You reached this page through the archive. Click here to return to the archive.

Note: This article is over a year old and information contained in it may no longer be accurate. Please use the contact information in the lower-left corner to verify any information in this article.

Distinguished scientists to explain latest research about brain, behavior at St. Olaf

mjc
April 26, 2001

NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? What do ballet and gas pain have in common? How do you know exactly when to blink? How do you know where you are, and what you should do about it?

The answers to these and other intriguing questions will be discussed by three internationally known scientists at a St. Olaf College science symposium, "Exploring the Brain: From Molecules to Behavior," Friday, May 4. The symposium, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the St. Olaf Science Center and Buntrock Commons, is free and open to the public.

Each of the three guest scientists will give separate lectures.

James R. Bloedel will explain why some human movements are second nature and others are very difficult. His lecture, "Learning to Make a Movement: Why Sometimes Practice Does Make Perfect," will be at 2 p.m. in Room 280 of St. Olaf Science Center.

Frederick Sachs will talk about how human senses of touch, hearing and balance are related, and how individual cells and molecules are triggered by stimuli. His talk, "Cell and Molecular Mechanics ? What Touch, Hearing and Ballet Have in Common," will be at 3:30 p.m. in Room 280 of the St. Olaf Science Center.

Carol L. Colby will discuss how humans know where they are in space, and how they use that knowledge to act. Colby will talk about "How the Brain Explores Space" at 8 p.m. in the Black and Gold Ballroom of Buntrock Commons.

In addition to the three plenary lectures, participants will be able to view dozens of posters explaining student research projects. The posters will be displayed throughout the symposium in the Crossroads of Buntrock Commons, and will be exhibited Saturday morning, May 5.

The event is the second annual St. Olaf science symposium, sponsored by the college?s natural sciences and mathematics faculties. High school and college students, their teachers and the public are encouraged to attend the symposium, held in conjunction with the college?s annual Honors Day, which cites St. Olaf students for scholastic achievement.

The symposium is intended to highlight undergraduate research in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and psychology; to provide opportunities for the entire college to examine a topic of recent scientific research; and to let students, faculty members and the public meet and talk with distinguished researchers. The event is funded by the Paul and Mildred Hardy Distinguished Professorship in the Sciences and by a gift from Madeline Jacobs, editor in chief of Chemical and Engineering News.

The symposium topic, "Exploring the Brain: From Molecules to Behavior," was chosen to celebrate the launching of a new neuroscience concentration at St. Olaf College.

Neuroscience ? the study of systems related to the brain, and how the brain uses those systems to collect and send information to and from the body ? is one of the most dynamic fields of science today, using ideas from biology, psychology, mathematics, physics and chemistry. Neuroscientists seek answers to questions at many levels: about molecules, about the cells that make up sense organs and the brain, about the way these organs are organized to accomplish tasks such as movement, and about intangibles such as memory and cognition.

Bloedel, who will discuss neuronal systems and how humans learn to move, is vice provost for research and advanced studies in the Health and Human Performance and Biomedical Studies departments at Iowa State University. He is one of the world?s leading researchers into neuronal systems and movement, and into what happens when these systems malfunction, such as in patients with Parkinson?s disease.

Bloedel?s primary research focus has been to isolate the neuronal mechanisms responsible for motor learning, and to determine which parts of the brain encode and initiate limb movements.

Bloedel is a St. Olaf College graduate who earned medical and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota. Before coming to Iowa State he was director of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona, where he created new relationships with the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.

Sachs, who will talk about "mechanotransduction" and how humans hear, feel and keep their balance, is professor of physiology and biophysics and of communicative disorders and sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also directs the Center for Single Molecule Biophysics there.

Sachs is one of the world?s leading experts on how human cells sense mechanical stimuli and respond to the nervous system. He and his research team use a number of methods to investigate mechanotransduction and to create clinical applications for their findings, and they have invented software and instrumentation to measure their discoveries. (Sachs is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the inventor of the world?s smallest thermometer, and has developed a pressure clamp for a tiny patch of membrane.)

Sachs earned a bachelor?s degree in physics from the University of Rochester, worked as a rocket scientist and did graduate work in physiology at the State University of New York at Syracuse.

Colby, who will discuss the parts of the brain that are responsible for spatial cognition, is a leading analyst of parallels between environmental awareness and neural activity in the brain?s parietal cortex. Her research on humans and monkeys shows that the brain creates multiple representations of space, each designed to deal with different sensory and motor situations. Currently Colby is researching the specific makeup of each of these cognitive representations.

Colby earned bachelor?s degrees in psychology and social relations from Radcliffe College, a master?s degree in psychology from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in psychology and neurophysiology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

More details of the May 4 science symposium may be found on the St. Olaf College website at www.stolaf.edu/other/symposium, or by calling (507) 646-3043. Formal registration for the event is not required, but participants are encouraged to register.

St. Olaf College prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), St. Olaf has a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty complement of approximately 300. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in percentage of students who study abroad.

Contact Michael Cooper at 507-786-3315 or cooperm@stolaf.edu.