The UCLA Brain Research Institute hosted the annual Southern California Learning and Memory Symposium on March 3.
Participants and attendees gathered in the Neuroscience Research Building for a day of collaboration and education centered on neuroplasticity. At the conference, 15 researchers from labs across California each spoke for 25 minutes about their current work and then responded to questions posed by peers.
According to StatPearls, neuroplasticity refers to the nervous system’s ability to change its activity in response to internal stimuli and stimuli from the surrounding world. Neuroplasticity could be pivotal to the understanding and treatment of brain injuries, strokes and neurodegeneration.
Joseph Quintero, the programs and operations manager for the UCLA Brain Research Institute and one of the event’s organizers, said the purpose of the symposium was to educate new minds and increase collaboration between universities. Quintero added that another goal of the event was to give students a free opportunity to learn from a diverse group of leading researchers.
One such student was Antonia Pastor, a laboratory assistant in UCLA professor Dario Ringach’s lab.
“Especially for people like me who are new to the field and trying to figure out where to go, this is a hands-on, really genuine experience,” Pastor said.
Pastor added that one moment from the symposium that stuck with her was when Gina Poe, an earlier presenter, said there was space for new discoveries in the work.
Another speaker was Sean Ostlund, an associate professor of anesthesiology at UC Irvine, who discussed the regulation of cue-motivated behavior.
Ostlund said the big-picture purpose of his research is to gain a better understanding of how drug addiction dysregulates the brain. He added that he is most excited by the new technologies that allow scientists to analyze how the brain directly reacts to complex situations.
“This is a really great symposium because it brings in people from across the state,” Ostlund said. “That’s really cool, to talk to folks that you don’t normally get a chance to talk to.”
Ilana Bennett, an associate professor in the psychology department at UC Riverside, said her research focus started from her deep care for older adults, which drove her passion for helping them preserve their memories for as long as possible. She added that her research focuses on identifying the memory and learning deficits that are most affected by aging.
“One of the most important implications is the effect it can have on how we diagnose people with age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and also how we manage their care,” she added.