51С»Æ³µ

The Maine Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience and The University of 51С»Æ³µ presents the Second Annual Scientific Meeting. The forum, which will take place at the 51С»Æ³µBiddeford Campus, includes a keynote presentation, poster session Faculty and student talks, and K-12 outreach workshops.

Keynote Speakers

Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD
The Epigenetic Signature of Autism in the Prefrontal Cortex

Dr. Schahram Akbarian is a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. Dr. Akbarian received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Primate Neuroanatomy both from Freie Universitaet in Berlin Germany. He completed a Residency in Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medial School and then went on to conduct research at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research on genetic engineering in a mouse. Dr. Akbarian has over 65 peer-reviewed publications and has received numerous honors and awards for his work, such as the Young Investigator II Award from the National Alliance for Research on Scizophrenia and Depression and the Staglin Family Music Festival Schizophrenia Research Award presented by NARSAD.

Dr. Akbarian's laboratory has been trying to better understand gene expression in the development of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism. They are primarily focused on the exploration of neuronal epigenomes in preclinical model systems and in human (postmortem) brain tissue. Findings have shown that regulation of H3K4 methylation in human brain is highly regulated in a cell specific manner which points to the potential importance of early childhood for developmentally regulated chromatin remodeling in prefrontal neurons. These results have led him to be the PI on 4 NIH funded grants to further help fund these explorations.

Robert H. Lenox, MD
CNS Drug Discovery and Development 2012: Problems, Promises & Partnering

Dr. Robert H. Lenox is Professor of Pharmacology and Clinical Neurosciences in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of 51С»Æ³µ and is also President of RHL BioPharmaceutical Consulting, LLC. Dr. Lenox has had a distinguished academic research and teaching career for over 25 years as a respected psychiatrist and neuroscientist with continuous NIH grant funding. He has published more then 150 peer-reviewed articles, as well as reviews and book chapters in the fields of molecular neuropharmacology and clinical psychopharmacology. Dr. Lenox is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors that recognize his contributions to neuroscience and medicine. He holds a BS in Biochemistry from MIT, a MD from the University of Vermont College of Medicine and a MA (Honours) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Lenox is currently providing CNS drug discovery and development consultation to Academia, Biotech, NIH, and Venture Capital companies. Until recently he served as Vice President and Worldwide Head of Central Nervous System Drug Discovery for Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, with responsibilities for setting strategy and leading CNS drug discovery from target identification, lead discovery and candidate profiling, with oversight for preclinical/phase l and ll development at Aventis for all psychiatry and neurology programs. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry in 2001, Dr. Lenox was the Karl and Linda Rickels Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and Vice Chairman for Research Development in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Lenox was also Founder of the Neuroscience Research Unit and Head of the Clinical Psychopharmacology Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, where he also served as Interim-Chairman.