Program

3rd NORDIC NEUROSCIENCE MEETING 2019

DAY 1: Wednesday June 12

12:00                  Registration

13:00-13:15       Welcome words: Professor Dan Lindholm (University of Helsinki, Brain Research Society of Finland) and Professor Tomi Taira (University of Helsinki, Scandinavian Physiological Society)

13:15-14:15       Plenary lecture 1: Trevor Robbins (University of Cambridge): Compulsivity, addiction and OCD: Aberrant learning and fronto-striatal dysregulation

14:30-16:00       Symposium Block – Parallel Sessions 1 and 2

1)   Cluster headache and migraine genetics and new insights

2)   Synapse / network mechanisms behind developmentally originating neuropsychiatric disorders

16:30-17:30       Plenary Lecture 2: Andreas Lüthi, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel): Dynamic encoding of behavioral states in amygdala circuits

17:30                  University of Helsinki Welcome Reception  

18:00-19:30       Posters and exhibition (Session A) 

DAY 2: Thursday June 13

09:00-10:00       Plenary Lecture 3: Gonçalo Castelo-Branco (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm): Analysis of oligodendrocyte heterogeneity by bulk and single cell transcriptomic methods

10:15-11:45       Symposium Block – Parallel Sessions 3 and 4

3) From neural populations to behavior

4) Human iPSC modeling of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases

12:30-14:00       Posters and exhibition (Session B)   

13:00-13:30       Minisymposium by AgnTho’s: Sophisticated instrumentation for

animal phenotyping and behavioral research

14:00-15:30       Symposium Block – Parallel Sessions 5 and 6 

5) New roles of glia during CNS development and in disease

6) TRKB receptor interactors in brain plasticity and disease

15:30-17:00       Posters and exhibition (Session C)  

17:00-18:00       Plenary Lecture 4:  Carmen Sandi (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne): Neural circuits for anxious actions – The emerging role of mitochondria

Dinner  

DAY 3: Friday June 14

09:00-10:00       Plenary Lecture 5: Laura L. Colgin (University of Texas, Austin):  Slow and Fast Gamma Rhythms in the Hippocampus

10:15-11:45       Symposium Block – Parallel Sessions 7 and 8

7)   Neuronal network and plasticity in the midbrain 

8)   Imaging of working memory and attention in rodents, nonhuman primates and humans

12:30-14:00        Posters and exhibition (Session D)  

13:00-13:30        Minisymposium by Aiforia: Quantitative Image Analysis by Deep Learning AI in Neurodegenerative Diseases

1) Cluster headache and migraine genetics and new insights

Chair: Andrea Carmine Belin, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Speakers: 

• Aarno Palotie, University of Helsinki, Finland: Using genetics to uncover disease mechanisms in brain disorders: migraine and neuropsychiatric disease
• Lars Edvinsson, Lund University, Sweden: CGRP and CGRP receptors in migraine: from bench to bedside
• Agneta Snoer, University of Copenhagen, Denmark: Cluster headache - recent advances

2) Synapse / network mechanisms behind developmentally originating neuropsychiatric disorders

Chair: Sari Lauri, University of Helsinki

Speakers:

• Ileana Hanganu-Opatz, University of Hamburg, Germany: Maturation of prefrontal-hippocampal coupling in health and disease
• Sergio Valbuena, The Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Spain: Unbalanced dendritic inhibition in the hippocampus accounts for memory deficits in Down syndrome
• Sari Lauri, University of Helsinki, Finland: Synaptic mechanisms associated with early life stress in rodent amygdala

3) From neural populations to behavior

Chair: Benjamin Dunn, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway

Speakers:

• Benjamin Dunn (NTNU, Norway): Efficient cortical coding of 3D posture in freely behaving rats
• Soledad Gonzalo Cogno, NTNU, Norway: Emergence of network dynamics in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex
• Rune Berg, University of Copenhagen, Denmark: Network connectivity in spinal motor circuits

