Fumiko Hoeft will be speaking to Tufts Cognitive and Brain Science Community on Friday, December 3rd at 10:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM EST.
She will be discussing Intergenerational Neuroimaging as a New Cognitive Neuroscience Paradigm.
Fumiko Hoeft will be speaking at the EdWeek Leadership Symposium on Monday, May 10th at 10:45am PST/1:45pm EST.
She will be giving a panel discussion with Neil Duke, Ernesto Ortiz, Jr., and Tanji Reed Marshall, entitled, The Science of Reading: Best Practices for the Early Grades
To learn more about this symposium and register, go here.
Join us on Thursday, April 29th as Tiffany Ho gives a talk at brainLENS. Register here: https://bit.ly/2PxmSuL
Her talk is entitled, “Inflammatory and Glutamatergic Contributions to Adolescent Depression”
Abstract: Adolescent-onset depression is a debilitating condition often triggered by stressful experiences and characterized by alterations in connections among fronto-cingulate-limbic networks. Prior research in animals have identified inflammatory and glutamatergic processes through which stress may affect neurodevelopment, with emerging evidence that these stress-related processes are implicated in adults with depression. In this talk, I will present the rationale and data from an ongoing NIMH study: Teen Inflammation Glutamate Emotion Research (TIGER). The goal of TIGER is to test the hypothesis that inflammatory cytokines and cortical glutamate contribute to the neurodevelopmental trajectories of fronto-cingulate-limbic connections in depressed adolescents in ways that increase risk for recurrence.
Tiffany’s Bio: Dr. Tiffany Ho is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC San Francisco and is the director of the CANDY Lab (http://candylab.ucsf.edu). Dr. Ho studied Cognitive Science as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley before earning her Ph.D. in Psychology at UC San Diego. Dr. Ho returned to the Bay Area to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuroscience at UC San Francisco in the Department of Psychiatry and, later, in affective science at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology. From 2018-2019, Dr. Ho was an Instructor at Stanford University in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences before joining the faculty at UC San Francisco in 2019. Dr. Ho's research interests focus on understanding how experiences and perceptions of stress play a role in shaping adolescent brain development and risk for depression onset and recurrence.
BrainLENS will be hosting an exhibitor table at this April’s Learning & the Brain Conference entitled, “Teaching Purposeful Brains”. The conference will be taking place on April 17th & 18th.
Our booth will feature information about our upcoming BRAIN Camp this summer, as well as other information on our lab projects.
The conference itself will feature many incredible researchers and thinkers surrounding how to best teach children in an intentional and engaging fashion. To learn more, go here
Fumiko Hoeft is giving a virtual webinar with the Schenck School tonight at 6:30pm EST/3:30pm PST.
The talk is titled "Dyslexia: The Science and Practice of Early Identification" and is co-led by Margie Gillie.
Register for the talk here
Fumiko Hoeft will be moderating a talk by Dr. Robert Sapolsky and Dr. Nadine Burke Harris at the Common Ground Speaker series on Thursday, March 18th 7:00-8:15 pm PST
Free for member school parents and for educators from member and non-member schools.
Register for this event here
Robert M. Sapolsky, PhD, is a Professor of Biology, Neurology and Neurosurgery at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Museum of Kenya. Professor Sapolsky is a recipient of a MacArthur Genius Fellowship and his teaching awards include Stanford University's Bing Award for Teaching Excellence. He is the author of several books including, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst; Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers; The Trouble with Testosterone. His writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Science, Scientific American, Harper's, and The New Yorker. His 2008 National Geographic special on stress, and his on-line lectures about human behavioral biology, have been watched tens of millions of times.
Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH, is serving as California’s first Surgeon General, tasked with expanding the mission of public health to fight childhood adversity. A pediatrician, Burke Harris founded San Francisco’s Bayview Child Health Center to bring equity to children’s healthcare. Her research and practice focus on toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their lifelong effects. As founder of the Center for Youth Wellness she pushed to create a clinical model that recognizes and treats toxic stress in children. Her work has been profiled in The New Yorker, in Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed, and in Jamie Redford's film Resilience and she is the recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the American Academy of Pediatrics Her TEDMED talk, viewed over 7 million times, is used actively in trainings and college curricula to raise awareness of the physiologic impact of stress. She is the author of The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity.
