NeuroFest 10th Anniversary: A Decade of NeuroTech Innovation

In early March, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of NeuroFest, a free public event hosted by the Center for Neuroscience for community members of all ages which brings the exciting world of brain science to the community during the Brain Awareness Week. 

This year’s event focused on cutting-edge NeuroTechnologies in genomics, stem cells, deep brain stimulation and neural systems research, and how they are transforming discoveries to improve lives. 

As in previous years, our affiliated faculty and students participated in NeuroFest as speakers or volunteers.

Professor and Center Co-Director Jochen Ditterich, PhD presented “Model-Based Control: A New Stimulation Approach for Treating Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases?”.  

Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and affiliated faculty Carina Oehrn, MD, PhD gave a talk titled “Emerging Deep Brain Stimulation Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease”.

Recordings of all talks are available on the NeuroFest website and at the hyperlinks above.

Students and trainees competed in the NeuroArt Contest with beautiful images from their work. We congratulate Hoda AbouEich, PhD student in the Neuroscience Graduate Group and Neurotrauma Lab led by professor Gene Gurkoff and Allison Pickle, PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group and professor Erkin Șeker’s lab for taking 1st and 2nd place respectively!

This Golgi-stained image captures the contrast between a healthy (left) and traumatic brain injured (right) rat hippocampus. Examination of the healthy brain reveals an intricate, layered, and well-connected circuit, while a month following traumatic brain injury, the hippocampal circuit is in disarray.

An immunostained tri-culture of neurons (red), astrocytes (green), and microglia (yellow) with marked nuclei (blue) respond to an inflammatory stimulus of a scratch by working to close the gap.

Our trainees presented neuroengineering-related demos at multiple activity booths. New this year, booths included NeuroPoster presentations to the visitors. Peyton Young, NeuralStorm Fellow (2022 cohort) and PhD student in the UC Davis BEAR Lab led by professor Jonathon Schofield, and Vraj Thakkar, 2024 alum and research volunteer in professor Stephano Chang‘s lab won 1st and 2nd place respectively for their posters.