Re: This Week at YNiC

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying a bit of respite from the heat! *YNiC Clinical Scans* As part of a phased reopening, the University approved clinical work at YNiC to recommence, and so we held our first clinical session yesterday, which went very smoothly, with increased cleaning and safety between each patient. Along with our colleagues in Psychology, we are still awaiting news on the University policy regarding resuming research, scanning participants, and permitting users into the centre. Therefore YNiC remains closed to all users until further notice. *Journal Club - Thursday 4pm* Due to popular demand, we will be repeating last week's talk by Dr Kafui Dzirasa, from Duke University Medical Center ( https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=28097), titled: *"Mapping Emotions: Discovering structure in mesoscale electrical brain recordings."* As this talk crosses some interdisciplinary topics, I think it will have a wide appeal for our YNiC users. A summary of Dr Dzirasa's research is detailed below: *Summary:* The focus of Dr. Dzirasa lab’s research is to determine how genetic variants interact with environmental factors (including stress and drugs of abuse) to lead to mental illness. They accomplish this by implanting multiple small electrodes directly into the brains of mice that express genes which lead to mental illness in humans. They then monitor the activity of many brain cells simultaneously as these mice perform various behavioral tasks. They also record brain activity in mice exposed to various environmental stresses, and drugs of abuse. It is their hope that these experiments will one day lead to the discovery of new treatments for our patients with mental illness. The Zoom link can be found below, and one of the YNiC staff will host the video for everyone to watch together. Please note that there is no pressure to have your mic or video on at any time during or after the talk. *Zoom link:* https://york-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92531105447?pwd=aHNVa1ZBUUMwd0ZlWW1WMEFJY3hEQT… *Meeting ID:* 925 3110 5447 *Password:* 005039 *SfN Event - Thursday 5pm* Following our Journal Club on Thursday, at 5pm, there is an event being hosted by SfN titled "Black Lives Matter and Neuroscience: Why This Moment Matters", which will feature a panel discussion of the challenges faced by BAME neuroscientists, and what the neuroscience community can do to elicit change. I encourage you to take a look at the details and register for the event (registration is free): https://neuronline.sfn.org/diversity/black-lives-matter-and-neuroscience We will aim to start the Journal Club talk as close to 4pm as possible, to ensure we are finished before the start of the SfN event (which we won't screen share - you can just register individually and watch on your own PC). I hope you have a good week! Take care, Lauren -- Lauren Welbourne, PhD Senior Research Technician lauren.welbourne(a)york.ac.uk York Neuroimaging Centre University of York Innovation Way Heslington York YO10 5NY