Learning and Teaching News [Archived stories]

Leeds neuroscientist wins prize to take karaoke lecture on the road

Professor Jim Deuchars has been awarded the G.L.Brown Prize Lecture 2012 by the Physiological Society of Great Britain. The GL Brown Prize Lecture is intended to stimulate an interest in physiology in younger audiences. Creator of The Wonders of the Wanderer Lecture, Jim will be taking to the road in 2012 and delivering lectures in six or more universities across the UK.

The Wonders of the Wanderer Lecture explores the vagus nerve delivering informative material, sprinkled with a little karaoke fun (below), to the tune of "The Wanderer", best known as a chart hit in the 1960s.

The vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve. This parasympathetic nerve originates in the brainstem, transmitting signals to and from many major organs in the body, helping them perform their normal functions in keeping the body working. Jim's lecture tour will explore some of the functions of the vagus, concentrating on its involvement in disease states. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve is currently being explored as a treatment for a surprising diversity of diseases such as epilepsy and heart failure. Jim also promises a little audience participation!

Recorded in 2011 with 1st year students studying BSc Neuroscience, Physiology, Pharmacology and Medical Sciences at the University of Leeds to coincide with fundraising for Comic Relief, the lecture has also been enjoyed at the Ilkley Science Festival and in local schools.

GL Brown Prize Lecture was established in 1975 in memory of Professor Sir (George) Lindor Brown (1903-1971) and is an annual series of peripatetic lectures.

15th July 2011