Fumiko Hoeft, MD, PhD (moderator) is a psychiatrist, neurophysiologist and cognitive neuroscientist. She is Director of BrainLENS at the University of Connecticut (UConn) and UC San Francisco (UCSF); Professor of Psychological Science, Mathematics, Neuroscience and Psychiatry, and the Director of the Brain Imaging Research Center at UConn; and Adjunct Professor at UCSF. Dr. Hoeft has conducted research on learning and brain development, with focus on literacy and dyslexia, as well as the science of resilience for over 17 years. Her work has been widely covered in media such as The New York Times, NPR, CNN, The New Yorker, and Scientific American. She also serves on many boards at organizations including the International Dyslexia Association, National Center for Learning Disabilities, and the Center for Childhood Creativity.
As an extension of Fumiko Hoeft’s, “Ask a Brain Scientist” series, she taught a virtual workshop to 3rd-8th graders at the Odyssey School in San Mateo.
The Odyssey School is a specialized independent school for bright dyslexic children and children with out language learning differences between 5 and 14 years old. To learn more about this school, visit their website here.
To learn more about Fumiko Hoeft’s ongoing “Ask a Brain Scientist’ series, visit the website here.
Stephanie Haft, our former lab manager and current Clinical Science grad student at UC Berkeley, recently completed a meta-analysis on stigma and stereotype threat with Fumiko Hoeft. Their findings highlight the need for more research on Specific Learning Differences-related stigma and stereotype threat, and suggest that these negative experiences be a target of intervention and support efforts for individuals with SLDs.
To read the pre-print, go here
Hehui Li, who was Visiting Scholar in our lab from 2018-2019, just had her paper accepted into Cortex. Her paper is titled, “Decoding the role of the cerebellum in the early stages of reading acquisition”. She authored it with other lab members and collaborators Olga Kepinska, Jocelyn Caballero, Leo Zekelman, Rebecca Marks, Yuuko Uchikoshi, Loulia Kovelman, and Fumiko Hoeft.
We’re all very excited for her! She devoted her life to this project for the year she joined us. Congratulations, Hehui!
To read the preprint, go here.
BrainLENS hosted a virtual booth at the Winter 2021 virtual Learning & the Brain Conference on February 20th. The theme of this year’s conference was “The Science of Teaching During a Pandemic: Creating Motivated, Focused, Active, Autonomous Learners”
Our booth featured information on our upcoming summer BRAIN CAMP at UConn this July and August. If you’d also like to learn more about this, you can do so here
Fumiko Hoeft’s ‘Ask a Brain Scientist’ series has been featured in this quarter’s UConn Magazine. The ‘Ask a Brain Scientist’ series is a virtual webinar series where Fumiko engages with children and parents around the country on relevant brain science topics in a fun manner!
To read the article, go here.
To learn more about Ask a Brain Scientist, visit the website here
Fumiko Hoeft and colleagues recently published a paper Personality and Individual Differences which looked at the positive role that harmonizing with nature has on improving psychological health during Covid. Science Daily recently featured an article on this paper.
To see the Science Daily piece, go here.
To read the full journal article, go here.
Does the pandemic have you feeling stressed? A new paper by Fumiko Hoeft and colleagues suggests that spending more time in nature and creating a sense of harmony with nature around you could ease that pandemic-related stress.
To learn more about this, head over to UConn Today for their feature on the paper!
BIRC has been awarded a CLAS equipment grant for an “EEG Bundle” to be used with BIRC’s hdEEG system. This includes a combination of a Cedrus Stim Tracker and replacement of EEG caps.
The Cedrus Stim Tracker is a tool that accurately aligns the experimental stimuli presented and neuronal activity. While EEG purports to have excellent temporal resolution, it is only true if the experimental stimuli are generated and presented, and neural activity collected in sync. This is not as easy and automated as it should be; currently, even with the latest hdEEG systems, without a tool like the Cedrus Stim Tracker, as much as 30ms of variability is observed that can occur unpredictably and/or drift over time. This is an unacceptable large variability compared to the neural time-scale of a couple of milliseconds. Cedrus Stim Tracker tracks the precise onset and offset of various stimuli for every trial, and marks it directly in the EEG data file. This not only makes the researchers accurately analyze data and prevents “data smear”, but also facilitates data analyses by automating the tedious process of cross-checking and marking data manually. This is now becoming a necessary tool for all EEG experiments, especially those that require fine-grained temporal information, have multi-modal information (e.g. auditory and visual stimuli) delivered to the subjects, and eliminates the complexity and unreliability of other synchronization methods.
