| March 12, 2007 10:00 | to | March 17, 2007 20:00 |
This was the 4th consecutive year when the National Neurosciences Society of Romania and SOMS organized BAW events with international participation. The event was hold at the main auditorium at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest.
Event 1: Why is brain research important?
How to model experimentaly particular brain conditions like stroke or epilepsy. Laboratory Tour March 13th and March 14th.
A series of guided tours in the Centre of Excellence in Neuroscience of the Carol Davila University have been organized for medical students during the two days. Beside the numerous Romanian medical students (about 200), other 40 foreign students from several countries, enrolled in the English module of the “Carol Davila” University also visited the Centre. The visitors were shown the laboratories (cerebral ischemia, cell cultures, electrophysiology, sleep and behaviour), introduced to the research interests of the Centre and to the devices and techniques that are used. After each tour, an interactive discussion with the visitors was hold on the scientific research in brain sciences and about the scientific and clinical perspectives.
Event 2: Brain mapping: treasure-hunting for what makes us human.
A series of two meetings, during March 14th and March 15th.
During the 1st meeting, medical students discussed about the purpose and goal of brain mapping (functional MRI, PET scans) in advancing the understanding of the relationship between structure and function in the human brain. The audience discussed about the proofs of love. Students were asked to eat some fresh fruit in order to get their serotonin levels high. Then, there were talks about serotonin and its multiple functions in the human brain, about the brain areas that are thought to be involved in romantic love and whether an image of a brain of someone in love taken by fMRI could stand as a proof for love.
Programme:
1. Stories of neurones (Student: Mihai Ceanga)
2. Serotonin (Student: Denise Zahiu)
3. Prove that you love me (Mihai Moldovan, MD, PhD, University of Copehagen, Denmark)
During the 2nd meeting, students discussed about the mirror neuron system and its evolvement in memory. They learned to work origami and tried to understand why it is easier to learn to do something by imitation. The audience discussed about the things that might be hidden in a glance from the retina to the brain. The students took the “Read the mind in the Eyes Test” to test their capabilities of understanding what can be behind a glance. Then, a brainstrorming discussion was engaged about how students should learn for school in order to use their mind at its best. About 90 students participated to this event. Programme:
1. Empathy and dance (Student: Anca Nastase)
2. What’s hiding beyond a glance? (Student: Silvia Ioan)
3. Tips & tricks of memorization (Students: Smaranda Dinescu, Bogdan Prisecaru)
Event 3: Why do we need to sleep?
Public lecture, March 16
The event organized with DANA Foundation support was publicized through a 15 – minute interview given by Professor Leon Zagrean, Head of the Center of Excellence in Neuroscience, President of the National Neurosciences Society of Romania, to the National Radio Station. Through this live interview, the public was invited once again to participate to this event. Prof Leon Zagrean has made the opening of the lecture. Mihai Moldovan and Radu Braga, held two presentations on sleep to the numerous audience (about 150 participants), being followed by five selected presentations of medical students trying to answer the question of the lecture theme. A brainstorming with the involvement of all the participants followed the presentations, and the organizers awarded a prize on behalf DANA Foundation for the best presentation. Mass-media representatives were present to the event. Because of all the BAW 2007 events organized at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, a number of about 30 students enrolled in the first 3 years of the Medical School expressed their wish to learn more about Neuroscience research and to be part of a research project. From these, a number of eight students were accepted consecutive to an interview organized Saturday, March 17.
