Mon 03 Jun 12:30: Advances in fMRI Data Acquisition Techniques
Speaker: Visiting in person – Prof. Benedikt Poser (Maastricht University)
Bio: Professor Benedikt Poser is a renowned scientist in the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), particularly known for his work on advanced neuroimaging techniques. He has significantly contributed to the development of methods such as multi-band imaging and functional MRI at ultra-high magnetic fields, enhancing the ability to study brain function and structure with greater precision. Prof. Poser is currently affiliated with Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where he continues to advance MRI technology and its applications in cognitive and clinical neuroscience.
Title: Advances in fMRI Data Acquisition Techniques
Abstract: I will first focus on echo-planar imaging readouts which have long been the workhorse for fMRI, but continue on a remarkable trajectory of imaging speed-up and data improvement. Non-Cartesian imaging is now gaining more interest for various functional contrasts, thanks to the flexibility in encoding and echo time choices. I will then also touch on other promising acquisition methods for laminar imaging, including line scan, FLASH readouts, as well as contrasts. The last part of the talk is focussed on how parallel RF transmission can add to image quality in 2D and 3D acquisitions and enable region selective excitations.
Venue: MRC CBU Lecture Theatre and Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82385113580?pwd=RmxIUmphQW9Ud1JBby9nTDQzR0NRdz09
- Speaker: Benedikt Poser (Maastricht University)
- Monday 03 June 2024, 12:30-13:30
- Venue: MRC-CBU, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge.
- Series: CBU Monday Methods Meeting; organiser: Dace Apšvalka.
Wed 22 May 15:00: Tin Foil Confessions: Escaping The Cult Of Conspiracy
From Conspiracist to Ex-Conspiracist: Brent Lee’s Journey Out of the Rabbit Hole
• Brent Lee, a former conspiracist who was deeply entrenched in the world of conspiracy theories from 2003 to 2018, shares his personal journey of transformation and the factors that led him to question and ultimately reject his previous beliefs.
• Lee’s initial exposure to conspiracy theories began in 2003 when he stumbled upon a file-sharing application called DC++ and discovered a folder of videos related to the Illuminati and Freemasons.
• He became engrossed in the works of prominent conspiracy theorists such as Jordan Maxwell, William Cooper, David Icke, and Alex Jones, consuming their books, videos, and radio appearances obsessively.
• Lee actively engaged with other conspiracy theorists on online forums, contributing to the development of alternative narratives for events like the 7/7 London bombings and decoding hidden symbols in high-profile events.
• However, doubts began to arise when he encountered increasingly outlandish theories, such as the Sandy Hook massacre being a hoax, Justin Bieber and Eminem being Illuminati clones, and the rise of flat earth proponents.
• As his interests in politics, religion, society, and culture expanded, Lee found himself increasingly at odds with the grand conspiracy narrative and the logistics of how it could function in the real world.
• Significant global events, such as the rise of QAnon, the election of Donald Trump, Brexit, and the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, further challenged his belief in a predetermined new world order.
https://www.tinfoilconfessions.com/my-story
- Speaker: Brent Lee
- Wednesday 22 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge.
- Series: Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS); organiser: Yara Kyrychenko.
Wed 22 May 15:00: Tin Foil Confessions: Escaping The Cult Of Conspiracy
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Brent Lee
- Wednesday 22 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge.
- Series: Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS); organiser: Yara Kyrychenko.
Tue 14 May 12:00: “Herpes and dementia: the enemy within” The talk is in-person only and a recording is not available.
Abstract not available
The talk is in-person only and a recording is not available.
- Speaker: Prof Ruth Itzhaki
- Tuesday 14 May 2024, 12:00-13:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site.
- Series: Clinical Neurosciences Seminars; organiser: Louise Massara.
Tue 14 May 12:00: “Herpes and dementia: the enemy within”
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof Ruth Itzhaki
- Tuesday 14 May 2024, 12:00-13:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site.
- Series: Clinical Neurosciences Seminars; organiser: Louise Massara.
Mon 10 Jun 12:30: Preregistration: When great ideas meet reality (can we avoid the hiccups?)
Venue: MRC CBU West Wing Seminar Room and Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82385113580?pwd=RmxIUmphQW9Ud1JBby9nTDQzR0NRdz09
- Speaker: Roni Tibon (University of Nottingham)
- Monday 10 June 2024, 12:30-13:30
- Venue: MRC-CBU, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge.