The Tremaine Foundation has granted Fumiko Hoeft and Haskins Labs $15k to supplement their Covid-19 R.E.S.C.U.E. Project. The project is dedicated to preventing “Covid Slide” in reading fluency in children, due to the learning interruptions that the pandemic has caused. To learn more about the project, go here.
To learn more about the Tremaine Foundation, go here
Fumiko Hoeft, Sandra Marshall, and Crystal Park, in collaboration with UConn InCHIP, UConn Neag School of Education, and UConn Research just received funding for their NIH U24 grant exploring the underlying mechanisms of mind-body interventions and measurement of EWB (M3). Full info on the grant is below:
NIH U24AT011281 (Multi-PIs Park, Chafouleas, Hoeft) 02/01/2021 – 01/31/2025
NCCIH $2,495,298 Total Cost
Network to advance the study of mechanisms underlying mind-body interventions and measurement of emotional wellbeing (M3 Network of Emotional Wellbeing)
Goal: To lead a network to deepen our understanding of EWB measurement approaches and their role in MBIs as outcomes and as mechanisms.
This is exciting news!
Fumiko Hoeft recently gave a talk at the American University’s Cognitive Science Seminar. These seminars are sponsored by their Center for Behavior and Neuroscience.
Fumiko Hoeft gave a talk at on 1/29 at the University of Houston Psychology Department. The talk was titled, “Intergenerational Neuroimaging of Literacy and Dyslexia: A New Cognitive Neuroscience Research Paradigm”.
This exciting talk expanded on the work we’ve been conducting in our Family Brain Program.
Fumiko Hoeft will be presenting at the 9th Annual AIM Institute Research to Practice Symposium on March 15th, 2021
Fumiko Hoeft will be the Keynote Speaker at the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Dallas Branch Conference on Friday, February 5th. Her talk is entitled, “Using the Neuroscience of Anxiety and Social, Emotional, and Mental Health in Reading and Learning Disorders to Rethink 504 and IEP Accommodations”
To learn more about the conference, go here
Postdoc and RA positions @ UConn/UCSF brainLENS Lab
Fumiko Hoeft MD PhD, Professor of the Departments of Psychological Sciences, Mathematics, Neuroscience and Psychiatry (https://psych.uconn.edu/person/fumiko-hoeft/), and Director of the Brain Imaging Research Center (https://birc.uconn.edu) at UConn, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF, is now accepting additional applications of up to two postdoctoral fellows and/or research assistants (RAs) to begin sometime between now and the fall of 2021 at UConn (possibly at UCSF for postdocs; https://www.brainlens.org).
The postdoc(s) would ideally have strong research- and publication-records in: (1) reading, dyslexia or related fields of (developmental) cognitive neuroscience; or (2) fetal, neonatal or infant neuroimaging. The latter does not have to be in reading/dyslexia, and can be in affective neuroscience. Experience in interdisciplinary research is a plus; from theory, multimodal neuroimaging (fMRI, dMRI, TMS, MRS, EEG, etc), genetics, machine learning and network approaches (see https://www.brainlens.org/employment). The RAs would ideally have experience in the areas above, though not required. Strong management, organizational and communication/writing skills are required. Programming skills are desired but not required. There are opportunities to write grants, and publish using many of our existing and publicly available datasets. The positions are fully funded, primarily by NIH grants though a US citizenship is not required.
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, full CV, names of 3 references, and preferred location (UConn or UCSF) to Prof. Fumiko Hoeft at brainLENS@uconn.edu. When you write, please use subject, “[Postdoc] FIRST & LAST NAME” or “[RA] FIRST & LAST NAME”.
Fumiko Hoeft will be taking part in the Embrace Dyslexia at Home series. She will be presenting a “Parents Taking Action” talk where she will discuss the neurobiology of dyslexia, specifically surrounding the socio-emotional aspects of having dyslexia.
Register here
Fumiko Hoeft gave a professional development talk at Currey Ingram Academy in Brentwood, TN on Monday, January 4tth. Currey Ingram Academy is a school that specializes in helping children with learning differences and unique learning styles.
For more info, go here
Fumiko Hoeft will be collaborating with the Southport CoLab to discuss Educational Inequalities and what this organization is doing to address them. Details for this talk are below:
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Time: 7:00 pm- 8:30 pm EST
Description: A false assumption about what it takes to be a skilled reader has created deep inequalities among U.S. children, putting many on a difficult path in life.
