The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, focused on unraveling the mechanisms that drive the human capacity to remember and to learn, is holding two provocative fall symposiums. Mark your calendars:

On Depression: Monday, September 19, 2005
This one-day symposium will bring together scientists, clinicians, patients, policy makers, and members of the health care industry to examine new ways of thinking about depression and its underlying causes. The conference will also explore the possibility that insights gained by neuroscientists who are studying learning and memory mechanisms might lead to better diagnosis, prevention and treatment of depression.

Who: Moderated by Dr. Peter Kramer, author of "Listening to Prozac" and "Against Depression". Speakers include Dr. Charles Nemeroff, Emory University School of Medicine; Dr. Steven Paul, Eli Lilly and Company; Dr. Stephen Foote, National Institute of Mental Health; Keith Dixon, Cigna; and other leading researchers on the neuroscience of depression.

The Future of the Brain: Thursday, December 1, 2005
In conjunction with the opening of MIT's new brain and cognitive sciences complex, the Picower Institute will host some of the world's most eminent neuroscientists and molecular biologists, including five Nobel laureates, who will gather to discuss future developments in brain research. The symposium will also examine the relationship between the human brain and the mind and will look at the possible impact of research about learning and memory on human health.

Who: Speakers include neuroscientists/biologists Dr. Richard Axel, Dr. Sydney Brenner, Dr. Eric Kandel, Dr. Christoph Koch, and Dr. James Watson; Alexander Shulgin ("psychedelic chemist" who invented LSD); author Oliver Sacks; MIT President Susan Hockfield, and many others.