Well Im technically an Associate Professor in Cell Biology at TSRI but I was previously in the Neurosciences Dept. at UCSD (and still Adjunct there) and my main focus of study is the Molecular basis of Learning and Memory. Here is a very old web page from UCSD, you can look up newer pubs in medline if interested. Old UCLA lecture here. I also have done some work on general aging mechanisms here. So ask away about science, academic careers, etc. I dont teach much, mostly graduate lectures. Dont know undergrad admissions but have been on grad school admission committee.
Ask a Neuroscience Professor
- Thread starter Mark1031
- Start date
What does the community think of Allan Snyder's efforts to tap 'savant like' abilities using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation?
fMRI only 'observes' about 2% of the energy consumption done in the brain (the BOLD signal), right? Is there hope to find ways of tracking the other 98% in near-real time?
When does a fetus become sentient, according to the most modern science?
ESC research: are neuroscientists of the opinion that the political climate is slowing down discoveries?
fMRI only 'observes' about 2% of the energy consumption done in the brain (the BOLD signal), right? Is there hope to find ways of tracking the other 98% in near-real time?
When does a fetus become sentient, according to the most modern science?
ESC research: are neuroscientists of the opinion that the political climate is slowing down discoveries?
What's big in depression? Do people still think that the glia are important?
Have you ever heard of Tononi and Edelman's work on consciousness? I haven't heard anything about it since reading the book, so I assume that their ideas have problems. What's wrong with it?
Have you ever heard of Tononi and Edelman's work on consciousness? I haven't heard anything about it since reading the book, so I assume that their ideas have problems. What's wrong with it?
!!! Your intro says you worked in Kandel's lab! Neato!
In Kandel's autobiography, he mentions a mouse model for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (the d4 receptor, iirc?). Are people still liking it?
In Kandel's autobiography, he mentions a mouse model for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (the d4 receptor, iirc?). Are people still liking it?
1. What percentage of our brain do we really use and is there anything on the biotech/general public market to increase the usable perecentage?
2. Do you actively deal with biochemistry kind of stuff on a day-to-day basis? If you have a specialization in molecular bio, would taking a physical chemistry course/background help you at all in your field?
2. Do you actively deal with biochemistry kind of stuff on a day-to-day basis? If you have a specialization in molecular bio, would taking a physical chemistry course/background help you at all in your field?
Ansar
Détente avec l'été
How many years (after High School) did it take you to reach this position?
How many years of like, studying and that kind of junk?
How many years of like, studying and that kind of junk?
I think that I can answer this one. Often people are told that they're only using a tiny proportion of their brain at once because
a) only some of the neurons are firing at any specific time
b) some parts of the brain are used for specific tasks
Obviously if a part of the brain isn't engaged in the current task then it won't contribute much to thought processes.
However, neurons that don't fire convey just as much information as neurons that do. If all neurons were firing all the time then no information would be conveyed, and the brain wouldn't be working.
We need 'not to be using' parts of the brain in order for the used areas actually to be doing something useful.
Japanrocks12
tired of being a man
hey I'm actually sitting at UCSD now (interning at the NC-MIR building)
my questions would be:
1) what sorts of courses should be taken and what areas of speciality should one develop in college in order to be a neuroscientist?
2) do you enjoy research or undertaking experiments more?
my questions would be:
1) what sorts of courses should be taken and what areas of speciality should one develop in college in order to be a neuroscientist?
2) do you enjoy research or undertaking experiments more?
angeleyes
mood indigo
Have you located Free Will somewhere in our brain? Do you believe we have one? Has quantum-mechanics something to do with the working of our brain?
Ah thanks, thats interesting
With that said, is there a way to repair/prevent neuron loss and damage since over time since they kind of wear out like old tires?
What do you actually do?
Write papers, review papers, read papers, write grants, review grants, give lectures, organize lectures, go to meetings, think of experiments, talk post-docs and students into doing said experiments, interpret data from experiments. Rinse and repeat.
What does the community think of Allan Snyder's efforts to tap 'savant like' abilities using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation?
Dont know that work. There is a growing literature on stimulation for various conditions eg. Vagus nerve stimulation for epilepsy.
fMRI only 'observes' about 2% of the energy consumption done in the brain (the BOLD signal), right? Is there hope to find ways of tracking the other 98% in near-real time?
I dont know the physics behind fMRI.
