Brains interact at the 2009 RIKEN BSI Summer Program
11 September 2009 (Volume 4 Issue 9)
Now in its 12th year, the summer program at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI) again this year offered its participants a unique introduction to the field of brain science, with a high-profile lecture series and hands-on laboratory internships. Under the theme of ‘Interacting Brains’, this year’s lecture program focused on how brains of diverse animals are specialized for interaction.
The internship program ran from July 1 to August 26, with an 11-day lecture course taking place from July 13 to July 24. While some participants attended only the lectures, others in the internship program had the option of enrolling in both the lecture and laboratory components of the program.
Stella Bar th, an undergraduate neurobiology major at Harvard University, expressed enthusiasm about her experience. “The researchers here were very welcoming and supportive,” Barth said of Kazuo Okanoya’s Laboratory for Biolinguistics. “As an undergraduate, I was also granted more independence than I’ve ever had before.”
For undergraduate interns, the program offers a unique introduction to laboratory research. Barth, whose research focus is on the biology of birdsong, described her excitement at being invited to participate in brain surgery on a Bengalese finch. “I’ve never had that chance before,” she said. “It was a bit scary, but also really amazing.”
Ai-hong Song, another participant in this year’s summer program, remarked on the institutional connection she had established through the internship component of the program. Song’s research in the BSI program followed on her recent findings (published in the March issue of Cell) on cytoplasmic transport in neurons.
“For me, this is just the beginning,” she said. “The program has provided a great chance to initiate collaborative research between Atsushi Miyawaki’s Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, where I did my internship here, and my home institution, the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai,” she explained.
The program also included a language component, with interns offered 1.5-hour Japanese classes twice a week, as well as cultural outings in areas around Tokyo. Support for the internship program comes from the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.