Children throughout the country have lost precious learning during the pandemic. The “Corona Slide” is expected to lead to a 30% loss in learning compared to a normal school year. The children who are most vulnerable, those with disabilities and/or living in low socioeconomic households, will have lost the most.
Join this roundtable discussion to hear about what’s causing the slide, how our most vulnerable children have been impacted during these unprecedented times, and how we might begin to mitigate its consequences moving forward.
Panelists: Collette Fearon, Elementary Principal, New Beginnings Family Academy
Margie Gillis, EdD, President & Founder, Literacy How
Emily Hanford, Senior Education Correspondent, AMP Reports
Dr. Fumiko Hoeft, MD PhD, University of Connecticut
Dr. Julie Washington, PhD, Georgia State University
Suzanne Lang, Director, The Southport CoLAB (Moderator)
Register here
Fumiko Hoeft was both a presenter and a co-chair at the 2020 International Dyslexia Association annual conference, which was held virtually this year, due to Covid-19.
Title: The Role of ADHD and Executive Functions in the Early Identification and Prevention of Dyslexia and Poor Reading Outcome
This talk will discuss the role of ADHD and executive functions in dyslexia and poor reading outcome. In particular, the discussion will focus on the early stage of reading development and how the assessment of ADHD and executive functions can be helpful in the process of early identification and prevention of dyslexia and poor reading. Relevant neuroscience research will also be introduced. The discussion will close with information on how clinicians (in particular, pediatricians) can play a role in this process.
Her talk was part of a symposium with Eric Tridas, Joyce Pickering, David Childers, and Adiaha Spinks-Franklin
More info on the conference can be found here
BrainLENS hosted a virtual table at the Fall 2020 Learning & the Brain Conference. The title and theme for this conference was, Social-Emotional Brains in Schools: Raising Resilience, Restoring Relationships, and Rebuilding Self-Regulation During Covid-19.
Fumiko Hoeft also presented a talk entitled, “Peer Mentoring and Social-Emotional Resilience in Youth With Learning Difficulties”
Learn more about Learning & the Brain here
In these free sessions, Prof. Fumiko Hoeft will engage with children about the intricacies of the brain. Children (and parents!) will learn about brain science on everyday topics, ask questions they might have, and get a glimpse into how research is done by a scientist. Fumiko happily volunteered to assist the AIM Academy with these fun Ask a Brain Scientist webinars when they switched to online learning last March.
For kids aged 8-13, but anyone with a child’s heart for learning is welcome!
Each session can stand on its own. When children attend all sessions, they will receive a Junior Neuroscientist certificate.
To register and for more information, please visit Haskinsglobal.org
This program is supported by UConn, UCSF, Haskins Laboratory, Yale University, Made by Dyslexia, and The International Dyslexia Association
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is offering free registration to their 2020 Annual IDA Reading, Literacy & Learning Conference
If you are interested, go here and apply. There are a total of 50 spots, with half of these already filled, so be sure to apply soon! It only requires a brief summary of why you would like to attend, as well as a brief background of who you are.
For more info on the conference itself, go here. It will be held this November 13 and 14th.
Postdoc and PhD positions @ UConn brainLENS Lab
Fumiko Hoeft MD PhD, Professor of the Departments of Psychological Sciences, Mathematics, Neuroscience and Psychiatry (https://psych.uconn.edu/person/fumiko-hoeft/), and Director of the Brain Imaging Research Center (https://birc.uconn.edu) at the University of Connecticut in CT US, is now accepting applications of up to two postdoctoral fellows to begin sometime between now and the fall of 2021; and/or two PhD students to begin in the fall of 2021. Our bicoastal labs at UCSF and UConn (https://www.brainlens.org) have a strong track-record in interdisciplinary research spanning from theory, multimodal neuroimaging (fMRI, dMRI, TMS, MRS, EEG, etc), genetics, machine learning and network approaches, on topics relevant to reading development, dyslexia and resilience/compensatory mechanisms (see attached schematic diagram). We are particularly interested in candidates who have a background or interest in behavioral genetics, and/or computational (machine learning / network) approaches that can be applied to neuroimaging data; and/or fetal/neonatal neuroimaging. The positions are fully funded, primarily by NIH grants, and by graduate research assistantships (GRAs). There are opportunities to be involved in federally funded and interdisciplinary graduate and postdoctoral training programs (NSF NRT https://slac.uconn.edu, NIH T32 https://cncct.research.uconn.edu). Interested applicants should contact Prof. Fumiko Hoeft @ brainLENS@uconn.edu.
