September 20, 2019

Neuroscientist tackles question: ‘What IF Breakthrough Technologies Could Make Us Smarter?’


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A leading neuroscientist will discuss recent advances in genome editing technologies, addressing the question of “What IF Breakthrough Technologies Could Make Us Smarter?” during an Oct. 15 event at Purdue University.

Guoping Feng's presentation, "Live Long and Prosper: The Promise of Science (Fiction) and Medicine," will begin at 7 p.m. in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall. The talk, sponsored by the College of Pharmacy, is free and open to the public.

The event is part of Purdue’s Ideas Festival, the centerpiece of the university’s Purdue’s Giant Leaps Sesquicentennial Campaign, which is a series of events that connect world-renowned speakers and Purdue expertise in a conversation on the most critical problems facing the world. One of the Ideas Festival’s themes is health, longevity and quality of life.

Guoping Feng Guoping Feng (Courtesy photo)
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This conversation will focus on the recent advances in genome-editing technologies that are revolutionizing biomedical research and medicine. Together with large-scale genetic studies identifying genetic factors causing or increasing risks for brain disorders, these new technologies are creating unprecedented opportunities to explore the neurobiological underpinning of cognition and behavior with the potential to cure brain disorders and perhaps enhance cognition and change behaviors. Feng will discuss the potential applications and impacts of these new technologies to neuroscience research and society.    

Feng is the Poitras Chair Professor of Neuroscience in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also is an institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the director of model systems and neurobiology at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute. Feng’s research is devoted to understanding the mechanisms regulating the development and function of synapses in the brain and how synaptic dysfunction may contribute to psychiatric disorders. Using genetically engineered animal models, Feng’s laboratory combines cutting-edge technologies and multidisciplinary approaches to unravel the neurobiological mechanisms of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.

Feng studied medicine at Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China. He did his doctoral training with Linda Hall at the State University of New York at Buffalo and postdoctoral training with Joshua Sanes at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to joining the faculty at MIT, he was a faculty member in the Department of Neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine. Feng has won numerous awards for his scientific achievement including Beckman Young Investigator Award, McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Award, Gill Young Investigator Award, Brain Research Foundation Science Innovation Award, Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award, and election to American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Writer: Jeanne Norberg 

Media contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu  

Source: Dana Neary, manager of alumni relations and special events, College of Pharmacy, 765-494-2632, nearyd@purdue.edu 

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