4) Human iPSC modeling of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases

Chair: Laurent Roybon, Lund University, Sweden

Speakers:

• Laurent Roybon, Lund University, Sweden: Deciphering the pathogenic role of glia in Parkinson’s disease using patient iPSCs
• Steven A. Goldman, University of Rochester Medical Center, USA & University of Copenhagen, Denmark: Stem cell-based modeling and treatment of human glial diseases
• Jari Koistinaho, University of Helsinki, Finland: Modelling brain diseases with iPSC derived brain cells: identification of risk factors and factors associated with actual disease

5) New roles of glia during CNS development and in disease

Chair: Mikko Airavaara, University of Helsinki, Finland

Speakers:

• Erlend A. Nagelhus, University of Oslo, Norway: Astroglial calcium signaling in wake and sleep
• Thora Karadottir, University of Cambridge, UK: Neuron-oligodendrocyte precursor cell interactions in health and disease
• Tarja Malm, University of Eastern Finland, Finland: Many faces of microglia in neurodegeneration

6) TRKB receptor interactors in brain plasticity and disease

Chair: Eero Castrén, University of Helsinki, Finland

Speakers:

• Plinio Casarotto, University of Helsinki, Finland: Cholesterol-interacting domain of TRKB as a target for drug-induced plasticity
• Marta Valenza, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy: Therapeutic potential of cholesterol-supplementation based-strategies in Huntington’s disease
• Clive Bramham, University of Bergen, Norway: Arc as a master regulator of neuronal plasticity: signaling protein or retroviral-like capsid

7) Neuronal network and plasticity in the midbrain 

Chair: Esa Korpi, University of Helsinki

Speakers:

• Åsa Wallén-Mackenzie, Uppsala University, Sweden: Mes-di-encephalic subpopulations in behavioral reinforcement and avoidance
• William Wisden, Imperial College London, UK: Midbrain networks regulating alertness and sleep
• Elina Nagaeva, University of Helsinki Finland: Somatostatin-expressing neuron populations in mouse ventral tegmental area

8) Imaging of working memory and attention in rodents, nonhuman primates and humans

Chair: Kimmo Alho / Satu Palva, University of Helsinki, Finland

Speakers:

• Marie Carlen, Karolinska Institute, Sweden: Structure and function of prefrontal circuits - control of attention
• Mikael Lundqvist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, USA: Neural correlates of working memory control
• Kimmo Alho University of Helsinki, Finland: Brain activity during selective attention to audio-visual speech
• Satu Palva, University of Helsinki, Finland: Large-scale electrophysiological networks in working memory maintenance

Professor Lüthi is Senior Group Leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland. 

His research focuses on cellular mechanisms of learning and memory.

More information about Andreas Lüthi's research projects.

Professor Carmen Sandi is Director of the Brain Mind Institute at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland. 

The Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics investigates the impact and mechanisms whereby stress and personality affect brain function and behavior, with a focus on the social domain and, particularly, on aggression and social hierarchies.

More information about Professor Sandi's research projects.

Dr. Laura L. Colgin is Associate Professor at the Center for Learning and Memory of the University of Texas at Austin.

The main goals of her research work are to understand the functional significance of the different types of rhythms within the entorhinal-hippocampal network and to uncover their underlying mechanisms.

More information about Dr. Colgin's research projects.

Professor Trevor Robbins directs the ‘Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute’ (BCNI) of the University of Cambridge. 

His research interests span the areas of cognitive neuroscience, behavioural neuroscience and psychopharmacology. His work focuses on functions of the frontal lobes of the brain and their connections with other regions, including the so-called brain reward systems in the striatum and the limbic system.

More information about Professor Robbins' research projects >>>.

Gonçalo Castelo-Branco is Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Senior Researcher in Neuroepigenetics at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 

His team is interested in the molecular mechanisms defining the epigenetic state of cells of the oligodendrocyte lineage.

More information about Dr. Castelo-Branco's research work >>>.