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VIRTUAL Society for Neuroscience conference!

Name: VIRTUAL Society for Neuroscience conference!
Start: 2021-11-08T00:00:00-08:00
End: 2021-11-11T23:59:59-08:00
Location: McCormick Place Chicago

November 8, 2021 - November 11, 2021

WHAT: Society for Neuroscience conference

Live conference canceled

Virtual options only this year

LEARN MORE: Neuroscience 2021 to be Fully Virtual

WHERE: McCormick Place Convention Center, 2301 S King Dr, Chicago, IL 6061

WHEN: November 8 – 11, 2021 (NOW VIRTUAL ONLY; LIVE EVENTS CANCELED)

READ OUR ABSTRACT BELOW!

PREVIOUS PLANS: The following members of the Portland State University Neuroscience Club will be presenting posters at the virtual Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago, Illinois. Neuro Club is still presenting this year, virtually.

1. Rose Jardine; SfN member C-006789
2. Melissa DeMoura; SfN member C-009736
3. Nancy MacKenzie; SfN member C-009994
4. Liv McGrah; SfN member C-011836

LIVE CONFERENCE CANCELED

Arrival: Friday, November 12
Conference attendance/Poster presentation: TBD (Saturday, 11/13 or Sunday, 11/14)
Community Outreach w/University of Chicago Neuro Club: Monday, November 15
Conference attendance/Departure: Tuesday, November 16

LEARN MORE: SfN Statement on Neuroscience 2021 Planning

This extensive and extraordinary international conference celebrated its 49th year in 2019, and our NW Noggin outreach volunteers not only presented original posters, but visited with over 500 K-12 students in Chicago Public Schools, collaborated with the Society for Social Neuroscience, introduced neuroscience research and art to the public at the International Museum of Surgical Science – and brought the first real extra human brain specimens into the SfN conference itself!

LEARN MORE: Noggins in CHICAGO!

LEARN MORE: Student Reflections on Chicago

LEARN MORE: Noggins @ Society for Neuroscience

NOTE: We did this as unpaid, enthusiastic outreach volunteers, and secured our own funds for travel and attendance through the generosity of SfN (which provided complimentary conference registration), as well as our free public celebrations of neuroscience research, music, art and BRAINS!

LEARN MORE: NOGGINFEST

LEARN MORE: Nonprofit Noggins!

Opportunities to engage undergraduates, graduates, K-12 students and the public, who fund the National Institutes of Health, in discussions and art making around advances in neuroscience research is our passion, and we don’t just “#scitalk” about it – we genuinely do it!

The pandemic canceled SfN in 2020, but we’re thrilled to return, vaccinated and in awe of the power of scientific research to benefit, enrich and illuminate our lives to a new conference in Chicago in November, 2021.

We welcome support to bring our collaborating young neuroscientist and artist volunteers both to SfN, where they present their own work and encounter cutting edge discoveries – and into public schools and community spaces, where they listen, share, discuss and learn where research and stories intersect.

DONATE HERE!

Abstract Submitted!

Control/Tracking Number: 2021-J-6319-SfN
Activity: Theme J Abstract
Current Date/Time: August 26, 2021 11:24:48 AM EDT

NOTE: We decided to withdraw from formal attendance this year, and direct scarce resources towards direct community engagement – but we definitely plan to return live and ready for public outreach to an exciting in person SfN conference in 2022!

SfN 2021 Abstract

Reconnecting our brains one cell at a time in a pandemic

VIEW ABSTRACT: SfN 2021 Abstract Submission

DOWNLOAD: SfN-2021-Abstract-Submission

AUTHOR BLOCK *W. S. GRIESAR 1,2,4, J. J. LEAKE 1,3;
1Northwest Noggin, Portland, OR; 2Psychology/Neuroscience, 3Univ. Studies, Portland State Univ., Portland, OR; 4Behavioral Neurosci., OHSU, Portland, OR

Abstract:
Our brains are home to billions of cells that reach out and connect. These networks of linked neurons and glia make us who we are, and let us perceive, think and behave. When separated by trauma or injury they are remarkably plastic, capable of establishing new synapses, developing creative approaches to navigating a complex world. Nonprofit NW Noggin (nwnoggin.org) organizes undergraduates and graduates to collaborate, build community networks and inspire people about neuroscience and art. We bring diverse students excited by research and their own arts-integrated study of brains and behavior into K-12 public schools, youth correctional facilities, Congress, houseless youth centers, coffee shops and pubs to hear to what people already know and what they’d like to know, and to see where our stories and discoveries from labs and classrooms intersect. We’ve talked with almost 50,000 people since 2012! In 2020, with COVID-19 suspending in-person outreach, we developed a new found object brain cell project we could engage in online. We asked people to look around their own environment and find objects that reminded them of neurons or glia. We asked: “Can you construct a brain cell out of things that you find? What objects for you represent the function of a glial cell, or neuron, or the function of specific parts of a neuron? Do these objects have personal meaning, or say something about you?” We brought this project to K-12 classrooms in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii, and presented it through two global webinars in collaboration with BrainFacts.org, a public information initiative of The Kavli Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Society for Neuroscience.

The brain cells created and posted online with the hashtag #showusyourbraincell are extraordinary – beautiful, compelling, informative – and offer windows into people’s individual lives and circumstances. Many took the opportunity to explain the materials used and their significance, connecting essential aspects of other fields and cultures to basic structural components of our brains. A pandemic is traumatic, separates networks, and makes it hard to connect. Yet like our brain cells, we can adapt and find new approaches to our ever-changing world. Building excitement and awareness of discoveries, educational options and careers through arts-integrated neuroscience outreach also trains new scientists to collaborate, engages more people, and increases awareness and support for community investment in both brain research and the arts.