January 2018 – Brain Energy Lab

January 31, 2018

A visit from our Sheffield colleagues

This week started with a visit from our fellow “neurovascular coupling friends” all the way from Sheffield. To welcome our visitors to Brighton after their long train journey, we began with a few drinks and some pizza. After all what could be more welcoming than chatting pericytes in the pub?!

After everyone had become well-acquainted, we decided to head back to our various homes/hotels for the night, ready to share our research with a series of presentations the next morning. The research showcase started with two talks from Sussex (Catherine Hall) lab by Kira Shaw (postdoc) and Orla Bonnar (PhD student). Kira talked about establishing two photon imaging to measure neurovascular coupling in hippocampus, and Orla talked about using two photon imaging and haemoglobin spectroscopy to measure neurovascular coupling in visual cortex of APOE4/4 and APOE3/3 subjects.

A capillary supplying pyramidal cell bodies in CA1 hippocampus

Next up, it was Sheffield’s turn. First, Osman Shabir (Jason Berwick’s PhD student) gave a very interesting talk about his plans to investigate neurovascular coupling in models of atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Then it was time for Llywelyn Lee (Clare Howarth’s PhD student) to take the floor. Llywelyn presented his exciting data about the contribution of NOS and SOM interneurons to neurovascular coupling in somatosensory cortex.

After lots of interesting scientific discussion, and talk of future experimental plans, we gave our visitors a tour of the University and its facilities. Following a hearty lunch at the union, the afternoon involved a two photon imaging session to look at neuronal calcium and blood vessels in CA1 hippocampus.

Feeling rather tired after an action-packed day, we ended the visit with a walk along Brighton seafront to watch the sun set with a warm cuppa. Thanks for visiting guys! Hopefully see you in Sheffield next time!

January 28, 2018

Public Engagement Showcase

Yesterday, 26 January, we showed off our public engagement material at the public engagement showcase. This event was organised by the wonderful Katy Petherick, University’s Life Sciences Public Engagement Coordinator. Scientists interested in public engagement from all different parts of life sciences brought their public engagement knowledge and material. There was furthermore a life science baking competition, with some amazing entries!

On our stall we featured several of our cool brain-related experiments. One of the experiments is a game called Mindflex Duel. This game uses an EEG sensor to read the brain activity in the frontal lobe. Two players have to push a ball along a track with their brain power. The person that thinks the hardest wins.

Kira defeating Andy Philippides in Mindflex

We furthermore showed our Human-Human Interface from Backyard Brains. This device uses the electricity your brain uses to send signals from the brain to the muscles. One person, the controller, flexes their arm, and the electricity that causes this flexing is recorded. It is then read by a little computer (an Arduino) and transferred to the other person, the controllee. The electricity is then send into their ulnar nerve, the nerve that runs through your funny bone. This causes the arm of the controllee to flex, without them having any control over it.

It was great to by able to talk to other scientists that are interested in public engagement and to see everyone’s activities. Thanks to Katy Petherick for organising!

January 5, 2018

Early Career Researchers Meeting

Just before the Christmas break the University of Sussex hosted an early career researchers (ERC) meeting for members of the Alzheimer’s Research UK South Coast network. This was organized by Chrysia Pegasiou, Devkee Vadakul and our own Orla Bonnar. The aim of the meeting was to promote the sharing of techniques and encourage collaborations between members of the network. PhD students and post docs working on different aspects of Alzheimer’s disease from the universities of Sussex, Portsmouth and Bournemouth attended the event.
The morning started of with three 20 minute talks. Louise Kelly (University of Portsmouth) talked about her work on the locus coeruleus nucleus that she did during her PhD. Lucas Kraft, a PhD student at the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre, talked about his work on identifying novel APOE modulators. Mohsen Seifi (University of Portsmouth), took a very different approach by looking at the gastrointestinal tract.
After a quick break the day continued with a set of flash talks (5 minutes each). Our lab member Kira Shaw gave an excellent talk on recent work in two-photon in-vivo imaging of the mouse hippocampus. After the talks we had to wait for a bit for lunch, but the delicious lasagne was definitely worth it!

Kira giving her presentation

In the afternoon a careers session was arranged where speakers from various fields spoke to us about their jobs and gave advice on how to pursue a career in their area. It was interesting to learn about career options both inside and outside academia. We found that there’s a surprising range of jobs that require skills you learn during your PhD. The session included speakers from Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Alzheimer’s Society, UCL and the Wellcome Trust.
It was a useful day full of interesting talks. It was nice to hear what other ERCs in the region are working on. A big thank you to Chrysia, who initiated all of this and did an excellent job organizing, as well as Orla and Devkee, who helped her.