UT Dallas will host a Neuroscience Conference on May 20 focusing on stress and its potentially far-reaching effect on memory.
Sponsored by the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), the event is aimed at researchers, physicians, students and anyone interested in learning more about how brains adapt to stress.
Research to be discussed at the conference has shed increasing light on the PTSD problems experienced by the U.S. military.
The one-day conference will include discussions of UT Dallas’ research related to memory and stress topics such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Other speakers will include researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center and around the country. All researchers, graduate students and postdoctoral students are encouraged to participate in the afternoon “data blitz” session.
Dr. James McGaugh from the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California, Irvine, will deliver the keynote public lecture at 5 p.m. He was featured recently on CBS’ 60 Minutes, where he discussed his study of individuals with superior autobiographical memory. He has been examining a group of people who seem to remember the events of every single day of their lives.
Dr. Christa McIntyre, assistant professor of neuroscience, helped organize the event with Dr. Tres Thompson, a BBS associate professor. She said she wants to make the conference an annual or semi-annual occurrence.
“We hope this conference will grow in years to come as we gain visibility as a university and research institution,” McIntyre said. “The expectation is that this conference will result in synergistic progress in the pursuit of a better understanding of the effects, good and bad, of stress on memory.”
Registration fees are $15 per person ($10 for students) and cover meeting costs, a hosted lunch and banquet dinner. Public registration for the keynote address is $10. Anyone interested in attending should preregister by May 6 to guarantee a space. The conference will take place in the School of Management Building on UT Dallas’ main campus in Richardson.