Skip Navigation
The Creation of Adam (1508-1512) on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel has long been recognized as one of the world's great art treasures. In 1990 Frank Lynn Meshberger, M.D. described what millions had overlooked for centuries - an anatomically accurate image of the human brain was portrayed behind God. On close examination, borders in the painting correlate with sulci in the inner and outer surface of the brain, the brain stem, the basilar artery, the pituitary gland and the optic chiasm. God's hand does not touch Adam, yet Adam is already alive as if the spark of life is being transmitted across a synaptic cleft.* Below the right arm of God is a sad angel in an area of the brain that is sometimes activated on PET scans when someone experiences a sad thought. God is superimposed over the limbic system, the emotional center of the brain and possibly the anatomical counterpart of the human soul. God's right arm extends to the prefrontal cortex, the most creative and most uniquely human region of the brain.

Center for Biomedical Neuroscience

 

Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience

The new Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience offers students a chance to focus their graduate experience in the area of neuroscience, combining the best of both their home department and the broader neuroscience community at the Health Science Center. The program integrates our strength in neuroscience research and education, drawing on the expertise of over 50 nationally and internationally-recognized faculty in four basic science departments and five clinical departments. The program tailors the classroom and laboratory experience to each student's individual needs and interests, to provide all students in the program with a strong foundation in Molecular/Cellular Neuroscience and/or Systems Neuroscience, in areas ranging from identification and regulation of synaptic proteins to the pathobiology and treatment of diseases of the nervous system. Students receive the Ph.D. From their home departments, with an emphasis in the subdisciplines of Neuropharmacology, Neurochemistry, Neurophysiology, or Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology. For more information regarding the program, please see the link at

 

6th Annual Mariann Blum Memorial Lectureship in the Neurosciences:

Susan G. Amara, Ph.D.
Thomas Detre Professor and Chair
Department of Neurobiology
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“Neurotransmitter transporters: A dance of domains and substrates.”

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
12:00pm – 1:00pm
444B – School of Medicine

For more information, please contact the Center for Biomedical Neuroscience Coordinator, Ann Hix at hix@uthscsa.edu

 

*Frank Lynn Meshberger, M.D., The Interpretation of Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam Basilar Neuroanatomy, JAMA #14 October 1990