Is there a better time of year to be a NERD than September? Back-to-school is our chance to SHINE, when education is on everyone’s mind and office supplies go on sale! Let’s celebrate by going to LIVE (102 S. First Street) and learning as a group! Join us on Thursday, September 12 for another wonderful edition of NNA2! Doors open at 6:30 pm, talks start at 7 pm and, as always, there’s no cover charge!
Isha Verma, Ph.D. will begin things with Speaking through stem cells: How these cells help us study brain diseases. Epilepsy is a brain disorder that results in uncontrollable seizures, and without proper treatment, it can be a life-threatening condition. Genetic abnormalities or mutations are one of the main causes of epilepsy. However, the role of various genetic abnormalities in the pathology of epilepsy is not clearly understood as there is a scarcity of brain samples of patients suffering from epilepsy. Therefore, we use stem cells derived from epilepsy patients as a model system to study epilepsy. This model system can also be used for testing drugs for the treatment of epilepsy. Ultimately, this can result in the development of personalized treatment therapies for patients suffering from epilepsy and can greatly improve the life quality of these patients.
Isha is a developmental biologist and neuroscientist at the University of Michigan. She is using stem cells to develop therapies for brain diseases.
We’ll keep the brain…well…on the brain with Makaila Furderer and Clocked out: How SCN dysfunction links sleep and mood disorders. She’ll explore the co-occurrence of sleep and mood disorders and how a small part of your brain—the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN—may be to blame. When the SCN is not working correctly, regular daily rhythms that keep us well-rested and enable us to tackle our day with a positive outlook are interrupted, leading to sleep and mood disorders. Understanding these relationships at a deeper level just might empower humanity to find a new treatment targeting the SCN that puts us, and our mental health concerns, to bed.
Makaila is a second-year PhD student at the University of Michigan primarily studying traumatic brain injury. Her studies don’t stop her from branching out into new (read, ‘many’) hobbies, which leads to talks like these and frequent weekend trips. Of all her recreational activities, archery, concerts, and water sports are her favorite.
Now we’ve done the brain work, it’s time for a drink! Or to learn about them, anyhow, in Happy Hours, Hops & Hootch: A Drinking History of Michigan. We’ve enjoyed beer for thousands of years but where did it come from? Who were its earliest enjoyers? Who were the earliest brewers in Michigan and Ann Arbor? Learn about the history of this delicious drink from Patti Smith author of Michigan Beer: A Heady History.
Patti is a long time Ann Arbor resident who has written four local history books, most recently Michigan Beer: A Heady History. She is a teacher and storyteller who lives on the east side of Ann Arbor with her husband and dog.