The annual ‘Forget Me Not‘ appeal by Alzheimer’s New Zealand ran from 26 July to 1 Aug, 2009. To coincide with this, the Institute highlighted its current research into functional, structural, and cerebral bloodflow MR imaging in Alzheimer’s.
The project was also covered in the Christchurch ‘Press’ here; in brief in the New Zealand Herald, Dominion Post, Otago Daily Times, and Gisborne Herald; and in a national radio interview with Larry Williams on NewsTalkZB.
In conjunction with the University of Canterbury, the Van der Veer Institute is offering a PhD scholarship for a brain research project, starting in 2009, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques.
The successful student will be based at the Van der Veer Institute and will conduct research using the Hagley Radiology 3T MRI scanner in the same building. See here for information on our current MR research capabilities and projects.
The award of the scholarship will take into account both the attributes of the student and the potential projects in which they may be involved. Applicants should examine current research projects at the Institute and identify areas in which they would like to be involved. Students will be considered from a variety of backgrounds and do not need to have experience in MRI research, although that may be an advantage. Current students in MRI projects have backgrounds in psychology, medicine, physics, and engineering. However, the first award of this scholarship is likely to favour a project with a focus on the physics and techniques of MRI rather than other areas.
Submit:
a brief CV,
academic record, and
preferred area of research
To: Dr Michael MacAskill, Chief Scientist
Van der Veer Institute
michael.macaskill@vanderveer.org.nz
By:
Friday 30 Jan, 2009
Direct queries related to research projects to Dr Richard Watts, Director of MRI Research
“A Neurobehavioral Approach to the Study of Cognitive and Emotional Development”
Kathleen M. Thomas
Assoc. Prof. of Child Psychology, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Wed 12 November, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Level 2, Van der Veer Institute, 66 Stewart St
ABSTRACT – The human brain is arguably the most complex system in the world. Each of our everyday thoughts, actions, memories, or emotions stems from a combination of both simple and complex functions of the brain. Over the past 20 years, neuroscientists have learned much about the cellular structure of the brain and its chemical and electrical signaling pathways, providing valuable insights into the workings of the mind as well as the mechanisms underlying neurological disease. Despite this incredible knowledge base, the development of the brain, and more particularly, its relation to the emergence of higher-level thought and behavior, remains a relative mystery. In this talk, I will present examples from our work examining links between brain structure and function and the development of cognitive and emotional skills in childhood. This research includes the use of neuroimaging methods as a tool for examining the neural systems supporting learning, memory, and attention in typical children. In addition, I will describe ongoing research combining multiple behavioral and neuroscience techniques to address brain and cognitive function in children at-risk for atypical development.
BIO – Dr. Kathleen Thomas is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. She received her PhD in Child Psychology in 1997. Her graduate and postdoctoral training focused on the use of neuroimaging methods including event-related potentials (ERP) and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the study of cognitive development in infants and young children. Dr. Thomas was a faculty member at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) and the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology (Weill Medical College of Cornell University) prior to accepting her current position in 2002. Her current research addresses neurobehavioral development in both typical and atypical child populations.
The public is welcome to come along to the medical school building (on the corner of Riccarton Ave/Oxford Tce, parking available in the blue Christchurch Hospital parking building on Antigua St). There are research displays in the foyer, public lectures and a chance to see inside Mobile Medical Technology’s large surgical bus, the only mobile surgery in NZ.
There are also tours tours to laboratories and research facilities. This includes the fascinating (and at times, gruesome) Pathology Museum and a chance to see the world-leading Cardioendocrine lab.
The Van der Veer Institute is also taking part, and people can tour our eye movement and swallowing labs and the MR brain imaging facilities.
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