“Cognitive Aging and its Relationship to Neuronal Structure and Function”
By Michelle Adams (Bilkent, NSC/Psychology)
Organized by the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Group at Bilkent University.
Date: Friday, 15th December, 2017
Time: 1240 – 1330
Place: A-130
Abstract: Normal aging is accompanied by a range of biological changes that diminish quality of life. Understanding the changes contributing to memory decline is important for developing strategies to prevent or lessen cognitive problems. What are the specific changes that take place during aging which lead to decrements in neural function? What are the intrinsic biological determinants of those changes? What factors can ameliorate these changes? I will present data from the laboratory examining the neural consequences of aging on behavior and the brain. In addition, I will discuss the effects of an intervention, caloric restriction, which alters the course of neural aging.
About the Speaker: Dr. Adams received her PhD in Neuroscience in 2001 from the New York University – Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Her PhD work focused on the relationship among brain aging, cognitive decline, estrogen, and glutamate receptors. Dr. Adams did a postdoctoral fellowship at the HHMI in Brown/MIT examining the functional consequences of altering glutamate receptor levels and then in 2004 she went to the Neurobiology and Anatomy Department at Wake Forest University School of Medicine to study the effects of caloric restriction on synaptic glutamate receptors. In 2005 Dr. Adams became an assistant professor at Wake Forest University and then in 2009 she moved to Bilkent University where she is currently an associate professor in the Psychology Department and director of the interdisciplinary graduate program in Neuroscience.