Events from the AJ Clark School of Engineering http://eng.umd.edu/events/ Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:51:42 EST http://eng.umd.edu/images/clark_logo_4email.gif http://eng.umd.edu/events/ Wednesday, November 29, 2023 5:15 PM, 1107 Benjamin Building, Speaker: Kelsey McKee (Department of Health & Human Services) Title: "Applying Developmental Science to Child and Family Policy" Abstract: TBA http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18696 http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18696 Wednesday, December 06, 2023 5:15 PM, 1107 Benjamin Building, Speaker: Veronica Kang (University of Maryland, College Park) Title: "PROMISE for Asian Autistic Children and Families: Program for Meaningful Interaction and Social Engagement" Abstract: TBA http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18697 http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18697 Friday, May 03, 2024 3:15 PM, 1103 Bioscience Research Building, Speaker: Ross Williamson (University of Pittsburgh) Title: "Brain-wide neural circuits for sensory-guided behavior" Abstract: Auditory-guided behavior is ubiquitous in everyday life, whenever auditory information is used to guide the decisions we make and the actions we take. One such behavior is auditory categorization, a process that reflects the ability to transform bottom-up sensory stimuli into discrete perceptual categories and use these perceptual categories to drive a subsequent action. Although this process is well-documented at the behavioral and cognitive levels, surprisingly little is known about the explicit neural circuit mechanisms that underlie categorical computation and how the result of this computation drives behavioral outcomes. We believe that the transformation of auditory information into an appropriate behavioral response is necessarily a brain-wide endeavor. The deep layers of the auditory cortex give rise to several massive projection systems that exert influence over many downstream brain areas. Here, I will discuss our efforts towards understanding the organization of these projection systems and how they differentially contribute to auditory-guided behavior. http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18679 http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18679 Friday, December 01, 2023 3:15 PM, 1103 Bioscience Research Building, Speaker: Ralf Haefner (University of Rochester) Title: "Behavioral and neural signatures of approximate hierarchical inference" Abstract: TBA http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18671 http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18671 Friday, March 08, 2024 3:15 PM, 1103 Bioscience Research Building, Speaker: Ross Maddox (University of Michigan) Title: "Investigating effects of stimulus type and selective attention on the subcortical encoding of sounds" Abstract: The human auditory system is remarkable in its ability to derive meaning and even emotion from the vibrations of air molecules. This process depends on many linked subprocesses, which begin with the encoding of a sound’s acoustics, the extraction of features like pitch, location, and timbre, and further abstraction from there. Additionally, these processes are shaped by a listener’s experience and goals, such as musical training or when a person decides to focus on one person talking at a party, ignoring all other sounds. Many studies have revealed strong effects of these higher order factors on the encoding of sounds in the cortex, but subcortical studies are fewer and results are more mixed. The potential for such effects exists: there are as many efferent (feedback) connections to subcortical auditory areas as there are afferent (feedforward) ones. In this talk I will first present a framework my lab has developed for studying the subcortical encoding of natural sounds like speech and music. I will then discuss the results of two studies using that framework. In the first study we presented listeners with several different genres of music and speech stimuli and measured subcortical and cortical responses to investigate where differentiated encoding of the two stimulus classes begins. In the second study we presented listeners with competing audiobook stimuli and asked them to attend to one. We then assessed the effect of selective attention across the auditory system, from the auditory nerve through the brainstem and cortex. The results of both studies are suggestive that role of subcortical areas is mostly to extract the features on which higher order, cognitively-driven cortical effects are based. http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18678 http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18678 Wednesday, November 29, 2023 5:00 PM, 1103 Bioscience Research Building, Speaker: Priyanka Narayan (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Title: "Harnessing lipid biology to modify risk for neurodegenerative disease" Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease and several other neurodegenerative diseases are all characterized by the dysregulation of lipids. Our lab is interested in investigating the role of lipids in mediating risk and resilience to neurodegenerative diseases. We have discovered that neutral lipid homeostasis plays a central role in modulating glial function and that these same lipid pathways are perturbed by isoforms of the neurodegenerative disease-associated factor, APOE. By changing the cellular lipid state, we can modulate disease-relevant cellular functions, providing a potential new avenue for preventative or therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases. http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18949 http://bbi.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=18949