Join the WashU Medicine Department of Neuroscience on Sept. 8-9 for the David Van Essen Symposium: Insights Into Cortex, a tribute to the 80th birthday of Van Essen.
The symposium will cover the structure, function, connectivity, architecture, development and computations of the cerebral and cerebellar cortex.
David Van Essen has been a member of the Department of Neuroscience since 1992, serving as chair from 1992 to 2012. He is the Alumni Endowed Professor of Neuroscience at WashU.
Van Essen pioneered the analysis of cortical structure, function, connectivity, development and evolution in humans and nonhuman primates. He has served as a principal investigator for the Human Connectome Project (HCP), a large-scale effort to acquire, analyze and freely share high-quality neuroimaging data from 1,200 healthy adults, in order to enable exploration of brain connectivity and its relationship to behavior.
He previously served as the president of the Society for Neuroscience and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuroscience. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
David Van Essen Symposium: Insights Into Cortex is Sept. 8-9 at WashU Medicine in the Jeffery T. Fort Neuroscience Research Building (NRB) Auditorium and NRB McDonnell Lobby.
Program of Events
Day One (Monday, Sept. 8)
8-8:30 a.m. Registration (NRB McDonnell Lobby)
8:35 a.m. Welcome
- Linda Richards, PhD
Chair, Department of Neuroscience and Edison Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine
8:45-10:15 a.m. Architectonics and Transcriptomics
Chair: Allan Jones, PhD
President-Emeritus
Allen Institute
- 8:45-9:15 a.m.
Impact of the Modular Architecture of Layer 1 on the Visual Cortical Network
Andreas Burkhalter, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine - 9:15-9:45 a.m.
Dynamic Changes of Brain Cell Types in Development and Aging
Hongkui Zeng, PhD
Executive Vice President and Director
Allen Institute - 9:45-10:15 a.m.
Cell Atlasing of the Mammalian Brain: Basic and Translational Applications
Ed Lein, PhD
Senior Investigator
Allen Institute
10:15-10:45 a.m. Coffee Break (NRB McDonnell Lobby)
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Connectivity and Function I
Chair: Greg DeAngelis, PhD
George Eastman Professor
Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor in the Center for Visual Science
University of Rochester
- 10:45-11:15 a.m.
Cell Types and Connections in Cerebral Cortex
Edward Callaway, PhD
Professor
Vincent J. Coates Chair in Molecular Neurobiology
Salk Institute - 11:15-11:45 a.m.
Retinotopic Organization of Macaque Early Visual Cortex Defined by Transcriptomic Cell-Type Compositions and Connectivity Profiles: Implications for Eccentricity-Dependent Psychophysical Functions
Henry Kennedy, PhD
Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, INSERM - 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
From Maps to Meaning: Reading Out the Visual Cortex
John H.R. Maunsell, PhD
Albert D. Lasker Distinguished Service Professor of Neurobiology
Professor of Neuroscience Institute
Director of Neuroscience Institute
The University of Chicago
12:15-1:45 p.m. Lunch (NRB McDonnell Lobby, Room 1101 and Third Floor Terrace)
2-3:30 p.m. Computation and Neuroinformatics
Chair: Lawrence Snyder, MD, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine
- 2-2:30 p.m.
Spaun 3.0: A Next Generation Large-Scale Brain Model
Chris Eliasmith, PhD
Professor and Founding Director
Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience
Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience
University of Waterloo - 2:30-3 p.m.
From Dynamic Routing to Lie Theory and Grid Cells: Inspirations from Charlie Anderson and David Van Essen
Bruno Olshausen, PhD
Professor
Department of Neuroscience
School of Optometry
University of California, Berkeley - 3-3:30 p.m.
Characterizing and Quantifying the Cell Types of the Mammalian Cortex
Michael Hawrylycz, PhD.
Senior Investigator
Allen Institute
3:30-4 p.m. Coffee Break (NRB McDonnell Lobby)
4-5 p.m. Morphogenesis and Development
Chair: Valeria Cavalli, PhD
Robert E. and Louise F. Dunn Professor of Biomedical Research
WashU Medicine
- 4-4:30 p.m.
Cortical Development and Connectivity
Linda Richards, PhD
Chair, Department of Neuroscience and Edison Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine - 4:30-5 p.m.
How the Cerebellum Gets Its Folds
Alexandra Joyner, PhD
Emeritus Faculty
Sloan Kettering Institute
Day Two (Tuesday, Sept. 9)
8:30-10 a.m. Cartography and Function II
Chair: Tom Franken, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine
- 8:30-9 a.m.
Topological Brain Maps and the Shape of Thought
Martin Sereno, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
San Diego State University - 9-9:30 a.m.
How the Brain Represents 3D Objects
Ed Connor, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
Director, Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute
Johns Hopkins University - 9:30-10 a.m.
Representing the Visual World
Doris Tsao, PhD
Professor
Department of Molecular & Cell Biology
Department of Neuroscience
University of California, Berkeley
10-10:30 a.m. Coffee Break (NRB McDonnell Lobby)
10:30 a.m.-Noon Parcellations and the Big Picture
Chair: Camillo Padoa-Schioppa, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine
- 10:30-11 a.m.
The Human Connectome Project’s Approach to Neuroimaging and Brain Parcellation
Matthew F. Glasser, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
WashU Medicine
- 11-11:30 a.m.
Dynamical Systems as Mechanistic, Explanatory Models in Neuroscience
William Newsome, PhD
Harman Family Provostial Professor
Professor Of Neurobiology And, By Courtesy, Of Psychology
Stanford University School of Medicine
- 11:30 a.m.-Noon
Reflections on Cortex and a Neuroscience Career
David Van Essen, PhD
Alumni Endowed Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine
Noon Concluding Remarks
- Linda Richards, PhD
Chair, Department of Neuroscience and Edison Professor of Neuroscience
WashU Medicine
12:15 p.m. Lunch (NRB McDonnell Lobby)