Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Summer 2019

Multiscale Approach to Brain Disorders

Director: Sean Hill (Canada)

August 24 – 31, 2019

Faculty: Michael Milham, Luis de Lecea, Michael Halassa, Andreea Diaconescu, Randy McIntosh, Fabio Ferrarelli
This Advanced Course will focus on novel multi-scale approaches to neuropsychiatry: how can we bridge from genes to circuits and behaviour to improve definition, categorization and precision treatment of brain disorders. Changes in brain circuit excitability are found across most neuropsychiatric disorders and are hypothesized to be a common mechanism of brain disease: during the Advanced Course the latest genetic dissection techniques to reveal the cellular basis of neuromodulation and its impact on cellular excitability, plasticity, behaviour, sleep, mood and network states will be thoroughly analyzed. Find out more

RNA, Epitranscriptomics and Plasticity

Director: Timothy Bredy (Australia)

August 31 – September 7, 2019

Faculty: John Mattick, Kate Meyer, Chuan He, Jason Shepherd, Howard Y. Chang, Dan Ohtan Wang
Activity-induced RNA expression is highly dynamic and linked to experience-dependent plasticity in the brain. In neurons, changes in the metabolic state of RNA occur on similar time scales to those for neuronal firing and depolarization, and a variety of factors including chemical modifications to RNA as well as RNA structure, editing and localization play a role. These processes have a profound impact on mRNA as well as the many classes noncoding RNA that are expressed in a temporally- and cell-type-specific, manner in the brain. Emerging findings suggest that these epitranscriptomic mechanisms represent an elusive hidden layer of regulatory control in the brain. In this Advanced Course, how qualitative state changes in RNA can increase the functional diversity and information-carrying capacity of RNA molecules will be analyzed and emphasis will be on advances in the understanding of the epitranscriptome and emerging technologies that can be used to unravel the complex nature of experience-dependent gene regulation in the brain. Find out more

Learning and Memory 

Director: Susumu Tonegawa (USA)

September 7 – 14, 2019

Co-Director: Sheena Josselyn (Canada)
Faculty: Richard Morris, Yadin Dudai, Laura Colgin, Matt Wilson, Mark Schnitzer
Memory may be defined as the retention over time of internal representations gained through experience, and the capacity to reconstruct these representations at later times. These internal representations are encoded by long-lasting changes to the brain (‘engrams’). Recently, a revolution has been brought about by a set of new tools that may be used for investigations and which have permitted the identification of engram-holding neurons for a specific memory thus allowing researchers to ask and answer some of the fundamental questions as to how information provided by an experience is encoded and stored in the brain, and how the stored information is retrieved for recall. This Advanced Course will bring together the world experts in examining memory (and the engrams that support them) at multiple levels of analysis from synapses and neurons to circuits and systems applying a variety of different techniques to animal models in health and diseases. Find out more

The Gut-Brain Axis

Director: Suzanne Dickson (Sweden)

September 14-21, 2019

Faculty: Dana Small, Scott Kanoski, Roger AH Adan, Gareth Leng, Richard Palmiter, Carel Le Roux
In recent years there has been a major effort to better understand how the gut communicates to the brain since, embedded within this system, are signals essential for body weight control and brain health. The gut-brain axis provides a conduit for communicating information from the environment (about the composition and quantity of available foods) to diverse brain areas responsible for behaviours that help us seek out and consume food.  It now seems clear that signals arising from the gut impact at many brain levels, including pathways involved in food anticipation and reward, on consummatory behaviours (how much, when and what we eat)  but also on pathways important for aversion and malaise, on taste perception and food choice as well as on emotion and cognition. Find out more

Molecular Basis of Resilience to Depression

Director: Eric J. Nestler (USA)

