Congratulations to bioengineering faculty Emily Gibson and Richard Weir who were the inaugural speakers at the new TED for your HEAD happy hour for neurosciences, hosted by the Department of Neurosurgery and Ursula Brewing Company. Their talk, “Cutting through the hype of tech for your brain,” touched on optogenetics, neural interfaces, and robotic limbs, or how to use light to revolutionize artificial hand sensing and control.

These neuroscience-focused happy hour “TED talks” are an endeavor designed to help communications and collaborations across all the neurosciences – in research, clinical, and educational practices – and is part of the new “Neurosciences Innovation Initiative” recently launched by several departments. 

The ultimate goal is to bring in some large grants, to spark additional philanthropy, and to eventually break ground on a “Center for Neurosciences Innovation and Treatment” on five acres on the Anschutz Medical Campus next to Research 3 on Montview.

The next TED for your HEAD talk is October 21, featuring Dr. Peter Pressman from neurology and Dr. Abigail Person from physiology & biophysics.  Talks are held every Third Thursday of the month from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Plains Club and Gallery (right next to Cedar Creek Pub).