When does a fetus become sentient, according to the most modern science?
I wont touch that one as it depends on the definition of sentient. Monkeys have more intellectual skills than newborns for whatever thats worth.
ESC research: are neuroscientists of the opinion that the political climate is slowing down discoveries?
Yes. Absolutely silly politics
What's big in depression? Do people still think that the glia are important?
Dont know depression much or the glia theory. My wife works on it and thinks it is a neuroinflammatory condition involving microglia activation.
Have you ever heard of Tononi and Edelman's work on consciousness?
I am in the same institution as Edelman. I read one of his books.
I haven't heard anything about it since reading the book, so I assume that their ideas have problems. What's wrong with it?
I am not a big fan of the consciousness field in general. I asked Francis Crick to define it one time and he couldnt/wouldnt. In my view it is just an emergent property of a complex system, the physical basis of which must simply be neuronal firing.
!!! Your intro says you worked in Kandel's lab! Neato!
Yes it was quite neato. Great place. I wish would have been there when he won the Nobel Prize.
In Kandel's autobiography, he mentions a mouse model for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (the d4 receptor, iirc?). Are people still liking it?
I saw him give a talk on it a few months ago. I thought it looked very reasonable not sweeping the Neuroscience community or anything but nice. Very hard to making convincing mouse models of psychiatric diseases.
I am in Kandel's autobiography as the founder of mouse genetics in his lab.
What percentage of our brain do we really use and is there anything on the biotech/general public market to increase the usable perecentage?
I dont know. I think the question is a misconception about how the brain works. It is not simply mass action. I believe when you know something well you don;t activate as much of the brain to retrieve that information.
Do you actively deal with biochemistry kind of stuff on a day-to-day basis? If you have a specialization in molecular bio, would taking a physical chemistry course/background help you at all in your field?
Yes. My degree is in Biochem and Mol Bio. P Chem is not really that helpful. I took it ages ago. Molecular cellular biol/genetics is the place to be, these are the foundations of modern biology of all kinds, and neuroscience directly of course
How many years (after High School) did it take you to reach this position?
10 yrs to PhD. 7 yrs as a post-doc. That is a bit long although typical grad school is 5-6 yrs and post-docs are running longer too. This depends a bit on the kind of work you are doing.
hey I'm actually sitting at UCSD now (interning at the NC-MIR building)
my questions would be:
1) what sorts of courses should be taken and what areas of speciality should one develop in college in order to be a neuroscientist?
Well I think the Biology offers an undergrad neurosci. Major. Not sure but many do now. Three main directions to come from, cell molecular biol, physics/math, or pschyc.
2) do you enjoy research or undertaking experiments more?
I mostly write and think. I enjoyed bench science and still do some for fun. What I like the most is seeing new data from experiments and coming up with new ideas/experiments.
Have you located Free Will somewhere in our brain? Do you believe we have one?
No, No
Has quantum-mechanics something to do with the working of our brain?
No but there was a crazy paper about 15 yrs ago by a famous neuroscientist where he postulated such a thing and invented words like dendrons and psychons.
With that said, is there a way to repair/prevent neuron loss and damage since over time since they kind of wear out like old tires?
People are trying to repair systems with stem cells. Prevent loss I dont know. Most loss is from pathology like Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Cure those and you stop the loss. I believe the loose 10K neurons/ day with age is a myth.
Write papers, review papers, read papers, write grants, review grants, give lectures, organize lectures, go to meetings, think of experiments, talk post-docs and students into doing said experiments, interpret data from experiments. Rinse and repeat.
What does the community think of Allan Snyder's efforts to tap 'savant like' abilities using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation?
Dont know that work. There is a growing literature on stimulation for various conditions eg. Vagus nerve stimulation for epilepsy.
fMRI only 'observes' about 2% of the energy consumption done in the brain (the BOLD signal), right? Is there hope to find ways of tracking the other 98% in near-real time?
I dont know the physics behind fMRI.
When does a fetus become sentient, according to the most modern science?
I wont touch that one as it depends on the definition of sentient. Monkeys have more intellectual skills than newborns for whatever thats worth.
ESC research: are neuroscientists of the opinion that the political climate is slowing down discoveries?
Yes. Absolutely silly politics
What's big in depression? Do people still think that the glia are important?
Dont know depression much or the glia theory. My wife works on it and thinks it is a neuroinflammatory condition involving microglia activation.