September 21 – 28, 2019

Faculty: Isabelle Mansuy, Michael Meaney, Scott Russo, Mathias Schmidt, Ian Maze, Kafui Dzirasa, Johannes Gräff
It is well known that a large majority of humans do not develop depression or a related psychiatric syndrome in the face of chronic stress. We also know that many, perhaps most, of the molecular, cellular, and circuit changes in the brain that are induced by stress reflect positive adaptations to achieve resilience. This makes it essential to differentiate those stress-induced changes that are adaptive versus those that are maladaptive. It also raises a fundamentally new strategy for the development of novel antidepressant treatments: in addition to reversing the deleterious effects of stress, to establish ways of inducing mechanisms of natural resilience in those individuals who are inherently more susceptible. This Advanced Course explores the broad range of resilience mechanisms that have been revealed in recent years, and strives uniquely to achieve integration across multiple levels of experimental analysis. Find out more

Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Spring-Summer 2019

Sleep and Circadian Rhythms

Director: Chiara Cirelli (USA)

May 11 – 18, 2019

Faculty: Cliff Saper, Giulio Tononi, Derk-Jan Dijk, Reto Huber & others
This Advanced Course will cut across multiple areas of sleep studies and will feature dedicated sessions addressing important emerging concepts. Emphasis will be placed on cutting-edge methods and hypotheses for understanding sleep and its effects on cognitive functions, and on how neurophysiological/genetic/imaging approaches can shed light on the functions of sleep and its essential role in maintaining and preserving vigilance, performance, learning and memory. Find out more

Brain Somatic Mosaicism

Director: Flora Vaccarino (USA)

May 11 – 18, 2019

Faculty: Fred H. Gage, Alexej Abyzov, Jan Vijg, Alexander E. Urban, Joris Vermeesch, Michael McConnell
Somatic mosaicism as pertinent to central nervous system development, function and disease is a rapidly emerging area of research. Somatic genomic variants encompass variation in genomic sequence, such as single nucleotide variations (SNV) and variation in genomic structure, such as copy number variations (CNV): the brain is therefore composed of cells with different genomes (mosaicism). Research on somatic mosaicism in disease will be scrutinized with the distinguished Faculty and the possible function of somatic mosaicism for normal development, early lineages tracing, aging, and various form of neurological and psychiatric conditions will be analyzed in depth. Find out more

Neural Stem Cells: 
Development and Brain Repair

Director: Elena Cattaneo (Italy)

May 18 – 25, 2019

Faculty: Arnold Kriegstein, Magdalena Götz, Olivier Brüstle, Malin Parmar, Nenad Sestan, Pierre Vanderhagen
Unprecedented advances have been made in our understanding of stem cells and through them much can be learned about the physiology and pathophysiology of the cells that degenerate in different brain disorders with the aim of delivering therapeutically relevant stem cells that could ameliorate the clinical outcome. The Advanced Course will bring together a distiguished group of investigators who are at the forefront of research and will showcase advances at the frontiers of neural stem cells for neurorepair. Find out more

Single Cell Omics

Director: Scott Fraser (USA)

May 25 – June 1, 2019

Faculty: James Eberwine (Co-Director), Amy Herr, Jonathan Sweedler, John Marioni, Ana Pombo, Tatjana Sauka-Spengler
Studies exploiting new technologies for defining the connections in the brain, driving neuronal activity and modeling of neuronal processing are each hampered by our incomplete knowledge of the brain’s constituent parts. A bevy of single cell analyses are now being deployed to better understand the cells that constitute the functioning nervous system. These approaches offer insights into how cells function individually as the building blocks for understanding how they work in ensemble to create functional pathways. Find out more

Acute to Chronic Pain
Plasticity and Therapeutic Perspectives

Director: A. Vania Apkarian (USA)

June 1 – 8, 2019

Faculty: Stephen McMahon, Volker Neugebauer, Tony Dickenson, Giandomenico Iannetti, & others
Accumulating evidence points to brain reorganization with chronic pain. Both human brain imaging studies as well as animal model studies specifically interrogating the role of supraspinal plasticity consistently emphasize the role of brain plasticity in chronic pain. Brain functional network properties provide a signature for existence and for emergence of chronic pain both in humans and in animal models for pain chronification and studies show that early medication use is protective against development of chronic pain. Find out more

