Personalized Medicine: Prescribing You the Right Drugs Based on Your Genes
When a physician prescribes a medication to a patient, they can not be sure that it will achieve the desired effect. The process of approving drugs ensures that drugs are safe and efficacious...on average. However, the experience of taking a particular medication can vary widely — it may work well for one person with no side effects, while for another person the side effects are unbearable and the medication doesn't seem to help. There are many reasons for variability in the response to drugs, but an important one is genetic variability. For some drugs, the response may "run in the family." In this talk, we will review the basic concepts of pharmacology and genetics, and discuss how they come together in the new field of "pharmacogenetics" which studies how we can use genetics to find the right drug at the right dose for the right patient.
Clark Center, 3rd floor, Room
S-360
 Russ B. Altman, PhD ’89, MD ‘90
Professor of Bioengineering, Genetics and of Medicine
Dr. Altman currently researches the application of computing technology to basic problems in molecular biology of relevance to medicine. He is currently developing databases and algorithms for scientific discovery and simulation, including a database, PharmGKB (http://www.pharmgkb.org/) that is devoted to disseminating information about how genetics impacts the response to drugs. http://www-helix.stanford.edu/people/altman/
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Tuning Up Your Brain: The Nature, Nurture Dialog
The brain is the most incredible computational machine imaginable. There are over one trillion nerve cells in the brain, and each cell can make up to 10,000 connections with other nerve cells. How are connections wired up during development? A baby's brain is not just a miniature version of the adult, but rather it is a dynamically changing structure engaged in an ongoing decision-making process that ultimately establishes the essential details of neural circuitry thru a dynamic interplay between early hardwiring and later experience of the world. http://www.stanford.edu/group/shatzlab/
Clark Center, 3rd floor, Room S-361
 Carla Shatz, PhD
Professor of Biology and Neurobiology and Director of BioX
Research in the Shatz Lab aims to understand the mechanisms and molecules that tune up the immature circuits of a baby's brain during critical periods of learning into adult circuits. Her work has relevance not only to childhood learning disabilities but also to treating stroke and memory loss in adulthood. http://biox.stanford.edu/clark/shatz.html
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"Where are the knobs on this thing?” Exploring brain function through visualization and manipulation.
The human brain is the most complex entity in the known universe. To understand how the brain enables our mental lives is one of the central intellectual challenges of the 21st century. To speed progress toward this goal, it is critical to develop new cutting-edge tools for adjusting electrical activity in different brain circuits and ascertaining their effect on specific cognitive functions. Novel tools of this nature will stimulate a new era in brain science, and will permit new therapies for neurological and psychiatric disease.
Clark Center, 3rd floor, Room S-362
 Bill Newsome, PhD
Professor of Neurobiology
Bill Newsome is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a leading investigator in the fields of sensory and cognitive neuroscience. Dr. Newsome has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying visual perception and simple forms of decision making.
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