Bringing together jazz music and science as we celebrate the way that music affects our brains and bodies.

Music on the Brain: The Brain in Tempo — As it’s often said, “timing is everything” and this is certainly true for our brains: countless neurons work together in intricate networks that enable us to go about our daily lives. Our neurons also enable us to engage life at different tempos, and this is a current focal point in the research of this month’s guest Zuckerman scientist Dr. Sumaira Zamurrad. She researches the neural networks that control different walking behaviors in the house fly. Join 2019 Zuckerman Institute Jazz Artist-in-Residence Helen Sung and Dr. Zamurrad as they explore the neuroscience behind experiencing life (and music!) from Adagio to Allegro.

Dr. Sumaira Zumarrad is a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of Dr. Richard S. Mann at the Zuckerman Institute (Columbia). She received her PhD at the Albert Einstein college of medicine in the lab of Dr Julie Secombe where she studied intellectual disability mutations in a Drosophila (fruit fly) model organism. Currently, Dr. Zumarrad is studying the intricate neural circuitry that is responsible for eliciting specific walking behaviors once again in Drosophila. In her spare time she loves to crochet, experiment with different kinds of cuisines, bake, watch sci-fi shows and go on adventurous hikes with her kids and husband.

Music on the Brain is a collaboration between the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute.