Resources
Lefler Symposium
Each fall, the Department of Neurobiology hosts a symposium on research related to neurodegenerative and developmental research. The Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Center for the Study of Neurodegenerative Disorders supports this symposium with an endowed fund. The symposium provides a forum to feature advances in the field and to facilitate discussion among faculty, fellows, students and other interested parties.
*Next Lefler Symposium 10/26/2010 - See Details
2009 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran
What neurology can tell us about human nature
Professor with the Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of California, San Diego
Dr. Ramachandran is best known for his extensive research in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neurology. His particular focus is on the study of cognitive and perceptual deficits in human patients. The New Yorker’s John Colapinto has called Ramachandran “one of the most celebrated minds in the contemporary neurosciences.” Colapinto quotes Eric Kandel as having said “He is a continuation of a tradition in neurology that goes back to the nineteenth century, to giants like Broca and Wernicke, who gave us, from studying clincial material, enormous insigts into the functioning of the human mind.” And Richard Dawkins refers to Ramachandran as the “Marco Polo of neuroscience.”
Named by Newsweek as one of the 100 most important people to watch in the next century, he has received numerous awards, including the Ariens-Kappers Medal from the Netherlands, a Gold Medal from the Australian National University, The Henry Dale medal awarded by the Royal Institution of London, and a fellowship from All Souls College, Oxford.
The general format of the symposium includes a talk by a Department faculty recipient of a Lefler Small Grant, two short talks by recipients of Lefler Fellowships, and a Lecture by a leader in the field of neurodegenerative and developmental research. Past Lefler Lecturers have been:
| Year | Keynote Speaker |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Mark F. Bear, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2007 | Eric Nestler, UT Southwestern Medical Center Recording of 2007 Lefler Lecture (requires Real Media player) |
2006 |
10th Anniverary Celebration Symposium "Birth, Death, and Repair in the Brain" Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, UCSF Christopher Henderson, Columbia University Susan McConnell, Stanford University Dennis Selkoe, Brigham and Women's Hospital Gerald Fischbach, Columbia University |
| 2005 | Susan Lindquist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
2004 |
Robert H. Brown, Jr., Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital |
| 2003 | H. Robert Horvitz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2002 | Lawrence S.B. Goldstein, University of California, San Diego |
| 2001 | Huda Zoghbi, Baylor College of Medicine |
| 2000 | Allison Doupe, University of California, San Francisco |
| 1999 | Kenneth Fischbeck, National Institutes of Heatlh |
| 1998 | Stanley Korsmeyer, Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute |