Past Seminars

Due to the interdisciplinary focus of the program, many seminars are held by other departments that may be of interest to the neuroscience community. However, our program also brings in many distinguished speakers.

Please check our calendar of events for upcoming seminar dates, locations and times.

• Ege Kavalali, PhD (Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center) 
• Joseph Fins, MD (Department of Medical Ethics, Weill Cornell Medical College) “A New Frontier in Brain Injury and Neuroethics: When Rights Come to Mind.”

• Margaret McCarthy, PhD (Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland) 10th Annual Neuroscience Research Day
• Samuel Wu, PhD (Department of Ophthalmology, Neuroscience and Physiology, Baylor College of Medicine) “Rod and Cone Signaling Pathways in Normal, Mutant, and Diseased Mammalian Retinas.”
• George Brainard, PhD (Department of Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University)
  

• Jun-Xu Li, MD, PhD (Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University at Buffalo) “TAAR1 Activation Against Addiction: A Brand New Idea.”
  
• Huaxi Xu, PhD (Sanford Burnham Medical Discovery Institute) “Novel Mechanisms Underlying Alzheimer’s and Other Related Neurodegenerative Diseases.”
  
• Colleen McClung, PhD (Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) “Circadian Genes, Rhythms, and the Biology of Psychiatric Disorders.”
• Marla Feller, PhD (Department of Neurobiology, University of California) “Wiring Up a Circuit to Perform Computations: Development of Direction Selectivity in the Retina.”
• Jack Bergman, PhD (Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School) “Discriminative-Stimulus Effects of CB1-Related Drugs in Nonhuman Primates.”
• Mengsheng Qui, PhD (Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Lousiville) “Molecular Regulation of Glial Development in the CNS.”

• Mark Bear, PhD (Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT) "A Synaptic Basis for Visual Recognition Memory in V1." 9th Annual Neuroscience Research Day.   
• Ian Maze, PhD (Mount Sinai) “Histone Monoaminylation: Novel Mechanisms of Epigentic Plasticity.”
• Mitchell Chesler, MD, PhD (Vice Chair for Neurosurgery, NYU) “Extracellular pH Transient Provide an Autocrine Boost of Pyramidal Neuron Excitability.”
• Lin Mei, PhD (Chair of Neuroscience, Georgia Regents University) “Synapses, Muscular Dystrophy and Brain Disorders.”
• Carrie Ferarrio, PhD (Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan) “Why did I eat that? Changes in Brain and Behavior Contributing to Obesity.”
• Robert Brambilla, PhD (Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami) “Glial TNFR2: A Protective Signal in Neuroimmune Disease.”

• Ragnhildur Thora Karadottir, PhD (University of Cambridge) “Neurons calling: The role of neuronal activity in (Re)Myelination.” 
  
• Kasper Hansen, PhD (Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Montana) “Subtype-Selective Allosteric Inhibition of NMDA Receptors.”
  
• Stuart Firestein, PhD (Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University) “How Biology Perceives Chemistry: The Mammalian Olfactory System.”
• Lisa Monteggia, PhD (Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center) “Mechanisms of Rapid Antidepressant Action.”

• Antonello Bonci, MD (Scientific Director, NIH, NIDA) 8th Annual Neuroscience Research Day. 
• Susan George, MD, FRCP (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto) “Dopamine Receptor Heteromeric Complexes: Emerging Functions in Brain.”
• Eric Klann, PhD (Department of Physiology and Biophysics, New York University) “Translational Control in Cognitive Function and Brain Disorders.” 
  
• Vihbor Kirshna, MD (Functional Neurosurgery, University of Toronto) “Spinal Cord Injury-Enhancing Recovery through Modulation of Dysfunctional Network.”
  
• David Miller, PhD (Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University) “Decoding Genetic Programs for Building and Remodeling Neurons.”

• Eric Nestler, M.D., PhD “Transcriptional and Epigenetic Mechanisms of Addiction.”
  
• Aimee Stablewski, MA (Co-Director, Gene Targeting and Transgenic Resource, Roswell Park Cancer Center) “Zinc Fingers, TALENs and CRISPR/Cas Technology: The Future of Genome Editing in Cells and Animals.”
• Georgirene Vladutiu, PhD (Department of Pediatrics, Neurology and Pathology & Anatomical Sciences, University at Buffalo) “Genetic Susceptibility to Statin-Induced Myopathy.”
  
• Michal Stachowiak, PhD (Department of Biochemistry and Neuroscience, University at Buffalo) “Novel Integrative Nuclear Signaling Complements Pluripotency and Cell Cycle Modules in Development.”
  
• Joshua Sanes, PhD (Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University) Pioneers in Neuroscience Lecture Series, “Wiring up the Retina.”
• Gene Robinson, PhD (University of Illinois) “Understanding the Relationship between Genes and Social Behavior: Lessons from the Honey Bee.”
• Soroush Sadeghi, MD, PhD (Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, University at Buffalo) “Signal Transmission in the Vestibular Periphery.”

• William Joiner, PhD (Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego) “A Bifunctional Regulator of Potassium Channels and Acetylcholine Receptors that Controls Sleep in Drosophila.”
• Christopher Pierce, PhD (Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania) 7th Annual Neuroscience Research Day. 
• Paul Kammermeier, PhD (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rochester) “Signaling of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors 1 and 5 is Mutually Dependent.”
  
