News & Media
Neuro News March 2011
The Neuro News is a monthly electronic newsletter highlighting activities at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital. If you have any comments, please send them to Communications. To subscribe and receive e-mail notification when a new issue becomes available, click here.
March 2011
Director's Corner: Revelations
This week The Neuro hosted two Canadian astronauts, Drs. Marc Garneau and Robert Thirsk, who took a Penfield invention (his dissector) into space, and returned it to be displayed here. As adventurous as was Penfield in the realm of the brain, so are the two space explorers in the realm of the cosmos. The audience was packed with young students from several local schools who were riveted by the presentations. I am sure that their perception of space was altered that day.
As I have often said, The Neuro is about being adventurous, and staying curious about the mind. And, as Asimov has commented, after the brain, the cosmos is the second most complex structure in our Universe. Often, I think back to how my perception of “the sky" has changed just over the past decade. It is an important lesson about changing what you think is true about an evolving Universe, and accept what is newly found out. Scientific “truth," after all, in any field, is only what we all agree is true for the moment.
As a child, and well into my adulthood, I looked at the planets and constellations with great interest, but with the sense that they were sprayed out upon a thin dome – a sheet with no depth to it, as described in Genesis. Until, on the morning of September 11th, 2001, I emerged from my train stop at 125th Street in New York, looked up, and saw twin pillars of white smoke ascending into a sky that seemed infinite in height. I was stunned. Suddenly, the sky had been revealed to me not as a two dimensional sheet but as an ocean, and I was on its floor. From my new vantage point, it had a height that was cemented in my mind by the tragedy that was playing out at my level.
And then, since my move to Montreal, so much has been discovered about the nature of the cosmos we are floating in! We live in a galaxy where hundreds of billions of stars abide with us, and most amazing, many of these have planets that could possibly support earth-type life. Only a few years ago it was thought that we would have to search and search to find potentially habitable planets. Not so! Our Milky Way galaxy alone is one of 500 billion or so galaxies that we can see in the known Universe. Finally, with the aid of the new generation of telescopes - Hubble and its descendents, we can look back into the past of the expanding Universe, some 14 billion years or so before the present time.
Dr. Thirsk showed us a terrific “home movie" of life aboard the Space Station, a product of an international consortium of pioneering space exploration countries, including Canada. Looking out of the Station’s window, the Earth was a colorful ball, with infinite shades of blues and sandstones – no political boundaries are seen. We live on this ball, and there is nowhere else to go to. We must take care of it was the message the astronauts conveyed to us.
And so now I find myself with a very different view of that persistent childhood heavenly firmament that sits above us, one not at all in keeping with the description of how heaven will end, as in the last book of Moses, Revelations…like a scroll – a piece of parchment, rolling up.
Please send any comments about the Director's Corner to David Colman
Recent Events
Compelling interest in NeuroPalliative Care Rounds
More than 90 nurses, social workers, therapists, students and others
attended NeuroPalliative Care Interdisciplinary Rounds to learn about
dealing with angry families in a clinical setting. Marc Hamel, an expert in
psychosocial oncology at the McGill University Hospital Centre, shared his
vast experience; highlighting the ways that anger can be expressed and how
health care professionals can open a dialogue to ease the path for patients
and their families during times of crisis.
The next Interdisciplinary Rounds will continue the theme of communication when Deborah Salmon, music therapist at the Montreal General Hospital Palliative Care Unit, presents On Wings of Song: Music Therapy in Palliative Care. Her presentation will be at noon on March 23 in the Neuro’s Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre. A light lunch will be offered to those who attend. All are welcome and must register in advance with Debbie Rashcovsky at Debbie.rashcovsky@mcgill.ca
Upcoming Events
International conference on the brain, food and obesity, March
18
Alain Dagher, Laurette Dubé from the McGill Faculty of Management, and
colleagues from the McGill World Platform for Health and Economic
Convergence will host a conference, Uncovering the Brain’s Role in Food and
Obesity. Experts from the UK and Canada will discuss obesity from the
perspective of neuroscience, genetics, endocrinology and neuroeconomics,
and will meet with policy makers from government and the pharmaceutical and
food industries. The conference will be in the Neuro’s Jeanne Timmins
Amphitheatre from 8 am to 7 pm. Registration is required and fees apply to
all participants, except students who attend for free. For more information
and to register, contact Marie-Eve Gagnon at 514-398-4000 ext. 0785 or see
http://desautels-events.mcgill.ca/mwp/nutrition.php
Coming attractions in the Neuro Film Series, March 24 and April
7
On March 24, neuropsychologist Gabriel Leonard will host Rainman, the award
winning 1988 film starring Dustin Hoffman as an autistic man and Tom Cruise
as his brother. Leonard, who coordinates outpatient neuropsychological
services, has studied the cognitive development of adolescents and
developed a device to measure rapid finger tapping, a skill that is
impaired in patients with frontal lobe injury.