Cognitive NeuroscienceSummer 2019

Neural Circuits of Social Cognition

Director: Larry Young (USA)

June 8 – 15, 2019

Faculty: Richard Mooney, Christian Keysers, Hee-Sup Shin, Dayu Lin, Steven Phelps, Tali Kimchi
Social relationships and communication are essential for well-being, and adaptive social behaviors are essential for survival. Only recently have we begun to understand the neural circuit mechanisms regulating social behavior and its diversity in a rigorous way.  Many psychiatric conditions are characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication, so it is essential that we understand the neural mechanisms and circuits regulating complex social behaviors in order to inform novel treatments for conditions such as the autism spectrum. Find out more

Novel Technologies for the Study of Cognitive Function

Director: Alcino J. Silva (USA)

June 15 – 22, 2019

Faculty: Ed Boyden, Valentina Emiliani, Loren L. Looger, Michael Hausser, Frank Loren
This Advanced Course will cut across the latest published and unpublished ground-breaking approaches and technical developments in the study of cognitive function, such as novel optogenetic and chemogenetic tools to manipulate molecular, cellular and circuit function with unparalleled temporal and spatial resolution, emerging new in vivo imaging and electrophysiological techniques, powerful new developments in modeling, analyses, and behavioral approaches. Find out more

Cognitive Neuroscience of Thought

Director: Rebecca Saxe (USA)

June 22 – 29, 2019

Faculty: Mina Cikara, Wil Cunningham, Marina Bedny, Hyowon Gweon, Elizabeth Redcay
Fascinating aspects of human psychology and cognition cannot be recreated in animal models, including pedagogy, morality, social group interactions, and complex decision making. Over the past five years, new experimental designs and analysis techniques have dramatically increased the power of noninvasive neuroimaging in humans to address these questions directly. Find out more

Protein Homeostasis and Cognitive Function

Director: Peter Walter (USA)

June 29 – July 6, 2019

Co-Director: Mauro Costa-Mattioli (USA)
Faculty: Giovanna Mallucci, Judith Frydman, Kenneth Kosik, Susanna Rosi & others
The brain must adapt  to changes in stress conditions, which typically occur as a consequence of environmental and/or genetic factors. To deal with such challenges, the brain utilizes protein homeostasis networks, which are constituted by sensors of cellular stress, such as the mediators of the unfolded protein, the integrated stress and the heat shock responses.We now know that specific proteostasis pathways are crucially required for normal brain processes. For instance, long-lasting changes in synaptic function and long-term memory storage require new protein synthesis and active protein turnover. Find out more

A short sabbatical in Venice

A short sabbatical at the NSAS is offered to a limited number of established scholars.

Participants may attend all of the NSAS Advanced Courses of the Year 2019 and network extensively with the world leaders in the enchanting scenario of Venice.

Individuals holding a Faculty or equivalent position are considered as well as qualified scholars who are transitioning to a Faculty or an equivalent position in a company. Seats are limited.
Find out all details

CALL FOR PAPERS

Paper Submission Deadline: April 30, 2019

2nd LATIN-AMERICAN WORKSHOP ON COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE

September 18-20, 2019
Federal University of São João Del-Rei, São João Del-Rei, Brazil.

https://www.lawcn.com.br

Contact: organization@lawcn.com.br

THE EVENT

In order to overcome the immense challenge of fully understanding the brain, a very fruitful approach is to gather the best minds from different scientific fields in multi and interdisciplinary scientific endeavors. With this purpose, the Latin-American Workshopon Computational Neuroscience (LAWCN) was born in 2017, putting together students and researchers from the fields of Computational Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroengineering in an enthusiastic atmosphere for sharing ideas, form networks, and foster collaboration. This time, the Workshop leaves the fast-paced life of the big city for a more relaxed take in the countryside of the welcoming state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the three hundred years old colonial city of São João Del-Rei, with its historic buildings and churches, beautiful mountains and cold waterfalls, and exquisite culinary.

