The jakestar movemnt

Welcome to the jakestar movemnt!

Focus on your process, engaging is the key

All jakestar knows is that focusing on the process of learning and not the potential outcomes is the core tenet to the jakestar movemnt. The eventual goal is to create a neuroscience based philosophy in support of that line of thinking, but one step at a time for now.

JR

Dr. Jake Rogers is a Nova Scotian neuroscientist.

jakestar is currently working as a Rutherford Fellow in Neurotechnology in the Department of Biooengineering at Imperial College London. jakestar is performing in vivo calcium imaging experiments in head-fixed mice while they navigate through a real-world “floating” environment. For more information click here or watch here.

jakestar did his PhD studies at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. Watch here for more information about the laboratory jakestar was a member of from 2013-2018.

This is jakestar’s final PhD oration recorded August 23rd, 2016 at the Melbourne Brain Centre in front of a large audience who watched the talk in the Ian Potter Auditorium at The University of Melbourne. The introduction to jakestar’s talk outlines jakestar’s philosophical thinking quite well, watching through the first 4 slides (4 mins 45 s) will give you the gist of it 😉

“A tour de force” according to the former director of The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, who man-hugged the soon to be Dr. Jake Rogers when jakestar finished question time- to jakestar’s knowledge the only time this lovely thing has occurred after a PhD oration (see picture above).

Rogers J, Renoir T, Hannan AJ (2019). Gene-environment interactions informing therapeutic approaches to cognitive and affective disorders. Neuropharmacology 145: 37-48

Rogers J (2017). Dissociating therapeutic effects of exercise and environmental enrichment in mouse models of serotonergic dysfunction.

Yeshurun, S, Rogers, J, Short, A, Renoir, T, Pang, T and Hannan, A (2017) Elevated paternal glucocorticoid exposure modifies memory retention in female offspring. Psychoneuroendocrinology 83: 9-183.

Rogers, J, Li, S, Lanfumey, L, Hannan, Aand Renoir, T (2017) Environmental enrichment reduces innate anxiety with no effect on depression-like behaviour in mice lacking the serotonin transporter. Behavioural brain research 332: 355-361.4.

Rogers, J, Churilov, L, Hannan, A, & Renoir, T (2017) Search strategy selection in the Morris water maze demonstrates allocentric map formation during spatial learning that underpins spatial memory formation. Neurobiology of learning and memory 139: 37-49.5.

Rogers, J, Vo, U, Pang, T, Buret, L, Meiklejohn, H, Zeleznikow-Johnston, A, Churilov, L,van den Buuse, M, Hannan, A, & Renoir, T (2016) Dissociating the therapeutic effects of environmental enrichment and exercise in a mouse model of anxiety with cognitive impairment. Translational psychiatry 6(4): e794

To access full text articles connect on researchgate 😉

“experience lost: the jakestar movemnt podcast”

After 8 years of stability living with bipolar mood disorder, jakestar was sectioned on the John Cade unit of the Royal Melbourne hospital in February of 2017 because the intensity of jakestar’s manic state had made jakestar a danger to jakestar and to society. This was jakestar’s first hospitalisation since the winter of 2008. jakestar has had three acute bipolar periods in jakestar’s adult life: 2001-2003 in Sackville (New Brunswick); 2006-2008 in Calgary (Alberta), Whistler (British Columbia) and Halifax (Nova Scotia); 2017-2019 in Melbourne (Australia), South Maitland (Nova Scotia) and London (England).

The podcast captures jakestar’s struggles to return to even keel after jakestar was discharged in March 2017 while experiencing acute manic relapses and unpredictable bouts of acute bipolar depression. jakestar began recording the podcast in July 2017. Since that time, despite the instability in jakestar’s mood state, jakestar finished jakestar’s PhD thesis, graduating in April 2018, and began to work professionally that same month as a neuroscientist at Imperial College London.

The podcast structure is stream of consciousness, where jakestar simply goes for a walk and begins talking (while recording jakestar’s voice through jakestar’s bose headphones). Apologies if the levels are low and/or inconsistent across episodes.

I hope you find these recordings useful if you also struggle with managing a mental illness, as jakestar’s struggle to find even keel again during this recent acute phase of jakestar’s bipolar mood disorder experience is still an ongoing process that tends to dominate the podcasts. Hidden among the mood journal type focus, jakestar is still trying to figure out what the jakestar movemnt actually is. jakestar recommends that you start from the first episodes as the pods are quasi serial in content 😉

Bipolar mood disorder, or manic depression, involves periods of both depression and mania. They can both be extremely destructive when severe in nature. jakestar was diagnosed in the winter of 2001.

jakestar was approved as a BipolarUK support group co-facilitator for central London in January 2019. Click here for more info on the charity.