On this (50th!) episode of Brain Matters, Anthony talks to Dr. Fred Wolf (Assistant Professor, UC Merced). Dr. Wolf is interested in how alcohol and other drugs of abuse change our genes when we take them. Using the fruit fly as a model organism, he is able to use powerful techniques to delve into the complex relationship between drugs, genes, and behavior.

Dr. Wolf helps run his own biology podcast, RadioBio, with graduate students at UC Merced.

The music on today’s podcast was by koleżanka.

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Episode 48 - Space and Time with Dr. Mayank Mehta

On this episode of Brain Matters, Matt and Mayank Mehta (Professor, UCLA) talk about how rodents and human perceive space and time. Mayank has always been obsessed with time and merges physics and neuroscience to understand how the brain deals with these abstract concepts.

This episode was brought to you by Maze Engineers. Get 10% off your quote by visiting mazeengineers.com/brainmatters and enter the offer code: brain. They have some incredible behavioral neuroscience mazes and other neuroscience goodies so check them out.

Music on today’s episode by Equip and Sangam. Both are artists on the Dream Catalogue label

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Episode 47 - Becoming A Curious Scientist with Dr. André Fenton

What’s the most important thing about being a scientist? According to Dr. André Fenton: Curiosity. Anthony and André talked about how André tinkered his way to researching learning and memory at NYU.

André mentioned this famous article by Jerry Lettvin - What the Frog’s Eye Tells the Frog’s Brain

Here’s an article about the interesting story of PKMzeta, a molecule André has been studying for over a decade.

Music on today’s episode by Sure

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Episode 46 - The Nature of Nature (and the brain too) with Dr. David McCormick

This week on Brain Matters, Matt and Dr. David McCormick (Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, Yale) start off 2017 right. On this episode you’ll get a quick briefing on the early history of neuroscience, information about Frankenstein’s monster, a look at neural circuits, and perspective from the Buddhist Monks of Tibet. You’re gonna want your cochleas ready for this one. 

David mentioned a ton of people and books. Here’s a list in case you wanna dive in.

Major Figures in the Early History of Neuroscience:
Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini, René Descartes, Jan Swammerdam, Alessandro Volta, Emil de Bois-Reymond

Texts David Referenced:
1. Animal Electricity (Galvani, 1791)
2. Essay on Galvanism: “Précis des expériences galvaniques faites récemment à Londres et à Calais“ (Aldini, 1803)
3. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
4. The Cerebellum as a Neuronal Machine (Eccles, 1967)

 Further Reading (if you’re into it like we are):
1. Early History of Neuroscience, Charles Gross
2. Giovanni Aldini: From Animal Electricity to Human Brain Stimulation, André Parent
3. History of Psychology, Ideas and Context (Chapter 8) King et al.


We partnered with Wiley Neuroscience on this one. Follow them on twitter! Shout out to their team for getting the twitter handle coveted most by neuroscientists.

The music on this episode was by Noveller. The first track was “Trails and Trials” from the soon to be released album “A Pink Sunset for Noone”, the second track was “Rubicon” from the Fantastic Planet LP. Go check out and purchase her music on bandcamp, or at her current label, Fire Records.

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Intercepting Neurological Triggers of Alzheimer’s Disease

To hear more about Franck Polleux’s research, listen to his interview with Brain Matters.

Episode 44 - Neurons, Mitochondria, and Human Evolution with Dr. Franck Polleux

On this episode of Brain Matters, Matt and Dr. Franck Polleux (Professor, Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University and the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute) cover a lot of ground. Franck talks about his work as a graduate student and the topics his lab is working on now. The Polleux lab is studying topics like neural progeneration, mitochondria in dendrites of neurons, and what makes the human brain special. This is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Music on today’s episode by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

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 #ThrowbackThursday to Brain Matters guest Shawn Lockery! Who doesn’t love nematodes and neuroscience?

He talks all about his science in our interview with him from 2014 (wow! have we really been doing the podcast for that long??)

Episode 43- Sensorimotor Circuits in Zebrafish with Dr. Tod Thiele

On this episode of Brain Matters, Matt and Dr. Tod Thiele (Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Scarborough) talk about a model organism we haven’t featured on the podcast yet- zebrafish. In his new lab, Tod is continuing his work on neural circuits in the zebrafish using all the latest imaging and optogenetic techniques.

Music on today’s episode by Dude Elseberry

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Episode 42 - Enhancing Cognition with Video Games with Dr. Adam Gazzaley

On this episode of Brain Matters, Anthony talked with Adam Gazzaley (Professor, UCSF) about his work on cognition. Adam develops and designs video games that are fun to play and also have enhancing cognitive effects.

Music on today’s episode by Anthony Lacagnina

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Episode 41 - The Vestibular System with Dr. Dora Angelaki

On this episode of Brain Matters, Anthony talked with Dr. Dora Angelaki (Professor & Chair of the Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine) about her work in the vestibular system. Dora refers to the vestibular system as ‘the sixth sense’ and her passion for studying this under-appreciated sensory system is clear as talks about her research. Dora is also working on a computational understanding of Autism. She discusses her approach to understanding this complicated disorder.

Music on today’s episode by Lawrence English

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Optogenetic activation of vM GABAergic neurons induces REM sleep

In our interview with Dr. Yang Dan, she described her research on the circuits involved in sleep. This video from her recent paper shows the induction of REM sleep via activation of a population of neurons in the ventral medulla, a part of the brain that has been linked to sleep. Promotion of REM sleep was specific to GABAergic (inhibitory) neurons in the ventral medulla. Activation of glutamatergic (excitatory) neurons in the same area induced wakefulness, not REM sleep.

Source:
Control of REM sleep by ventral medulla GABAergic Neurons
Nature 526, 435–438 (15 October 2015) doi:10.1038/nature14979

Episode 37 - Sleep Circuits with Dr. Yang Dan

On This episode of Brain Matters, Anthony talked with Dr. Yang Dan (Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Neurobiology, UC Berkeley). Yang studies the circuits in the brain that control sleep. Perk up your cochlea and jump into this great conversation.

Music on today’s episode by PERSONA LA AVE, death’s dynamic shroud.wmv, and HKE

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When Brain Matters interviewed Dr. David Fitzpatrick from the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, they talked all about how the visual cortex functions. Watch David’s postdoctoral fellow (and Brain Matters listener) Dr. Ben Scholl talk all about the fascinating research in the Fitzpatrick Lab.

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