We are proud to highlight that we have already secured the presence of four world-class scientists as keynote speakers: Jim Torresen (Norway), Michela Chiappalone (Italy), Sidarta Ribeiro (Brazil), and Diego Hernán (Ecuador). Also, we have confirmed that the best papers related to computer science will be published with Springer.

The LAWCN 2019 Organizing Committee is very proud to invite researchers from Latin-American and around the world to submit their best data and ideas as papers to be presented at LAWCN 2019.

AREAS OF LAWCN 2019

1. a)Computational Neuroscience; b) Neuroscience; c) Neuroengineering and; d) Artificial Intelligence and related topics

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

The following information, article templates, and complete guidelines from Springer can also be found on the event website https://www.lawcn.com.br/submissions.html .

• Prospective authors are invited to contribute to the conference by electronically submitting papers in English, Portuguese or Spanish, according to the model found at the event website;
• Best papers that are related to Computer Science will be published as a book volume in Springer-Verlag Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS; ISSN 1865-0929) series. CCIS is abstracted/indexed in DBLP, Google Scholar, EI-Compendex, Mathematical Reviews, SCImago, Scopus. CCIS volumes are also submitted for the inclusion in ISI Proceedings;
• Papers that are not related directly to Computer Science will be published online in the II Latin-American Workshop on Computational Neuroscience Proceedings (with ISBN) and can be submitted in English, Portuguese, or Spanish.
• Papers will be evaluated based on their quality and significance of the theoretical and practical contribution to Computational Neuroscience, Neuroengineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience in general;
• All papers (Short or Full) must be in PDF format and include abstract, figures, tables and references in the minimum/maximum number of pages (according to the category desired);
• Papers can be submitted in four categories (see image below):

• Papers can be submitted in English, Portuguese or Spanish, but only the best articles, in English, and directly related to Computer Science will be published in CCIS;
• Papers should be submitted exclusively through the conference submission system, linked in the event website;
• At least one author must register, pay the registration fee, and present the accepted paper orally in order for the manuscript to be included in the workshop proceedings / CCIS volume. If more than one article per the first author is accepted, there will be an extra registration fee.
• One of the authors must sign and attach the disclosure form if the paper is accepted;
• It is encouraged that authors own an identification from ORCID to be included in the manuscript main body.

COMPLETE LIST OF TOPICS

Computational Neuroscience

• Biophysically realistic models
• Single-neuron modeling
• Models of brain networks and circuits
• Sensory processing
• Development, axonal patterning, and guidance
• Memory and synaptic plasticity
• Consciousness
• Computational clinical neuroscience
• Neuroinformatics
• Related topics

Neuroscience

• Sensory processing
• Network dynamics
• Reinforcement learning
• Motivation and decision making
• Statistical approaches in neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience
• Learning and memory
• Attention and arousal
• Sensory-motor integration
• Learning in networks
• Educational Issues

Neuroengineering

• Large-scale recordings
• Neural signal processing
• Neuromodulation
• Neuroprosthetics
• Robotics
• Humanoid robots
• Robots in health
• Robots for elderly people
• Sensoring in robotics
• Fusion of sensors
• Hardware implementations in neuroscience
• Software implementations in neuroscience
• Brain Computer Interfaces: design and applications
• Educational Issues

Artificial Intelligence and related topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Techniques in neuroscience
• Bioinformatics
• Clustering and applications
• Computer vision, cognitive and humanoid vision
• Databases, Data Mining, Intelligent Data Analysis, Knowledge-based Systems and Linguistic Tools
• Data visualization and applications
• Deep Learning
• Statistical pattern recognition / Document Processing and Recognition
• Fuzzy and hybrid techniques
• Geometric algebra application in perception action
• High performance computing for pattern recognition
• Image coding, processing and analysis
• Kernel machines
• Mathematical theory of Computational Neuroscience
• Natural language processing and recognition
• Neural Networks
• Parallel and distributed applications for Computational Neuroscience
• Robotics and humanoids shape and texture analysis
• Signal processing and analysis
• Spatiotemporal analysis
• Educational Issues

IMPORTANT DATES

* 30th April 2019: Submission deadline for papers

* 31st May 2019: Notification of acceptance

* 29th July 2019: Camera-ready papers due for oral presentations

* 18 – 20th September 2019: Workshop, UFSJ – São João Del-Rei, Brazil.

