Aktuelle Top-Themen der Forschung zum Stottern werden beim BSA Kongress in Telford vorgetragen und diskutiert:
The new sciences of stammering
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Over the last decade, advances in brain imaging, genetics, and pharmacology
have provoked a revolution in the scientific understanding of the human
brain. Scientists are now using this knowledge combined with the new
research tools to tackle an age-long mystery: the mechanism and causes of
stammering, and how best to treat stammering. The BSA has invited to its
annual conference in Telford leading researchers in the fields of
neuroscience, genetics, and pharmacology to share with us the new sciences
of stammering and answer the question: How are neuroscience, pharmacology
and genetics changing our understanding and treatment of stammering?
The main session of the program is the research plenary where leading
researchers give conceptually clear and simple reviews of the progress made
in their research area. After a tea break, the audience has the opportunity
to ask probing questions to the panel or comment on any issues related to
understanding or treating stuttering. The general sessions are followed by a
research symposium where the experts will present and discuss
cross-disciplinary topics.
For further information, please contact
tom.weidig@physics.org or visit the
BSA website:
www.stammering.org/conf.html.
PLENARY
(Chair: Velda Osborne, Sat Sep 16th Sep 9:00-10:30)
Introducing the new sciences of stammering
(Tom Weidig)
The genetics of stuttering: a review
(Dennis Drayna, National Institute of Health, US)
The pharmacology of stuttering: a review
(Gerald Maguire, University of California at Irvine, US)
The brain and stuttering: a review
(Per Alm, University of Oxford)
Q&A SESSION
(Chair: Tom Weidig, Sat Sep 16th 11:00-12:00)
Panel consists of speakers plus Kate Watkins, and LouiseWright.
SYMPOSIUM (Chair: Tom Weidig, Sat Sep 16th 14:00-17:30)
Given a gene, what is its function? Given a function, what is its gene? What
if gene combinations make up a function? (Dennis Drayna)
Similarities and differences in the functional brain abnormalities
associated with developmental stuttering and with a mutation in the FOXP2
gene. (Kate Watkins)
What does a medication-induced reduction in stuttering tell us about
physiology and genetics of stuttering? (Gerald Maguire)
Is the dopamine D2 receptor important for genetic childhood stuttering?
Neurological incidents and subgrouping. (Per Alm)
The measurement problem in stammering: a cross-disciplinary Pandora's box.
(additional workshop on Sunday morning)
Main speakers of plenary
Dr. Gerald Maguire is Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at
the University of California, Irvine. He is a member of the US national
stuttering association (NSA) and currently serves on its research advisory
board. As a person who stutters himself, he has been interested in
investigating novel treatments for stuttering since early in his medical
training. His research group was the first to investigate brain differences
in stutterers using the PET brain imaging method. He was the lead
investigator on many studies investigating medications for the treatment of
stuttering. At the Telford BSA conference, he will also talk about the
latest trial on Pagoclone. Dr Maguire has spoken at a wide range of
conferences like NSA, World Congress of Stuttering and ASHA. His research
appeared at news outlets like the LA Times, NPR, ABC News, and the Boston
Globe.
Dr. Dennis Drayna is a senior researcher in genetics at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where he currently serves as a
Section Chief in the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders. His primary research interests are the genetics of human
communication disorders, work that has taken him to eight different
countries on four continents in pursuit of families with these disorders.
For example, he collected blood samples from an extended Pakistani family
where many of its members stutter. At the Telford BSA conference, Dr. Drayna
will discuss his latest research, and also collect blood samples from
volunteers for his research work. He did a PhD at Harvard University, worked
as a postdoctoral fellowship in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the
University of Utah, and then spent 14 years in the biotechnology industry in
the San Francisco Bay area.
Dr. Per Alm is a researcher at the University of Oxford, and works together
with Dr. Kate Watkins on a project to understand the relationship between
stuttering and brain functions. As a person who stutters he got involved in
work on stuttering through the Swedish Stuttering Association. Having worked
as an engineer in his previous life, he decided to take on stuttering, and
go back to university to study neurosciences. He recently finished his PhD
thesis on the causal mechanisms of stuttering at Lund University, Sweden.
His attempts to combine a wide range of findings to a neurological model of
stuttering have been well-received. He has especially emphasized the role of
the brain structures called the basal ganglia. At the Telford BSA
conference, Dr. Alm will discuss how the current understanding of the brain
may help us understand stuttering.
Quelle: TheStutteringBrain