On the second episode of the Zoom-In series, meet Alexandra Belchior.

For millennia, humans have “tripped” on psychedelic substances for spiritual growth, healing or recreational purposes. Today, the healthcare community has renewed interest in the potential of psychedelics for mental health.

In this Ar event, Tiago Quendera and Tatiana Silva, two neuroscience PhD students at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, will take you through the ups and downs of the history of psychedelics and their use in research.

CRS21 will focus on the interface of neuroscience, artificial intelligence and machine learning with the main goal of starting an interdisciplinary conversation about the deep conceptual problems that emerge when trying to understand how intelligent behaviour is generated in animals and machines.
 

Cancer researcher Rita Fior uses zebrafish to study human cancer. Though this may seem like an unlikely match, her work shows great promise with forthcoming applications in personalised medicine. 

The basic principle of Fior's approach relies on transplanting human cancer cells into dozens of zebrafish larvae. The fish then serve as "living test tubes" where various treatments, such as different chemotherapy drugs, can be tested to reveal which works best. The assay is rapid, producing an answer within four short days.