News & Events

BrainU Video Available

April 1, 2012 - A video describing the BrainU program and featuring participants of last summer's workshops has just been released. Check it out below:

Mini Medical School 2012 to Focus on the Brain

February 1, 2012 - Registration is now open for It's All in Your Head: The Latest in Brain Science and Treatment, the 26th session of Mini Medical School, which meets on Mondays, February 6 – March 5, 2012, 6-8:30 pm at the University of Minnesota.

Discover how world-renowned experts in the Academic Health Center are making major advances in the field of brain science. Explore topics like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Alzheimer's disease, addiction, and rehabilitating stroke survivors, all directly from the researchers and doctors who are developing the latest breakthrough therapies in modern medicine.

To read full details and register, click here.

iNeuron™ in Development

October 11, 2011 - Adventium Enterprises, a Minneapolis-based software research and development company, announced that it has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop iNeuron™, an interactive game-like approach to teaching neuroscience and mental health concepts at the classroom level and beyond. iNeuron will teach key concepts by transforming a set of handheld electronic devices into functionally connected neurons to solve sets of story-based, neuroscience challenges. This award has been granted by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIHM) as part of the Innovative Neuroscience K-12 Education program.

Adventium's partner in the effort is the University of Minnesota (UMN), which for years has been promoting neuroscience education in K-12 schools through its BrainU program, funded by a National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) Science Education Partnership Award and a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award. BrainU provides professional development resources and materials for K-12 science teachers interested in understanding the brain and its relevance to education. Dr. Janet Dubinsky, the BrainU director, an internationally recognized leader in neuroscience education, and co-lead of the iNeuron project, observes that: "Neuroscience education goes beyond simply teaching the mechanics of nervous system function. Studies have shown that students' understanding of how their own brains control body and cognitive functions has a positive impact on reinforcing healthy behaviors." Read the press release.

2011 Nobel Conference on the Brain

August 26, 2011 - The 47th Nobel Conference — held October 4-5, 2011 at Gustavus Adolphus College in St Peter, MN — is titled The Brain and Being Human. Lecturers will explore the neurology of human nature, therapies for autism, depression treatment using direct brain stimulation, music and biological evolution, brain-computer interfaces, and decision making. Master teachers from 11 Minnesota high schools have developed lesson plans specifically for the conference; one of these teachers is a BrainU Institute participant. To access the lesson plans, visit https://gustavus.edu/events/nobelconference/2011/teachers/.

Dr. Dubinsky at Texas Educators Annual Meeting

June 29, 2011 - In a General Session at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Texas Regional Collaboratives, BrainU director Dr. Jan Dubinsky gave a presentation entitled Science Educators and Neuroscientists: A Collaborative Agenda. Dr. Dubinsky's presentation explored the relationship between neuroscience and education.

The Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching is an award-winning network of P-16 partnerships that provide sustained, high-intensity professional development to P-12 teachers of science and mathematics.