2013 Gill Symposium honours neuroscience researcher McNaughton

robert.cooney — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 19:08:50 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Neuroscience researcher Dr. Bruce McNaughton is receiving a significant award from a major US-based neuroscience research institute located at Indiana ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, in Bloomington, IN.

As part of the annual Indiana ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ – Bloomington Gill Centre for Biomolecular Science Symposium, McNaughton, the Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions (AIHS) Polaris Research Chair at the Department of Neuroscience and Canadian Center for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), will receive the 2013 Gill Award for his significant contributions to neuroscience research.

He will also deliver a keynote address to the 300 delegates who attend the event each year from around the world.

Dr. Bruce McNaughton was the first scientist to win the $10 million Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions (AIHS) Polaris Award, the richest health research award in Canada.

McNaughton joined the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2008, moving his research program from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Arizona to the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

His research focuses on how brain cells process information and form memories, and how those processes are altered by aging, trauma or substance abuse.

McNaughton is the first scientist to win the $10 million Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (now Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions (AIHS)) Polaris Award, the richest health research award in Canada. The AIHS award of $10 million was matched by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and the Informatics Circle of Research Excellence (ICORE) for a total investment of $20 million into McNaughton's research and the CCBN.

There are presently 56 researchers on McNaughton’s Polaris team at the CCBN, including principal investigators, doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, masters and undergraduate students, and a team of technicians.

According to Gerry Oxford, executive director of the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute and professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the IU School of Medicine, McNaughton has provided definitive experimental evidence for the concept that consolidation of memory -- in this case the memory of an individual journey in space -- was facilitated by repetitive "replay" of the hippocampal neuronal activity that occurred during the actual experience.

"His scientific accomplishments are extraordinary and broad, but with a relentless focus on understanding cognitive function through the dynamics of functional brain circuitry," Oxford said.

Gill Symposium organizers will also acknowledge the achievements of Dr. Loren M. Frank, associate professor of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of California San Francisco Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Department of Physiology, who is receiving this year’s Gill Young Investigator Award. His findings have broken new ground concerning memory formation and wakefulness.

For more information about the Gill Symposium or the Gill Center please contact Misty Theodore at 812-856-1930 or mtheodor@indiana.edu.

To speak with Professor McNaughton, contact Amanda Mauthe-Kaddoura at 403-332-4099 or amanda.mauthe2@uleth.ca.

Website: http://ccbn.uleth.ca/people/primary/McNaughton.php

Professor Frank can be reached at 415-502-7357 or loren@phy.ucsf.edu.

For additional information, please visit the Gill Symposium website: http://news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/university-wide/2013/09/2013-gill-awards.shtml

About the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science

The Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science, which is part of the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, was established by a generous gift from Linda and Jack Gill to advance the understanding of complex biological processes and to train the next generation of scientists in biomolecular measurements, especially in the field of neuroscience. Members and collaborators include faculty from IU's departments of Biology, Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Physics, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Neuroscience and the School of Medicine.

http://www.indiana.edu/~gillctr/symposiums.shtml

Lasting Images - John Clark

trevor.kenney — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:35:11 +0000

John Clark was born in England in 1943. He studied painting and printmaking at Hull College of Art in England until receiving a Fulbright Scholarship, which he used to study painting at Indiana ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. He eventually earned his Master of Fine Arts there in 1968.

Arnaud Maggs, John Clark in his studio, 1988. From the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Art Collection. Gift of the artist, 1989.

Clark then returned to Hull College of Art, this time as the Senior Lecturer of Painting. In 1978, he moved to Canada to take a position at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, which lasted until 1983. During the 1980s Clark exhibited at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and later came to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge as a visiting artist. In 1986, he was hired permanently as associate professor of art and he remained at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge until his untimely death at the age of 46 in 1989.

John Clark, Pam Reading, 1971. From the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Art Collection. Gift of Pam Clark, 2000.

Clark had an antagonistic view towards "conventional newness", as he called it in a journal entry from 1989, and as a result his paintings often explored ideas of figuration, transformation and the metaphysical.

Rosemary J. Preuss describes Clark's later works best in John Clark: Transformation and the Void Volume One, where she stated that, "throughout all the challenges in his mature oeuvre, art making remained for Clark an existential activity in which the search for meaning was of the essence. He resisted the literal and the illustrative in his painting, and sought a transformational art, an affirmation of being in the face of the void."

John Clark, The News, 1980. From the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Art Collection. Purchased in 1985.

Therefore, from this loss perhaps there is comfort in the notion that Clark's time spent searching for meaning was achieved by the end of his life, evident through the memories of his colleagues, friends and family, as well as through his many artworks included in the U of L Art Collection.

This story first appeared in the May 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Indiana ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ

2013 Gill Symposium honours neuroscience researcher McNaughton

Related Topics

Lasting Images - John Clark

Related Topics

UNews - Indiana ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