- Series: CBU Monday Methods Meeting; organiser: Dace Apšvalka.
Fri 11 Oct 16:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Peggy St Jacques, University of Alberta
- Friday 11 October 2024, 16:30-18:00
- Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology.
- Series: Zangwill Club; organiser: John Mollon.
Thu 09 May 13:00: “Protecting and regenerating the diseased nervous system: Lessons from development” Please note TIME CHANGE (the seminar is now 13:00-14:00)
Abstract not available
Please note TIME CHANGE (the seminar is now 13:00-14:00)
- Speaker: Prof Michel Cayouette, Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM)
- Thursday 09 May 2024, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site.
- Series: Clinical Neurosciences Seminars; organiser: Louise Massara.
Mon 20 May 10:00: Integrated Spin model with global inhibition for decision making
Humans and other organisms make decisions choosing between different options, with the aim to maximize the reward. The main theoretical framework for modeling the decision-making process has been based on the highly successful drift-diffusion model, which is a simple tool for explaining many aspects of this process. Recently, it was found that during high cognitive load and situations of uncertainty, inhibition of neuronal firing increases, but the origin of this phenomenon is not understood. Motivated by this observation, we extend a recently developed model for decision-making while animals move towards targets in real space. We introduce an Ising-type model, which includes global inhibition, and explore its role in the decision-making process. This model can explain how the brain may utilize modulation of inhibition to improve its decision-making accuracy. Compared to experimental results, this model suggests that the regime of the brain’s decision-making activity is in proximity to a critical state. Within the model, the critical region near the transition line has the advantageous property of enabling a significant decrease in error with a small increase in inhibition and also exhibits unique properties with respect to learning and memory decay.
- Speaker: Nir Gov, Weizmann Institute of Science
- Monday 20 May 2024, 10:00-11:00
- Venue: CBL Seminar Room, Engineering Department, 4th floor Baker building.
- Series: Computational Neuroscience; organiser: Samuel Eckmann.
Wed 08 May 15:00: Radicalisation and Violent Extremism: Trends, Drivers, Solutions
Incel, conspiracy theorist, and neo-Nazi movements once belonged on the fringes of the political spectrum. Today, their ideas are becoming more widespread, accelerated by global conflict, economic crisis, and rapid technological change. Extremists across the world have skillfully expanded their reach by using cutting-edge technologies. They have also attracted the youngest generations by gamifying their communication and impacted politics by entering surprising coalitions. In recent years, online campaigns to intimidate politicians, journalists, and activists, as well as online efforts to radicalise wider groups of people towards violence, have become increasingly common. Security experts have warned that both mainstream and fringe cyberspaces (so-called alt-tech platforms) have turned into hotbeds for viral hate and the inspiration of violence. This has often left security services overwhelmed with the sheer amount of potential threats to national security.
Yet, not everyone who makes explicit threats of violence will translate their words into action. Likewise, not everyone who will commit an act of extreme violence threatens to do so beforehand. Some will even intentionally scratch the boundaries of legality by using the rhetorical weapon of satire, leading intelligence officers into a tricky security-versus-freedom dilemma. Judgement on whether a user who engages in “shitposting” constitutes a risk to violence can be difficult; yet the stakes are high. The intersection of satire and hate has escalated in a new phenomenon of political violence: gamified terrorism. As we have been able to observe the growing relationship between trolling and terrorism, traditional counter-terrorism mechanisms have become increasingly unhelpful in assessing and dealing with this emerging threat.
Based on her research, Dr Julia Ebner will give insights into patterns of radicalisation across different ideologies as well as emerging global trends in extremist mobilisation. Throughout the seminar, she will address questions such as: Why have outlandish extremist ideas taken hold in liberal democracies and how do they spread online? What are the pull and push factors that drive radicalisation, and when do they pose a risk for national security? Can would-be perpetrators of extreme violence be reliably identified by the linguistic traces they unintentionally leave behind in their online communications? In closing, she will propose a set of solutions to tackle the spread of violent extremism and to prevent acts of terrorism.
This talk is in person only and is hosted by Edoardo Chidichimo.
- Speaker: Julia Ebner (Oxford)
- Wednesday 08 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge.
- Series: Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS); organiser: Yara Kyrychenko.
