Dana Radio Series - Gray Matters

What happens when a parent receives a diagnosis that his/her child has a condition where there is no known cure or treatment? And then what transpires when that same parent is also a scientist/researcher with the expertise to take matters into his/her own hands? This radio documentary profiles a neuroscientist who has advanced both treatment and research on autism -- primarily because of his extraordinary devotion as a parent. Autism has become a personal and professional crusade for him, and he is on the verge of announcing a significant scientific breakthrough.

Clinical Trials have long been a part of the history of medical research. While testing new drugs or devices, investigators enlist patients with fixed characteristics, dispense treatments and assemble data for a set period of time. The results can be crucial for the advancement of medical knowledge. Dr. Reisa Sperling knows that well. She's the Director of Clinical Research in the Memory Disorders Unit at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Director of the Neuroimaging program at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In this podcast, she talks about her own research and the importance of clinical trials and the patients who so generously participate in them.

While Research in brain science holds exciting prospects for the treatment of disease, our increasing ability to manipulate the brain poses grave questions both for scientists and for society at large. An emerging field called Neuroethics is connected with a broad array of issues that ask where do we draw the line on manipulating brain function? In this podcast, Dr. Judy Illes, Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics and Professor of Neurology at the University of British Columbia, offers some background on the neural maze of science and ethics.

Welcome to a podcast series from the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives which presents the research and life stories of three prominent neuroscientists. In this podcast, Dr. Eric Kandel shares his thoughts about how to remain healthy as we age and describes his own remarkably active life.

Welcome to a podcast series from the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives which presents the research and life stories of three prominent neuroscientists. In this podcast, we feature Dr. Eric Kandel who has spent his life studying learning and memory. In the year 2000, Dr. Kandel won the Nobel Prize for his research on how short and long term memories are created and stored. Dr. Kandel's most recent book, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a new Science of Mind tells his life story as well as breakthroughs in our knowledge of learning and memory.

Welcome to a podcast series from the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives which presents the research and life stories of three prominent neuroscientists. In this podcast, Drs. Marilyn Albert and Guy McKhann are among the leading experts in the world--on how to age and how to keep our brains young. They've go-authored a book about it and head separate departments at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine--where they have each significantly advanced research in the field. And they are a husband and wife team--who are aging gracefully together. In this two-part series, they discuss their research and offer their own reflections on the optimal path to aging well.

Welcome to a podcast series from the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives which presents the research and life stories of three prominent neuroscientists. In this podcast, Drs. Marilyn Albert and Guy McKhann are among the leading experts in the world--on how to age and how to keep our brains young. They've go-authored a book about it and head separate departments at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine--where they have each significantly advanced research in the field. And they are a husband and wife team--who are aging gracefully together. In this two-part series, they discuss their research and offer their own reflections on the optimal path to aging well.

In this podcast we hear from Dr. Brian Wandell of the department of psychology at Stanford University. His research for the Dana Consortium focused on identifying regions of the brain and neural pathways related to reading and exploring the relationship between early arts training, art capability, and the development of the children's reading skills.

In this podcast, we hear from Dr. Elizabeth Spelke, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Co-Director of the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative. For thirty years, Dr. Spelke has been investigating how infants and very young children gain their knowledge of the world. In her research for the Dana Consortium, Dr. Spelke conducted a series of studies examining the relationship between music and mathematical abilities.

In this podcast we hear from Dr. Michael Posner, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon in the department of psychology. Dr. Posner is best known for his work on imaging the brain during cognitive tasks. His research for the Dana Consortium focused on exploring whether changes in the brain that might take place in arts training might also affect children and their overall cognition.

In honor of National Autism Awareness Month, Alliance member, noted author and leading authority on memory, Barry Gordon, M.D., Ph.D. talks as a researcher and parent of an autistic child about the current state of autism.

A two-part podcast about the connection and intersection of brain injury and PTSD in U.S. veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Featuring an interview with Dr. Jordon Grafman, senior investigator at the National Institute of Neurological Disoders and Stroke, the podcasts will explain the history, science and treatment implications of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and explore this subject from the perspective of the injured veteran as well.

A two-part podcast about the connection and intersection of brain injury and PTSD in U.S. veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Featuring an interview with Dr. Jordon Grafman, senior investigator at the National Institute of Neurological Disoders and Stroke, the podcasts will explain the history, science and treatment implications of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and explore this subject from the perspective of the injured veteran as well.

Executive Function Therapy: For victims of stroke or head injuries -- tumors or brain disorders -- what happens when standard rehabilitation techniques like physical therapy or occupational therapy come to an end? Are these victims then truly prepared to re-enter the work force? Sarah Ward (a cognitive rehab specialist in Boston) says most aren't. She calls it the "silent epidemic" - where persons with damage to their frontal lobes (the brain's "CEO") may look as though they've "recovered" in the eyes of their physicians after a ten-minute check up - but most still have great difficulty functioning day to day. Damage to the frontal lobes can leave someone who is truly smart without the ability to plan, organize time and space, initiate projects or see them through to completion. The control center orchestrates an array of "executive functions." Sarah Ward is now one of a small community of therapists around the country who are working to better re-integrate such patients into the workforce. She works on teaching compensatory strategies - like how to execute a task from start to finish, independently problem solve, or re-learn small tasks like small talk - how to listen or to write. Ward was trained as a speech pathologist and learned about this issue when her own husband was hit by a truck more than a decade ago. His struggle became her personal and professional passion. In this piece we would come to understand this little-known field with Sarah Ward -- and hear the stories of a collection of her patients.

Scientists have at their disposal medical instruments that now allow them to see far more deeply into the human brain than ever before. For instance, sensors can in any 15 seconds pick up as much as four million bits of information. But with so much information, how do you make any sense of it? Traditional methods of charts and graphs aren't cutting it. That's where music comes in-and a fascinating new intersection between art and science. DABI member Apostolos Georgopoulos, M.D., Ph.D. talks about his research. Brian Newhouse has more.