• Suzanne Haber, PhD (Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Rochester) “The Circuit of Reward and Value: Linking Connectivity to Function and Disease.”

• Anurg Tandon, MD (Department of Medicine, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto) “Molecular Regulation of Alpha-Synuclein Membrane Binding and Dissocation.”
• Roh-Yu Shen, PhD (Department of Physiological Psychology, Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo) “Prenatal Ethanol Exposure Alters Excitatory Synaptic Transmission in Dopamine Neurons and Increases Addiction Risk.”
• Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD (Deisseroth Lab, Stanford University Pioneers in Neuroscience Lecture Series) “Optogenetics: Development and Applications.”
• Malcolm M. Slaughter, PhD (Department of Physiology and Biophysics; Director, Neuroscience Program, University at Buffalo) “Metabotropic Glycine Receptors.”
• Lakshmi Devi, PhD (Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine) “Opioid Receptor Heteromers: New Pharmacology and New Therapeutic Possibilities.”
• Donald A. Fox, PhD (Department of Vision Sciences, Biology & Biochemistry, Pharmacolgy, and Health & Human Performance, University of Houston College of Optometry) “Photoreceptor Synaptic Mitochondrial Remodeling Following Neuroprotection.”
• Scott J. Russo, PhD (Department of Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine) “Mechanisms of Synaptic Plasticity in Stress Disorders.”   
  
• Joe Fetcho, PhD (Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University) Pioneers in Neuroscience Lecture Series — “A Ground Plan for Building the Brain.”
• Dong Yan, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California) “Wiring and Rewiring: Synapse Formation and Axon Regeneration in C. elegans.”
• M. Laura Feltri, MD (Department of  Biochemistry; Hunter James Kelly Research Institute) “Cell-Cell and Cell-Matrix Interaction in Myelin Development and Disease.”
• Mary Kay Lobo, PhD (Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine) “Molecular and Functional Roles of Nucleus Accumbens Circuits in Drug Abuse and Depression.”
• Pablo Paez, PhD (Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University at Buffalo) “Conditional Deletion of the L-type Calcium Channel CaV1.2 in Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells Delay Postnatal Myelination in Mice.”

• Bruce Carlson, PhD (Department of Biology & Neuroscience, Washington University) “It’s All in the Timing: Sensory Coding and Evolution in Electric Fishes.”
• Nashaat Gerges, PhD (Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin) “Synaptic Plasticity in Health and Disease.”
• Thomas Wichmann, MD (Department of Neurology, Emory University) “Extrastriatal Functions of Dopamine in the Basal Ganglia.”
• Thomas Park, PhD (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago) “Blind, Naked, and Feeling No Pain; The Neurobiology of the Naked Mole-Rat.”

• Jinwoo Park, PhD (Department of Biotechnical and Clinical Laboratory Science, University at Buffalo) “Application of In Vivo Voltammetric Biosensors to Characterize Extracellular Catecholamine Release during Stress- and Reward-Related Behaviors in the Rat Brain.”
• Bruce D. Miller, MD (Department of Psychiatry, University at Buffalo) “Effects of Stress and Depression on Neurobiologic Processes in Pediatric Asthma.”
• Beatrice L. Wood, PhD (Department of Psychiatry, University at Buffalo) “Effects of Family Relationships on Depression and Asthma: Social Neuroscience as a Conceptual Frame.”
• Max Happel, PhD (Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology) “Crosslaminar processing within cortical microcircuits: from basic sensation to its cognitive evaluation.”
• Theodore R. Cummins, PhD (Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University) “Molecular determinants of pain: lessons from inherited sodium channelopathies.”

• William T. Dauer, MD (Neurology Department, University of Michigan) “Genetic Pieces to the Puzzle of Neurodegeneration.”
• Laura Feltri, PhD (Department of Biochemistry, University at Buffalo) “Cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions during Schwann cell development.” As part of Neuroscience Research Day.
• Robert Marc, PhD (School of Medicine, University of Utah) “The Retinal Connectome.”
• Elior Peles, PhD (Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science) “How Schwann cells control the clustering of sodium channels at nodes of Ranvier.” As part of Neuroscience Research Day.

• Derek Bowie, PhD (Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University) “How to Build a Glutamatergic Synapse.”
• Jon Johnson, PhD (Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh) “Mechanistic Differences Between NMDA Receptor Subtypes.”
• Ju Young Kim, PhD (John Hopkins Institute of Cell Engineering) “Regulation of Neural Development of Dentate Neurons by DISC1 Signaling.”
• Barry Komisaruk, PhD (Department of Psychology, Rutgers University) “Brain activity during sexual response and orgasm in women: fMRI evidence.”
• Noelle L’Etoile, PhD (Center for Neuroscience, UC Davis) “The lasting impression of a scent: RNA-based chromatin dynamics.”

• Kristi Buckley, PhD (Center for Hearing and Deafness, University at Buffalo) “Effects of auditory deprivation on cortical organization and sensory recovery.”
• Stewart Clark (Department of Pharmacology, UC Irvine) “From Heart to Mind: The Urotensin II System and its Evolving Neurophysiological Role.”