Have you ever heard of Tononi and Edelman's work on consciousness?
I am in the same institution as Edelman. I read one of his books.
I haven't heard anything about it since reading the book, so I assume that their ideas have problems. What's wrong with it?
I am not a big fan of the consciousness field in general. I asked Francis Crick to define it one time and he couldnt/wouldnt. In my view it is just an emergent property of a complex system, the physical basis of which must simply be neuronal firing.
!!! Your intro says you worked in Kandel's lab! Neato!
Yes it was quite neato. Great place. I wish would have been there when he won the Nobel Prize.
In Kandel's autobiography, he mentions a mouse model for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (the d4 receptor, iirc?). Are people still liking it?
I saw him give a talk on it a few months ago. I thought it looked very reasonable not sweeping the Neuroscience community or anything but nice. Very hard to making convincing mouse models of psychiatric diseases.
I am in Kandel's autobiography as the founder of mouse genetics in his lab.
What percentage of our brain do we really use and is there anything on the biotech/general public market to increase the usable perecentage?
I dont know. I think the question is a misconception about how the brain works. It is not simply mass action. I believe when you know something well you don;t activate as much of the brain to retrieve that information.
Do you actively deal with biochemistry kind of stuff on a day-to-day basis? If you have a specialization in molecular bio, would taking a physical chemistry course/background help you at all in your field?
Yes. My degree is in Biochem and Mol Bio. P Chem is not really that helpful. I took it ages ago. Molecular cellular biol/genetics is the place to be, these are the foundations of modern biology of all kinds, and neuroscience directly of course
How many years (after High School) did it take you to reach this position?
10 yrs to PhD. 7 yrs as a post-doc. That is a bit long although typical grad school is 5-6 yrs and post-docs are running longer too. This depends a bit on the kind of work you are doing.
hey I'm actually sitting at UCSD now (interning at the NC-MIR building)
my questions would be:
1) what sorts of courses should be taken and what areas of speciality should one develop in college in order to be a neuroscientist?
Well I think the Biology offers an undergrad neurosci. Major. Not sure but many do now. Three main directions to come from, cell molecular biol, physics/math, or pschyc.
2) do you enjoy research or undertaking experiments more?
I mostly write and think. I enjoyed bench science and still do some for fun. What I like the most is seeing new data from experiments and coming up with new ideas/experiments.
Have you located Free Will somewhere in our brain? Do you believe we have one?
No, No
Has quantum-mechanics something to do with the working of our brain?
No but there was a crazy paper about 15 yrs ago by a famous neuroscientist where he postulated such a thing and invented words like dendrons and psychons.
With that said, is there a way to repair/prevent neuron loss and damage since over time since they kind of wear out like old tires?
People are trying to repair systems with stem cells. Prevent loss I dont know. Most loss is from pathology like Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Cure those and you stop the loss. I believe the loose 10K neurons/ day with age is a myth.
Ayatollah So
the spoof'll set you free
Sentient means capable of sensation, or slightly more broadly, of experience. Pain, warmth, itch, perceived sound, happiness, subjective mood, etc. Intellectual skills have to do with sapience, which is something else.
To quote a famous philosopher:
There's no reason these wise words shouldn't be equally applicable to free will as to consciousness. [/digression]
Wow, neato! I very nearly chose neuroscience for my undergraduate instead of literature, and I often wish I had. I always took you for a physicist, for some reason.
Do you ever bump into Dr. Ramachandran? I guess your lines of research don't have much to do with each other, but it must be thrilling to work in such a rich environment.
Do you ever bump into Dr. Ramachandran? I guess your lines of research don't have much to do with each other, but it must be thrilling to work in such a rich environment.
Fifty
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you or the other neuroscience people ever interact with some of the famous philosophers of neuroscience down there (most especially the Churchlands)? Do you have any views towards their work?
Cheezy the Wiz
Socialist In A Hurry
Is a Doctorate's Degree prerequisite for a faculty position at a college?
But if all those are just combinations of chemical reactions, wouldn't you have to attribute "sentience" to anything or situation that can create the same reactions?
Perfection
The Great Head.
Why can't I find my car keys?
ParkCungHee
Deity
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2006
- Messages
- 12,921
What does the Neuroscientific community in General feel about psychology? What about you personally? Do you see them as competing or complementary schools of thought? Does this include less biologically minded psychologists?
Similar threads
