Hello everyone,
I hope your summer has been equal parts relaxing and productive. As we look ahead to September, the MNN has planned an exciting event to kick off the academic year. Award-winning artist Rebecca Kamen will be visiting the University of Manitoba as a guest of the Faculty of Science, and on September 24th, she has graciously agreed to spend the day at the Bannatyne campus interacting with neuroscience researchers and students. As you will read below, Rebecca has a longstanding interest in neuroscience and she has participated in projects at Harvard, MIT, NIH, and the Cajal Institute. You can learn more about Rebecca and her work by visiting her website: https://rebeccakamen.com/#1
We have planned three events that are open to neuroscience faculty, staff, and students:
1. Sculpture workshop: 9-11:30 am. Rebecca will lead a workshop in which the participants will work together to model scientific concepts such as synapses and ion channels. Please see the attached outline for details. The workshop is free and no experience is necessary. Individuals and groups are welcome to sign up. Faculty members, please take note that this could be a valuable team-building/brainstorming exercise for your lab. Please RSVP to this email address to reserve your spot (include all names if you are replying on behalf of a group).
2. Lecture: 12-1 pm, Theatre B. Rebecca will present a lecture focusing on her work and her experiences at the Cajal Institute, where she had the opportunity to study Cajal’s original drawings. She has indicated that she would like to meet as many neuroscientists as possible during her visit, and to facilitate this, we have planned a free lunch reception that will take place on the Joe Doupe Concourse immediately after the lecture.
3. Meetings with individual researchers. Rebecca will be available for one-on-one meetings in the afternoon. She is very interested in the cellular/molecular basis of curiosity, cognition, decision making, memory, and networks related to visual processing and dyslexia. She is also very interested in microscopy and would welcome the opportunity to see live demonstrations of imaging techniques. If you are interested in meeting with her, please contact me.
Thank you all for your interest and enjoy these last few days of August!
Best wishes, Sari
Sari S. Hannila, PhD
Director of Outreach, Manitoba Neuroscience Network
