiNDS Neuroscience program, with the help of his colleague, Dr. Margaret Fahnestock, to host guest speakers whose work reflects Dr. Diamond’s passion for neuroscience. The lecture is a tribute to Dr. Diamond’s extensive career and body of work, but is also a tribute to a special man from his family - his children, Alison (Jorge) and Gareth (Debbie), grandchildren and his stepchildren Matthew, Michael and Laura Marks. 

Dr. Julie Kauer (PhD)

We had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Robert Malenka from Stanford University and Dr. Bernardo Sabatini from Harvard University as guest speakers for the inaugural and 2nd annual Jack Diamond Memorial Lectures. This year we are excited to announce that Dr. Julie Kauer, Professor of Medical Science and Neuroscience at Brown University in Rhode Island, will be joining us as our guest speaker.


Dr. Julie Kauer received her Ph.D. from Yale University. Since beginning her own laboratory, first at Duke University School of Medicine and now as Professor of Medical Science at Brown University, she has become a leader in the field of synaptic transmission and plasticity. Dr. Kauer organized and chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Synaptic Transmission in 2006, and she was a member of the NINDS Board of Scientific Counselors from 2008-2013. She recently was recognized for her contributions to synaptic neurobiology by being named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Kauer lab has made key contributions to our understanding of synaptic plasticity at inhibitory synapses in the brain circuitry underlying reward and addiction, and recently has identified for the first time synaptic plasticity at glycinergic synapses, a type of inhibitory synapse prevalent in the spinal cord.

Please join us in celebrating a research career that spanned a half century with visiting lecturer Dr. Julie Kauer’s talk,
“Stress modifies synaptic plasticity in the brain reward pathway”.

Thursday May 24th, 2018 – 3:00 pm in MDCL 1105

 

More details will be sent out in the following weeks.

All are invited to attend.