20140210_PLAKAT_LAUREYS 20 april_JFS3

Open MEETING 29 April 2015:

Prof. Steven LAUREYS

Leader of the Coma Science Group at the Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, Belgium

Eyes Wide Open, Brain Wide Shut?

(un)consciousness in the vegetative state

Wednesday, April 29, 18.00-20.00

in The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters/

Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi,   Drammensveien 78,   0271 Oslo.

Programme:

18.00 – 18.05   Opening by Professor Øivind Andersen, Secretary General of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

18.05– 18.10   Introduction by Professor Johan F. Storm, Neurophysiology, University of Oslo

18.10– 19.00   Lecture by Professor Steven Laureys

19.00– 19.10  10 minutes break

19.10– 20.00   Panel discussion and questions from the audience

Dr. Laureys leads the Coma Science Group at the Cyclotron Research Centre of the University of Liège. He is clinical professor of neurology at the Liège University Hospital, and chair of the World Federation of Neurology’s Coma and Disorders of Consciousness Research Group and of the European Neurological Society’s Subcommittee on Coma and Disorders of Consciousness. Since 2009, he is invited professor at the Royal Academy of Belgium.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Laureys’ team assesses the recovery of neurological disability and of neuronal plasticity in severely brain damaged patients with altered states of consciousness by means of multimodal functional neuroimaging. It aims at characterizing the brain structure and the residual cerebral function in patients who survive a severe brain injury: patients in coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state and locked in syndrome. These patients represent a problem in terms of diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and daily management. Second, these patients offer the opportunity to explore human consciousness. These patients present a complete, nearly graded, range of conscious states from unconsciousness (coma) to full awareness (locked-in syndrome). This research confronts clinical expertise and bedside behavioral evaluation of altered states of consciousness with state-of-the-art multimodal imaging combining the information from positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), structural MRI, electroencephalography (EEG), event related potential (ERP) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) data.