Free webinar on discoveries in brain technology and autism

The Society for Neuroscience and the American Brain Coalition invite researchers and the general public to a free webinar, “New Discoveries in Brain Technology: The Potential of the BRAIN Initiative,” on Thursday Sept. 24^th, at 1 pm Eastern

Register here.

The US Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is an ambitious national project to develop new technologies to study the brain and advance understanding of neurological disorders. These tools and methods are helping researchers deepen their basic understanding of brain complexities and create a foundation for future progress on a wide range of neurological and psychiatric conditions that affect a billion people worldwide.

This webinar will focus on one such tool, and guests will discuss its potential to advance research on developmental disorders such as autism. Come learn more about this innovative project, how basic science can propel the advancement of treatments in unexpected ways.

Speakers will include:

Robert Ring, chief science officer for Autism Speaks, the largest science and advocacy foundation focused on autism. Dr. Ring leads the organization’s science mission, which is focused on “putting scientific breakthroughs to work for families.” He has overseen the launch of numerous initiatives that have dramatically expanded the strategic scope and increased the impact of the science investments at Autism Speaks. Dr. Ring holds separate adjunct faculty appointments in the psychiatry department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and department of pharmacology and physiology at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Spencer Smith, assistant professor in the cell biology and physiology department at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. His lab explores how neurons and the networks they form compute. To enable new neurobiology experiments, his lab is engineering novel optical systems for two-photon imaging of neural activity across large brain volumes with single neuron resolution.

Nancy Minshew, child neurologist and professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh. For the past 30 years, Dr. Minshew’s clinical research has focused on elucidating the cognitive and brain basis of autism. She is focusing on developing and testing new interventions to improve generalizable thinking skills and adaptive function in adolescents and adults with autism. Dr. Minshew also played a central role in the establishment of three state-funded regional autism centers in Pennsylvania, and an Autism Speaks treatment network site in Pittsburgh.