International neuroscientists reveal next frontier

Mon Nov 21 2016 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

International neuroscientists reveal next frontier

21 November 2016

Visiting neuroscientist, Professor Anne Young.

Five international neuroscience pioneers will outline the next frontiers in brain research in Auckland in December.

The community-focussed panel discussion on the latest international scientific developments in brain research takes place at the University of Auckland’s Fisher & Paykel Appliances Auditorium on Friday 2 December.

The panel titled, ’International Frontier: Advances in Brain Research and Treatments’, will feature renowned neuroscientists; Professor Christopher Shaw (London), Professor Anne Young (Boston), Professor Perry Bartlett (Brisbane), Professor Hanns Möhler (Zurich) and Distringuished Professor Richard Faull (Director of the University of Auckland's Centre for Brain Research).

These neuroscientists are coming together to talk about their work in unravelling the mysteries of the human brain and shaping a path to a much brighter future for people and families touched by neurological disorders.

The public panel discussion is co-hosted by the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand and the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) at the University of Auckland and supported by the Freemasons Foundation.

The CBR’s Scientific Advisory Board participating members are;

Professor Chris Shaw: Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics at the Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience at King's College London

Christopher Shaw is Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics, Head of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Neurodegeneration Research and Director of the Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

He is an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at King's College Hospital where he directs a clinic for patients with motor neuron disease (MND, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS]). His early training in General Medicine and Neurology was conducted in New Zealand. He moved to the UK in 1992 on a Wellcome Trust New Zealand Health Research Council Fellowship.

Professor Anne Young: Distinguished Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School

Professor Anne Young established the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND). MIND brings together scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital concentrating on studies of Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD) and ALS.

Professor Young spearheaded the comprehensive drug discovery efforts at MIND and has been successful in identifying drug targets for PD, HD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Professor Young holds membership in the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also the only person to have been president of both the international Society for Neuroscience and the American Neurological Association.

Professor Perry Bartlett: Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland

Professor Perry Bartlett, FAA is internationally renowned in the field of cellular and molecular neuroscience, as highlighted by his election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy and awarding of an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship in 2003.

Professor Bartlett was appointed Foundation Chair in Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Queensland in 2002, and the inaugural Director of the Queensland Brain Institute in 2003. He initially introduced neuroscience into the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

Professor Bartlett has published more than 180 peer-reviewed papers, and is the recipient of a number of prizes for neuroscience excellence.

Professor Hanns Möhler: Distinguished Professor at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Zurich

Hanns Möhler was appointed in 1988 as the Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Institute of Pharmacology in a joint appointment by the University of Zurich (Medical Faculty) and by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences).

He has published nearly three hundred full papers in scientific journals or books, is co-author of a textbook (Biochemistry), and edited or co-edited three books (The Challenge of Neuropharmacology, Pharmacology of GABA and Glycine Neurotransmission, The GABA Receptors).

He has been honoured by prestigious lecture invitations and numerous prizes including the Neuroscience Award of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, The Ott-Prize of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences and the Golden Kraepelin Medal by the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Germany.

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