BrainTalks: #BrainPower Neuroscience Festival

#BrainPower is a whole day of public events showcasing the best of neuroscience at UCL. This special one-off festival is organised by the UCL Neuroscience Domain, the university's community for neuroscientists. Featuring interactive stalls, talks, short films, artworks, live demonstrations, storytelling, and workshops, there will be something for everyone, including loads of family friendly options. You can see the main event webpage here. 

These public talks are part of the wider festival programme, and will be held in the Jeremy Bentham Room. The talks are free, but we ask you to register either via the link above, or via the main event webpage.

Please note that BSL (British Sign Language) interpreters will be present for all of these talks.

The talks will be chaired by Sophie Scott, who will also be speaking. 

Session 1: 13:00-14:00

• What's so funny about laughter? (Professor Sophie Scott)
  Professor Scott will be talking about the science of laughter and how our brains process laughter. The talk will address some of the real reasons why we laugh, and how we learn to laugh, as well as what this can vary across people. 
   
• Interfacing with the brain – where are we and where are we going? (Professor Andreas Schaefer)
  Brain-machine interfaces have been a hot topic of science fiction for decades – from the Matrix to Black Mirror. What is the reality of interfacing with the brain? Professor Schaefer will discuss ongoing research, the technology and healthcare applications as well as the challenges that come with the exciting developments around the ability to directly listen and talk to the brain. 
   
• Stimulating Speech after Stroke. (Professor Jenny Crinion)
  Games of Thrones actor, Emilia Clarke, recently shared her experience and survival of two brain aneurysms - a type of stroke. Recovery was difficult at first, due to a condition called aphasia which left Emilia unable to say her own name.
  Professor Crinion will show recent brain imaging research from her group at UCL, illustrating how despite brain damage, people with aphasia can recover their brain and speech function. She will then explore what research tools her group are using and developing to help people improve their speech and make aphasia recovery more effective. This includes non-invasive brain stimulation techniques and gamified language Apps that allow people have fun while practicing and improving their speaking, reading, listening skills at home.

Session 2: 15:00-16:00

• BrainPower: insights from deafness and sign language. (Professor Mairead MacSweeney)
  Research with people born deaf can offer unique insights into brain and language development, which cannot be gained from research with hearing people alone. In people born deaf, what happens to the parts of the brain that usually process sound in hearing people? Are signed languages processed by the brain in the same way as spoken languages, even though one language is seen and the other heard? Why do many deaf children find learning to read to be a challenging task? Professor MacSweeney will review each of these questions. Each of them highlighting the novel perspective that deaf people can provide into ‘the Power of the Brain’. 
   
• Exploring the magnetic brain. (Dr Tim Tierney)
  Did you know that your brain is magnetic? It’s certainly not the strongest magnet in the world but it is still magnetic. In fact, the magnetic field produced by your brain is billions of times smaller than the magnetic field produced by a fridge magnet! However, with the right technology we can analyse these very tiny magnetic fields from your brain and study how you think, speak and move. In this talk Dr Tierney will show the work that we have done on measuring this brain activity with a device known as the Optically Pumped Magnetometer. He will demonstrate how this device can give a unique insight into human brain function and ultimately tell us how the brain works and why some brains are different. 
   
• It Takes Two to Tango—How Our Nerve and Immune Cells Impair Memory (Dr Soyon Hong)
  Alzheimer’s disease causes one to have difficulty in learning and remembering. Synapses are the primary communication bridges between the nerve cells of our brain. In Alzheimer's, synapses die early on in a brain region called hippocampus, the epicentre of learning and memory. So, what leads these neuronal synapses to die? Recent genetic studies pinpoint that microglia, which are our brain's major immune cells, may be at fault. Healthy microglia protect our brain, often the first responders to site of injury. Microglia also act as sculptors as we grow, pruning away synapses that are improperly connected. However, in Alzheimer’s disease brains, it appears that this pruning pathway in microglia is turned on. Microglia in the hippocampus now eat more synapses than they are supposed to. So, what turns on this pathway in the Alzheimer brain? And how can we turn off this pruning pathway, without disabling microglia’s protective features? 

Image credits: Brain drawing: www.modup.net/