Hello everyone,

I hope you all had an enjoyable summer! As we begin this new academic year, I would like to give you an update on the outreach events and opportunities that Winnipeg Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience has developed over the last several months.

Neuroscience Speaker's Bureau

Our Neuroscience Speaker's Bureau continues to take shape, and thank you to everyone who has submitted the online form. If you have not yet done so, or if you would like to sign up to be a speaker, please follow this link: http://www.sfn-manitoba.ca/mnn/speakerform.html. This information will also be used to populate the outreach section of the new MNN website, so if you do it now, you won't have to do it again!

Brain Awareness Week - Visit by Dr. Matthew Farrer

Brain Awareness Week will be held March 16-22, 2015, and as part of this event I am pleased to announce that we will be hosting CERC chair Dr. Matthew Farrer from UBC. He will be giving both scientific and public talks, and further details about his visit will be distributed as they become available.

Brain Awareness Week - Café Scientifique

On March 18th, 2015, also during BAW, the Chapter will be co-sponsoring a session in the Café Scientifique series with the Office of the VP Research: http://umanitoba.ca/research/cafescientifique/media/Cafe_Schedule.pdf . The session is entitled, "Keeping Your Head in the Game: How Concussions Affect the Brain".

The Chapter has made a commitment to co-sponsor a neuroscience-themed Café Scientifique for the next 2-3 years, so if you have ideas for future topics and panelists, please feel free to contact me.

Art of Neuroscience - Manitoba Craft Council

On a very different note, we have initiated a collaboration with the Manitoba Craft Council to create neuroscience-themed art pieces. Those of you who have attended the SFN annual meeting may have seen the "Art of Neuroscience" display, which is the inspiration for this program: http://www.sfn.org/News-and-Calendar/News-and-Calendar/News/Spotlight/2013/A.... Members will have the opportunity to collaborate directly with local artists working in a variety of media, and we hope that this will be a unique and enriching experience for you. Additional details will be coming soon.

Back to School - Classroom Outreach

Finally, as every parent knows, it is back-to-school time. Have you ever considered visiting your child's class to help them learn about the brain? If so, contact us and we can provide you with ideas for activities and resources for all age levels.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions that you may have. I wish you all a successful and productive year.

Sari

Sari S. Hannila, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science

Associate Member, Spinal Cord Research Centre College of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences

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Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science Room 130, Basic Medical Sciences Building 745 Bannatyne Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0J9 Tel: (204) 789-3483 Fax: (204) 789-3920 Sari.Hannila@med.umanitoba.camailto:Sari.Hannila@med.umanitoba.ca