Day 1

Gabriel Barney

Davidson Capstone 2016-2017

I chose this as my Capstone because it puts a perspective onto the science and math that I have learned throughout my years as a student, and it is a potential candidate for what my future holds.

I hoped to learn what Neuroscience actually envelopes, I wanted to know how it is gone about, not just that is the science of the brain. I think this experience will affect my future and what I will pursue as a career, that is my long-term goal for this experience.

At 8:00 AM today I began my Explorations in Neuroscience summer camp at The Ohio State University in their Graves Hall building. We began with an introduction of the professors that are leading the camp, and then all of the participants shared what school they were from and why the were interested in this camp.

Around 10:00 we had the pleasure of being guest spoken to by Ali Rezai, MD. Apparently he is a very prominent figure in the neuroscience field due to his success as both an innovator and surgeon. He was very informative and managed to make the field seem a lot deeper than the basics that I had already known before I came to the camp that morning. He talked about the many different procedures he has performed, the fifty plus patents he has, and how some of his procedures have altered the lives of his patients. He promptly left around 10:50 due to his flight arrangements which were for a meeting of his in Germany involving anxiety.

Between guest speakers, we had set out to one of the many neuroscience laboratories on campus and we examined human brains, spinal cords, as well as a cadaver. This was all very interesting as the only organ I have ever examined/dissected previously was a cow heart.

After the events at the laboratory, we came back to the starting place of the camp and had another lecture, which was then followed by another guest speaker who works closely alongside Dr. Rezai. Her name was Barbara Changizi, MD and she further showed the effects of her and Dr. Rezai's work with DBS, also known as Deep Brain Stimulation. DBS was explained to us as a remedy that involves surgery that can assist or nearly eliminate symptoms of mental illnesses such as Parkinson's disease, tremors, and multiple sclerosis. After she was finished speaking, the camp came to a close around 4:00PM.