A project of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Neuroscience Center and the Hoover Library, the Neuroscience Café serves healthy portions of fascinating topics in the field of neuroscience at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of every month.“The goals of the Neuroscience Café are to educate the community about various clinical and research aspects of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases,” said Lori McMahon, Ph.D., director of the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center. “We want to inform the public about research at UAB geared toward better understanding the disease process, improving treatment strategies and finding cures.”
On Feb. 17, Rajesh Kana, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, will present “The reading brain: its function, dysfunction and autism.” The presentation ties to the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, “The Reason I Jump.”
On March 17, Peter King, M.D., professor of neurology, will present “An odyssey into the mysterious world of Lou Gehrig’s disease: clinical and research perspectives.”
Presenting on April 21 will be Richard Shelton, M.D., and Sarah Clinton, Ph.D., from the Department of Psychiatry, on “What is major depression: Lessons from the clinic and the laboratory.”
On May 19, David Sweatt, Ph.D., professor and chair of neurobiology, will present “Targeting genes to improve memory.”
“The name Neuroscience Café embodies a relaxed, informal environment which will help foster a lively discussion and spur the audience to ask questions,” McMahon said. “A café, as in cafeteria, also implies that we’ll be presenting a veritable smorgasbord of topics in neuroscience.”
Go to the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center website for the schedule of upcoming presentations. The Neuroscience Café is held at the Hoover Library, 200 Municipal Drive, Hoover, Ala.