Madness, Genius & the Origin of the Brain

Our 2012 Christmas Lecture: Madness, Genius & the Origin of the Brain
How did the capacity for thought ever arise? Why do these processes go wrong in mental illness and is there anything we can do about it? The answer to these fundamental questions is to be found in the genes and proteins that build the brain and in tracing the path from their ancient origins to the present day.

Lecture delivered by Professor Seth Grant, Professor of Molecular Neuroscience, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh

Seth Grant was born in Australia and studied Medicine and Science at the University of Sydney. He entered full time research studying the molecular biology of cancer and diabetes at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the USA under James D. Watson.

He pioneered genetic studies of learning and memory at Columbia University in New York with Eric Kandel who later won the Nobel prize. In the UK he worked at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge and holds professorial positions at Edinburgh, Cambridge and Melbourne universities. His research is into the fundamental molecular mechanisms of behaviour and their role in diseases of the brain.