Tuesday, August 22, 2006

New layout and functionality!!

I have upgraded my Blogger Account to the new Beta version. That's why you see a new layout. I will change some things. There is a bit too much empty space on the page, and the width of the post area could be bigger. But then again even if I dont write a lot, it looks like a big post! And, of course, my picture is too small!! Oh vanity.. :-)

But the real cool thing is the old posts. You can browse THROUGH ALL MY PAST POSTS and do not have to rely on my momentary state of the mind for thoughts on stuttering research!

Monday, August 21, 2006

Admin work on stuttering

At the moment, I am doing more admin work rather than thinking about stuttering itself.

I am still preparing the conference at Telford (UK). The morning session is sorted, but not the afternoon session yet. But should prove to be very interesting. The theme will be cross-disciplinary questions. Per will talk about the levels D1/D2 receptors and how they might kick-start stuttering, and how the levels might be directly related to the statistical signals we see in genetics of stuttering.

I plan to do a flyer which I will send to all the people that might interested in the conference. I will also post it here, and I would appreciate any propaganda!

I am also sending my talk to a few people that I met at the IFA conference.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

BSA Telford Conference

I am currently preparing the research section of the British Stammering Association (BSA) annual conference at Telford from September 15th to 17th. You find more information: here.

This year there will be a big research section on Sat Sep 16th. I have managed to get Denis Drayna from NIH, a leading experts in genetics of stuttering, Gerry Maguire, a leading experts in pharmacology of stuttering (he is the chief investigator for the Pagoclone study, I think, but certainly involved), Per Alm who has done excellent work in brain research and whom I consider one of the best and most rigorous scientists working on stuttering albeit with no permanent position, no research group of its own and not significant money behind, and Kate Watkins who is a lecturer at Oxford University and had done a lot of brain work before, and heads the research project into stuttering and hired Per to be postdoctoral researcher.

There will be a morning session with a research plenary followed by a Q&A session. Per, Gerry and Dennis will each talk about their respective research field and one has been achieved so far. I will give a brief 10-minute presentation to set the stage, but they will talk for 20-30 minutes each. I also chair the Q&A session with the panel being Per, Gerry, Dennis, Kate and Louise Wright, an SLT / researcher / lecturer who has been involved with the BSA for a long time and is probably best know for a multi-dimensional evaluation system called WASP. The research plenary will be attended by all conference participants, so we need to make it as conceptually simple and entertaining as possible.

In the afternoon, I am planning a mini-conference with talks by the researchers and debate with a multi-disciplinary slate... this is work in progress...

If you are interested in research, I hope you can make it to Telford in England!

I will also be completely jet-lagged as I return from a one-week consultancy project from San Diego (California) at 6 o'clock in the morning at London Heathrow.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Apologies

My apologies for no recent posts.

I am actually quite busy being a consultant, and trying to settle in my new flat.

In the next days, I will talk more about the IFA conference, and I will explain what is going to happen at the BSA conference in September in Telford. There will be a big session on research into stuttering. I invited three leading researcher in the three most exciting new research field of stuttering: Per Alm for brain research, Denis Drayna for genetics, and Jerry Maguire for pharmaceutical research.