Wed 08 May 15:00: Radicalisation and Violent Extremism: Trends, Drivers, Solutions
Incel, conspiracy theorist, and neo-Nazi movements once belonged on the fringes of the political spectrum. Today, their ideas are becoming more widespread, accelerated by global conflict, economic crisis, and rapid technological change. Extremists across the world have skillfully expanded their reach by using cutting-edge technologies. They have also attracted the youngest generations by gamifying their communication and impacted politics by entering surprising coalitions. In recent years, online campaigns to intimidate politicians, journalists, and activists, as well as online efforts to radicalise wider groups of people towards violence, have become increasingly common. Security experts have warned that both mainstream and fringe cyberspaces (so-called alt-tech platforms) have turned into hotbeds for viral hate and the inspiration of violence. This has often left security services overwhelmed with the sheer amount of potential threats to national security. Yet, not everyone who makes explicit threats of violence will translate their words into action. Likewise, not everyone who will commit an act of extreme violence threatens to do so beforehand. Some will even intentionally scratch the boundaries of legality by using the rhetorical weapon of satire, leading intelligence officers into a tricky security-versus-freedom dilemma. Judgement on whether a user who engages in “shitposting” constitutes a risk to violence can be difficult; yet the stakes are high. The intersection of satire and hate has escalated in a new phenomenon of political violence: gamified terrorism. As we have been able to observe the growing relationship between trolling and terrorism, traditional counter-terrorism mechanisms have become increasingly unhelpful in assessing and dealing with this emerging threat. Based on her research, Dr Julia Ebner will give insights into patterns of radicalisation across different ideologies as well as emerging global trends in extremist mobilisation. Throughout the seminar, she will address questions such as: Why have outlandish extremist ideas taken hold in liberal democracies and how do they spread online? What are the pull and push factors that drive radicalisation, and when do they pose a risk for national security? Can would-be perpetrators of extreme violence be reliably identified by the linguistic traces they unintentionally leave behind in their online communications? In closing, she will propose a set of solutions to tackle the spread of violent extremism and to prevent acts of terrorism.
This talk is in person only and is hosted by Edoardo Chidichimo.
- Speaker: Julia Ebner (Cambridge)
- Wednesday 08 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge.
- Series: Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS); organiser: Yara Kyrychenko.
Tue 11 Jun 09:30: Child Development Forum Easter II
Abigail Agyemang (Psychology/Education) – Mathematics Anxiety in Underrepresented Secondary School Children
Irena Tetkovic (Psychiatry) – SIBWELL : Supporting siblings of children and young people with mental health conditions in their wellbeing
Keith Liang (Psychology) – Rhythm in Speech, rhythm in brain, and learning to read in adolescence in East Asia
Child Development Forum are a series of talks bringing together researchers of infant, child and adolescent development across the University of Cambridge.
Talks are termly, and usually held at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (Chaucer Road).
Join the mailing list to kept up-to-date, and sign up to give a talk:
https://lists.cam.ac.uk/sympa/info/ucam-childdevforum
This talk is part of the Child Development Forum (CDF) series.
- Speaker: Abigail Agyemang (Psychology), Irena Tetkovic (Psychiatry), Keith Liang (Psychology)
- Tuesday 11 June 2024, 09:30-11:00
- Venue: Old Cavendish Psychology Ground Floor Seminar Room.
- Series: Child Development Forum (CDF); organiser: Giacomo.
Tue 14 May 12:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof Ruth Itzhaki
- Tuesday 14 May 2024, 12:00-13:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site.
- Series: Clinical Neurosciences Seminars; organiser: Louise Massara.
Thu 09 May 12:00: “Protecting and regenerating the diseased nervous system: Lessons from development” The talk is in-person only and a recording is not available.
Abstract not available
The talk is in-person only and a recording is not available.
- Speaker: Prof Michel Cayouette, Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM)
- Thursday 09 May 2024, 12:00-13:00
- Venue: Seminar Room, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site.
- Series: Clinical Neurosciences Seminars; organiser: Louise Massara.
Thu 23 May 16:00: How innate immune cells adapt to environment and function: diverse tales of mitochondria
Innate immune cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells, inhabit all body organs to detect danger and initiate immune responses as well as to maintain organ health. However, the mechanisms facilitating those diverse functions of innate immune cells in distinct tissue milieus are poorly understood.
