Pictures from the 2005 Alumni Reception

Speakers and presentations were:

The Evolution of Endovascular Aneurysm Surgery: From Novelty to Supremacy -- John D. Barr, M.D., Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee

Cell adhesion molecules, leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions, and nitric oxide in vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage -- Raphael A. Tamargo, M.D. Johns Hopkins University

Endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms: Problems, methods, and potential solutions
-- Jean Raymond, M.D.
Centre hospitalier de University of MontreAL Hospital Centre)
Director of the Interventional Neuroradiology Research Laboratory, Professor in the Department of Radiology, Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the University of Montreal.

Dr. Charles Douglas Blaha gave the 2005 William H. Sweet lecture: Mapping midbrain modulation or motivation. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis.

The Balkin Family Lecturer was James T. Rutka, MD, PhD
Division of Neurosurgery
The Hospital for Sick Children, The University of Toronto who spoke on Medullolastoma: A quest for novel therapeutic targets.

Researchers at MGH and the Whitehead Institute suspect that normal protein that when malformed causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease may be needed for healthy brain function.

Dr. Jeffrey Macklis of MGH Center for Nervous System Repair and Dr. Susan Lindquist of Whitehead Institute are senior co-authors on a Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

The researchers isolated neural precursor cells -early stage cells that give rise to mature neurons and so-called glial support cells. (neural stem cells). After placing the embryotic precursor cells under culture conditions, there were striking differences. Cells from the knock-out mice stayed at precursor stage for a long time compared to the control mice, while those where the PrP was over-expressed began forming mature neurons immediately.

For more detailed information see "The Prion Protein Has A Good Side? You Bet in Science, Feb 24, 2006.