On April 7, research scientist Eric Shoubridge will host Extraordinary Measures, a 2010 film about a desperate couple’s search to find a cure for their children affected by a rare genetic disorder. Shoubridge’s molecular genetics research program focuses on mitochondrial disorders that appear in about 1 in 5000 births. His lab has also developed diagnostic tests for some of these debilitating and often fatal disorders.
All are welcome to these free films and discussions at 6:30 pm in the Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre. Movie snacks are available to purchase.
William Feindel to lecture on the Brain Imaging Centre, April
4
Former Neuro Director William Feindel will give a “ridiculously short
history" of the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre (BIC) as part of the
on-going BIC lecture series. All are welcome to this talk on April 4 at 1
pm in the Neuro’s de Grandpré Communications Centre.
Michael Hendy Gala, April 7
In memory of Michael Hendy who passed away this summer, his family and
friends have organized the Michael Hendy Gala to raise awareness for
bacterial meningitis and raise funds for a Hemedex Cerebral Blood Flow
Monitoring System for The Neuro. The equipment is indispensable for
monitoring meningitis and other neurological conditions, and can
significantly alter treatment outcomes. To mark Michael’s 25th birthday,
the Gala will take place on April 7th in the Tudor Room at Ogilvy's (1307
Sainte-Catherine Street W.), where friends, family, and supporters will
celebrate his memory amid 1940s glamour and fabulous entertainment. Tickets
for the Michael Hendy Gala are $65 each, and include wine and an assortment
of delicious hors-d'oeuvres. For tickets or more information, please call :
Christine Connolly (514) 605 - 9275 (please call after 5pm or on weekends)
Or Carly Gips (514) 833-8988 or Stephanie Braun (514) 991-4098.
Sensory Soiree, April 13
Dan Rabinovich, a Montreal tea merchant, and research scientist Marilyn
Jones Gotman will host a tea tasting and discussion of the sensory
experience of taste and smell. This tantalizing event will be held 4-6 pm,
April 13 in the Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre. Neuro faculty, staff and
students are welcome to attend.
Ready for Spring? Celebrate on April 20
Dust off your hidden talents and mark your calendars for the Neuro’s annual
Spring Fling on April 20. If you would like to perform or exhibit your art,
please contact Anthony Bruce by April 8 at local 1907.
In the News
The work of scientists and clinicians at The Neuro is frequently in the news so you can stay up to date by following our media coverage.
David Colman was interviewed for an article in Nature about science and research in Quebec
Rolando Del Maestro was interviewed by CTV National and CTV Canada AM about a study investigating brain function relating to cell phone use
Alain Ptito was interviewed for The Globe and Mail about brain trauma in Canadian soldiers, and was interviewed about concussions in connection with the incident involving Montreal Canadiens player Max Pacioretty by Le Devoir, The Gazette as well as CBC (Quebec City) radio, 98. 5 radio, CJAD radio, TVA, RDI "24 heures en 60 minutes".
The Neuro’s internal campaign Putting Our Heads Together was covered in The Gazette
Continuing national and international coverage on the study of how listening to pleasurable music releases dopamine in the brain The Washington Post, NME New Music Express, Swedish Educational Broadcasting company, McGill Tribune.
Freelance writer Louise Fabiani speaks with neurologist and writer, Dr. Liam Durcan for her latest Neurotopia podcast "The Neuro's Writer-in-chief".
Congratulations to ...
Director - David R. Colman, PhD
Senior Management - Martine Alfonso; Mark Angle, MD; Phil Barker, PhD; Rob
Dunn, PhD; Lucia Fabijan; Tom Gevas; Elizabeth Kofron, PhD; Catherine Rowe;
Donatella Tampieri, MD
Neuro News: Elizabeth Kofron, PhD & Sandra McPherson, PhD
Please send any items for the Neuro News to Sandra McPherson or Beth Kofron.