Recently, we found tissue macrophages to engage their mitochondrial metabolism in an organ-specific manner. Mechanistically, they adapt the activity of their mitochondrial electron transport chain to handle large amounts of environmental lipids in homeostasis. This functional dependence of tissue macrophages on mitochondrial metabolism can be harnessed to ameliorate obesity-related pathologies. On the other hand, innate immune cells have to quickly respond to insults and activate immunity for containment, in particular conventional dendritic cells. We discovered a differential bioenergetic dependence of the immunogenic responsiveness of type 1 versus type 2 dendritic cells (unpublished data). The distinct engagement of mitochondrial metabolism regulates the epigenetic state and functional outputs of dendritic cell subsets and affects their potency to induce anti-cancer immunity.
Overall, my talk will focus on how mitochondria and an active electron transport chain regulate the context-dependent functions of innate immune cells via entirely distinct molecular mechanisms.
- Speaker: Stefanie Wculek, IRB (Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona)
- Thursday 23 May 2024, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Hodgkin Huxley Seminar Room, Physiology builiding, Downing Site CB2 3EG.
- Series: Foster Talks; organiser: er454.
Wed 01 May 15:00: Behavioural Science and Security: Informing Evidence-based Policy and Practice
This talk will give an overview of how and why risk perception and communication are important by sharing collaborative work, discussing some of the UK systems and Behavioural and Social Science policy advice.
- Speaker: Brooke Rogers (King's College London)
- Wednesday 01 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge.
- Series: Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS); organiser: Yara Kyrychenko.
Mon 15 Jul 12:30: Therapeutic ultrasound for brain therapy
Abstract: TBC
Bio: Dr Sophie Morse is a European Talent Academy Fellow and an Emerging Leader in the Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College. During her PhD, she developed innovative methods to enhance drug delivery to the brain using focused ultrasound and microbubbles. Currently, Dr Morse leads a research group investigating how focused ultrasound can non-invasively stimulate cells in our brain, particularly glial cells and immune cells, to find new ways of treating Alzheimer’s disease, brain tumours and even slow down ageing.
Venue: MRC CBU West Wing Seminar Room and Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82385113580?pwd=RmxIUmphQW9Ud1JBby9nTDQzR0NRdz09
- Speaker: Sophie Morse (Imperial College London)
- Monday 15 July 2024, 12:30-13:30
- Venue: MRC-CBU, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge.
- Series: CBU Monday Methods Meeting; organiser: Dace Apšvalka.
Mon 08 Jul 12:30: TBC
Abstract: TBC
Bio: Stefan Haufe is a professor of computer science and head of the UNIML (Uncertainty, Inverse Modeling and Machine Learning) group at the Technical University of Berlin. His research focuses on developing and validating signal processing, inverse modelling and machine-learning techniques for neuroimaging and other medical data.
Venue: MRC CBU West Wing Seminar Room and Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82385113580?pwd=RmxIUmphQW9Ud1JBby9nTDQzR0NRdz09
- Speaker: Stefan Haufe (Technical University of Berlin)
- Monday 08 July 2024, 12:30-13:30
- Venue: MRC-CBU, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge.
- Series: CBU Monday Methods Meeting; organiser: Dace Apšvalka.
Thu 09 May 14:00: Learning and memory in developmental amnesia
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Rachael Elward (London South Bank University)
- Thursday 09 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.
Wed 08 May 12:15: Unifying the mechanisms of the hippocampal and prefrontal cognitive maps
Cognitive maps have emerged as leading candidates, both conceptually and neurally, for explaining how brains seamlessly generalize structured knowledge across apparently different scenarios. Two brain systems are implicated in cognitive mapping: the hippocampal formation and the prefrontal cortex. Neural activity in these brain regions, however, differs during the same task, indicating that the regions have different mechanisms for cognitive mapping. In this talk, we first provide a mechanistic understanding of how the hippocampal and prefrontal systems could build cognitive maps (with the hippocampal mechanism related to transformers and the prefrontal mechanism related to RNNs/SSMs); second, we demonstrate how these two mechanisms explain a wealth of neural data in both brain regions; and lastly, we prove that the two different mechanisms are, in fact, mathematically equivalent.
- Speaker: James Whittington, Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University & Oxford University
- Wednesday 08 May 2024, 12:15-13:15
- Venue: CBL Seminar Room, Engineering Department, 4th floor Baker building.
- Series: Computational Neuroscience; organiser: Samuel Eckmann.