ORGANIZATION

• Laboratory of Neuroengineering and Neuroscience (LINNce)
• Federal University of São João Del-Rei (UFSJ)

Conference chair

• Vinícius Rosa Cota                   Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil

Conference co-chair

• Dante Augusto Barone              Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Organizing Committee

• Álvaro César de Oliveira Penoni              Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil
• Christian Puhlmann Brackmann              Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology Farroupilha, Brazil
• Dárlinton Carvalho                    Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil
• Diego Roberto Colombo Dias    Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil 
• Eduardo Teles                          Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia, Brazil
• Erika L. Fonseca Costa de Alvarenga    Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil
• Erivelton Nepomuceno              Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil
• Guillermo Cecchi                      IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA
• Jaime Andres Riascos Salas     Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil 
• Jasiara Carla de Oliveira           Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil
• Jim Jones da Silveira Marciano Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil 
• Laila Damázio                           Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil
• Leonardo Rocha                       Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Brazil
• Rodrigo Sierra Ordoñez             University of Szeged, Hungary
• Sen Cheng                               Ruhr University Bochum            , Germany

Program Committee

• Alan Talevi                               Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina
• Antônio Carlos Roque da Silva Filho      Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
• Carlos Dias Maciel,                   Universidade de São Paulo em São Carlos, Brazil
• Carlos Madrigal                        Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, Colombia
• César Collazos                         Universidad del Cauca, Colombia
• Cleiton Lopes Aguiar                 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Cleo Zanella Billa                      Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil
• Cristiane Queixa Tilelli               Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Brazil
• Daniel de Castro Medeiros        Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Daniel Margulies                       Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
• Diego Hernán Peluffo-Ordóñez Universidad Yachay Tech, Ecuador
• Dimitris Kugiumtzis                   Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• Eduardo Mazoni Andrade Marçal Mendes         Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Erivelton Geraldo Nepomuceno Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Brazil
• Flávio Afonso Gonçalves Mourão                      Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Fransciso Sotres Bayón            Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
• Gabriel Mindlin                         Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Gloria Mercedes Diaz Cabrera   Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, Colombia
• Guillermo Cecchi                      IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA
• Hu Danqing                              Mayo Clinic, USA
• Ives Cavalcante Passos                       Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• Jaime Andres Riascos Salas     Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• Jasiara Carla de Oliveira           Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Brazil
• Jean Faber Ferreira de Abreu    Escola Paulista de Medicina, UNIFESP, Brazil
• Jim Torresen                             University of Oslo, Norway
• Jose Donoso                            Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Juan David Martinez Vargas      Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, Colombia
• Juan Verdejo-Román                Universidad de Granada, Spain
• Juliana Valencia                       Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, Colombia
• Laila Cristina Moreira Damázio  Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Brazil
• Leonardo Bonato Félix              Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil
• Leonardo Duque                       Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, Colombia
• Lubomir Kostal                         Czech Academy of Science, Czech Republic
• Marcelo Pias                            Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil
• Márcio Falcão Santos Barros    Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Brazil
• Márcio Flávio Dutra Moraes       Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Michela Chiappalone                Central Research Lab Genova, Instituto Italiano de Tecnologia, Italy
• Patricio Orio                             Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile
• Patrick Forcelli                          Georgetown University School of Medicine, USA
• Pedro Almeida                          Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
• Premsyl Jiruska                        The Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
• Radek Janca                            Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
• Reinhold Scherer                      University of Essex, UK
• Rodrigo Alejandro Sierra Ordoñez                     University of Szeged, Hungary
• Salvador Dura-Bernal                SUNY Downstate, USA
• Sen Cheng                               Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Sidarta Ribeiro                         Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
• Stiliyan Kalitzin                         Foundation Epilepsy Institute in The Netherlands (SEIN), Netherlands
• Thomas Walther                       Ruhr University Bochum, Germany