UC DAVIS M.I.N.D. INSTITUTE HOSTS DISTINGUISHED LECTURER SERIES FOR 2004-2005

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — The UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute will host B.J. Casey, professor of developmental psychobiology at the Weill College of Medicine of Cornell University, on Wednesday, April 13, at the M.I.N.D. Institute, 2825 50th St., Sacramento, as the seventh speaker in its third annual Distinguished Lecturer Series.

Casey is internationally recognized for her research on attention and affect regulation, particularly their development, disruption and neurobiological bases. She will present two lectures. During her technical presentation at 4 p.m., Casey will summarize recent studies examining the normal development of cognitive control, its neural basis and its disruption in developmental disorders. A key feature of cognitive development, cognitive control is the ability to suppress competing thoughts and actions in favor of goal oriented ones. During a 6 p.m. community-interest lecture, she will discuss changes in brain anatomy, function and connectivity seen during development using contemporary neuroimaging tools. Both presentations are free and open to the public; no reservations are needed.

As the Sackler Professor of Developmental Psychobiology, Casey directs both the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology and the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Cornell University, and she holds a longstanding appointment as Visiting Research Collaborator at Princeton University. A pioneer in pediatric functional neuroimaging and the study of human brain development and behavior using noninvasive techniques, Casey holds multiple grants and contracts from NIMH and NIDA. Recently, her research has moved toward relating neuroimaging and behavioral measures to specific genetic measures and examining the effects of the timing of environmental events and insults on the development of affect and behavioral regulation and related brain systems. Casey also co-directs the prestigious John Merck Fund Summer Institute on the Biology of Developmental Disabilities at Princeton.

Future speakers in this year’s Distinguished Lecturer Series are: Ralph Adolphs (May 11) and Ami Klin (June 8).

For more information about this and future lectures, visit the M.I.N.D. Institute’s Web site at http://www.mindinstitute.org/ or contact the Institute at (916) 703-0280.