It was a most amazing field trip for nearly 600 elementary, middle, and high school students who participated in the recent 11th Annual Brain Fair on the campus of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, eager for a day of learning and fun.
The event, which was also open to Mount Sinai staff and the community, was held during Brain Awareness Week, a global campaign launched by The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives to foster public enthusiasm and support for brain science. Mentoring in Neuroscience Discovery at Mount Sinai (MiNDS) co-sponsored the Brain Fair with The Friedman Brain Institute and the Center for Excellence in Youth Education (CEYE).
Angelica Minier-Toribio, a fifth-year Neuroscience PhD student and MiNDS volunteer, was ready for the throngs—among them was Jordan, a fifth-grader at CEYE partner school PS 171 Patrick Henry. He stopped by her booth, curious to learn how the brain sends electrical impulses to muscles and controls movement.
Fifth-grade student Jordan, with classmate Julian looking on, gets a lesson from Angelica Minier-Toribio on how the brain sends electrical impulses to muscles and controls movement.
Ms. Minier-Toribio placed two electrodes on Jordan’s arm and three on herself, and asked, “Do you feel anything?” as she used a battery-powered device to record electrical impulses from her own arm muscle, which she amplified and gently directed to his arm muscle. Jordan could feel—and see—his fingers and hand move involuntarily. He recounted after the demonstration that his arm and fingers “felt tingling” and that he saw how “electricity can control your muscles.”
MiNDS, a program that was launched by PhD neuroscience students at Mount Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, aims to make neuroscience education more engaging and accessible to the public. Denise Croote, PhD, who was active in MiNDS as a neuroscience graduate student, is now its faculty supervisor. The CEYE, directed by Kenya Townsend, has been in existence for nearly 50 years, hosting both school-year and summer programs for youth from racial and ethnic backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine and science.
Adding to the excitement—this was the first in-person Brain Fair in the three years since the COVID-19 pandemic first ravaged New York City. Appearing at the event were Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, and Paul J. Kenny, PhD. Dr. Nestler is Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, and Dean for Academic Affairs at Icahn Mount Sinai, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Kenny is Ward-Coleman Professor and Chair of the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Director of the Mount Sinai Drug Discovery Institute.
The Friedman Brain Institute hosted additional activities around Brain Awareness Week. Among them:
- The Art of the Brain, an annual exhibition of photographs, paintings, illustrations, and videos that celebrate the beauty of the brain and nervous system as seen through the eyes of some of the world’s leading researchers. Veronica Szarejko, the Director of Art of the Brain and the exhibition’s curator, says faculty, trainees, and staff from 14 departments and institutes across Mount Sinai submitted 52 works.
The Art of the Brain celebrates the beauty of brain science.
The virtual exhibition, launched on March 22, is available to Wednesday, May 31. Over the years, the exhibition has received world-wide acclaim for showcasing how science—and art—are revealed as researchers study the brain. Take a museum-style tour of the exhibition.
- Stories of Brain and Beyond, a special Mount Sinai storytelling event in which five scientists shared true, personal stories of their scientific paths. Created through a collaboration between The Friedman Brain Institute and The Story Collider, and spearheaded by neuroscience postdoctoral fellow Aya Osman, PhD, and Abha Karki Rajbhandari, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and Neuroscience, this event was performed live, on-stage, at Caveat, a New York City performance space. From the tragic to the hilarious, the storytellers explored the deeply human side of science.
Scientists shared personal stories of their scientific paths during a live event at Caveat, a New York City performance space.
At the Brain Fair, 100 volunteers, which included 60 MiNDS members, 28 CEYE high school students, and 12 Neuroscience faculty were on hand to interact with the students. The volunteers were stationed at more than 20 booths that offered unique learning experiences. Visitors were able to see real specimens of a healthy—and diseased—human brain; stop by an “Ask an Expert” booth; learn about balance and optical illusions, taste and smell, and hand-eye coordination; and walk through a giant inflatable model of the brain, an immersive and educational experience.
A popular activity for the schoolchildren was the hands-on opportunity to remove a “brain tumor” using the same technology that Mount Sinai brain surgeons rely on in their operating rooms—the 3D robotic exoscope. This is a device that has a high-definition digital camera system and magnifies the brain’s neural and vascular structures, allowing neurosurgeons to remove tumors with greater precision.
Fatima uses the Synaptive Medical Modus V, a 3D robotic digital exoscope, assisted by Evelyn Richardson, Senior Clinical Applications Specialist, Synaptive Medical.
Fatima, also a fifth-grader at PS 171 Patrick Henry, was one of many eager students who stopped by. With a neurosurgery operating room team member guiding her, Fatima put on the same 3D glasses used by Mount Sinai neurosurgeons as she attempted to delicately remove, under high magnification, a tiny strawberry seed—”the tumor”—from a fresh strawberry. Her classmates, also wearing 3D glasses, stood around and watched as she carefully, and successfully, completed the task. One of her teachers who was looking on said with delight: “Fatima is a brain surgeon now!”
Not yet—but the Brain Fair certainly opened up the possibility for Fatima and the others to consider eventual careers in neuroscience.
Scroll through this slideshow for more photos.
