Theme newsletter

Annual Neuroscience & Behaviour Day

It is getting to that time of year when we need to think about organising the next N&B Theme Symposium. The Steering group is keen to hear from anyone that has a burning desire to suggest topics or assist in running the next Neuroscience & Behaviour Symposium. Please send and suggestions to Ian and Emma.

Public Outreach 

Jo Shaw is starting to organise a half-day symposium aimed at introducing 6th form students to Neuroscience, as part of our public outreach. I am sure she will be interested in some volunteers to help run that, so if you are inspired please contact Jo and Emma.

Grant applications

Are you interested in writing a fellowship? We have been considering how best to help our young scientists start planning for writing grants and we've put together a short document to give some advice and direction to those interested. Have a look on the grant applications web page.

REF2014

Thanks for all your help in arranging your personal outputs for this exercise. Trying to keep up with the requests for information from the centre has kept us rather busy. We are now in the final stages of arranging the second external review of our current outputs. As we did after the last review, there will be an opportunity to review and discuss this with us when we have the feedback. 

Neuroscience & Behaviour Posts

There are three posts currently being advertised associatd with Ian Forsythe's group:

1. Postdoc Electrophysiologist MRC Funded 3 years to study Nitrergic signalling in the auditory cortex.
2. Postdoc: Molecular biologist, MRC Funded 3 years also to study Nitrergic signalling.
3. Research Lectureship in Neuroscience; Fixed term contract.

All the jobs are posted on the University web site.

Here is the link to the Theme Page

I hope everyone has managed to have a good break at some time over the summer.  As you return is a good time to think about your plans for the next year.

Grant Development meetings

Plan your time for grant applications! Please start by booking a GRANT DEVELOPMENT MEETING with Emma (egg3@le.ac.uk)  - these are proving very helpful in focussing ideas, giving constuctive feedback, comments from people who have sat on the funding panels and generally assisting to increase your chances of funding.

Funding web pages

Emma and Sybille Kubis (Research Support Office) have put a lot of effort into Strand-specific funding web pages – so have a look if you need some ideas.  You will need to log in to view them.

Recent funding successes

Our grant development efforts are beginning to reap some rewards.

1. An Auditory Suite for auditory brainstem responses and Startle reflex has been funded and is currently under construction in the CRF (£30,000 internal funding from the Infrastructure Fund and the Small Equipment Fund). This was led by Ian Forsythe, Blair Grubb, Mike Mulheran and  Martine Hamann.
2. A Behaviour Suite has also been funded for the CRF (£68,000) led by Andrew Young, Claire Gibson, Todor Gerdjikov and Jose Prados.
3. Todor Gerdjikov has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust  grant (£82,000) grant for a two year study entitled:  Optogenetic analysis of reward mechanisms in the brain: contributions of the PPN - VTA circuit.
4. Ian Forsythe was awarded an MRC project grant for three years entitled: Intrinsic plasticity of neuronal excitability in the auditory brainstem and neocortex: nitrergic signalling to voltage-gated potassium channels. (£868,000).

Well done everyone and if I’ve missed any others - please let Emma know!

Neuroscience Café 15/08/2012

A great evening was had by all that attended the Café Research public meeting organised by Duncan Stanley and Adam Tozer…. Along with free Pizza and beer, there were was great science and even a song and dance routine by Jim Sinclair and Paul Gunderson…. (No doubt someone has put this on YouTube… ) you had to be there….Our postgraduate speakers kept us entertained and informed on the following topics – Well done everyone!! 

• Parental hostility and child behaviour, nature via a lack of nurture. Kit Elam, Psychology.
• Visualising synaptic function.  Jo Shaw, Cell Physiology and Pharmacology.
• From Pears to Poles: magnetoreception in fruit flies. Giorgio Fedele, Genetics.
• iPods: as dangerous as jet engines? Thomas Tagoe, Cell Physiology and Pharmacology.

2013: Neuroscience & Behaviour Research Symposium

Finally - We are starting to think about next year’s Theme Symposium, so ideas and any volunteers that want to be involved will be appreciated, please contact Ian Forsythe over the next three weeks.