A Knockdown Punch to the Brain

Speakers

John Cryan, PhD

University College Cork
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John Cryan is lecturer of pharmacology at the University College Cork School of Pharmacy. His current research interests include neuropsychopharmacological approaches for the treatment of depression, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, and drug dependence. He also investigates the neural circuitry underlying such stress-related disorders, the role of metabotropic GABA and glutamate receptors in brain function, gene silencing in the brain in vivo, and the relationship between drug dependence and mood disorders. Finally, he works on developing novel rodent models of behavioral disorders with special emphasis on translational approaches.

Cryan received his PhD in pharmacology from the National University of Ireland. Prior to joining the University College Cork faculty, he spent four years at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Basel, Switzerland, where his research group was responsible for the preclinical characterization of novel therapeutic targets and ligands for psychiatric disorders. In 2004 he received the Novartis Neuroscience Recognition Award, and in September 2005 he was honored with the Young Scientist Award at the biennial European Behavioral Pharmacology Society meeting.

Sergei Musatov, PhD

Neurologix Inc.
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Sergei Musatov is a research scientist at Neurologix Inc. His research focuses on the development of novel gene therapy approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

Musatov received his PhD from the St. Petersburg State Medical University and N. N. Petrov Research Institute of Oncology. After moving to the United States, he worked as a research associate at The Rockefeller University and at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. The main projects he was involved in dealt with the mechanism of gene transfer by adeno-associated virus, the role of tumor suppressor PTEN, and the role of different estrogen receptors in behavior and neurodegenerative disorders.

Richard Vallee, PhD

Columbia University
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Richard Vallee is a professor of pathology at Columbia University. He investigates motor proteins in axonal transport, brain developmental disease, and synaptic function.

Vallee received his PhD from Yale University. He received the 1996 NIH Merit Award, was selected as the AAAS Council Delegate in 1998, and served as the H. Arthur Smith Chair in Cancer Research from 1999 until 2001. He also serves as the associate editor of Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton.

Stefan Schlussman, PhD

The Rockefeller University
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Stefan Schlussman is currently a research associate at The Rockefeller University. His research interests include individual vulnerability to the effects of drug abuse, behavioral neurobiology of addictive diseases, and neurochemical and behavioral correlates of androgenic anabolic steroid abuse.

Schlussman received his PhD in cell biology and anatomy from New York Medical College. Prior to joining The Rockefeller University, he performed research at the program in clinical pharmacology of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Beth Schachter

Beth Schachter, PhD, writes about life science, medicine and biotechnology. She is also a partner in Still Point Coaching & Consulting, a firm that helps life scientists with communications and career development skills.

Schachter has published in Nature Biotechnology, The New York Times, The Scientist, Bio IT-World, and the HMS Beagle, and has written for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Society for Women's Health Research and The Institute of Medicine. She entered science communications as HMS Beagle's first scientific editor.

Schachter's benchtop-to-laptop transition took place in 1997. Before that she was a biomedical researcher. She had been an associate professor at Mount Sinai Medical School, and also had taught at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. She received her PhD in cell and molecular biology from University of Southern California, and received postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco and Columbia University. She serves on the board of Science Writers in New York (SWINY), the local affiliate of National Association of Science Writers.