Symposia

Neuronal Guidance in Health and Disease - Alex L. Kolodkin

Chair: Alex Kolodkin, PhD
Institution: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Date & Time: Saturday, November 3, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme A: Development

Investigation into phylogenetically conserved cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal guidance and connectivity has greatly advanced over the past three decades. This symposium will address the intersections among several of these advances and human neural development. Select evolutionarily conserved guidance cues, receptors, and cytosolic signaling cascades will be considered, along with how mutations that affect them may alter human neural development.

Multiscale Computer Modeling of Neural Circuits in Health and Disease - William W. Lytton

Chair: William Lytton, MD
Institution: State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center
Co-Chair: Christophe Bernard, PhD
Institution: INSERM

Date & Time: Sunday, November 4, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme F: Integrative Physiology and Behavior

Brain function depends on interactions across multiple temporal and spatial scales from molecules and synapses up to interconnected brain areas. Mechanistic multiscale modeling provides the means to organize and understand the cross-scale interactions to explain how brains and other neural systems work or fail. Computational modeling also allows us to bridge the gap between mechanism and phenomenology, from anatomy and dynamics to behavior and cognition.

Specific Basal Forebrain-Cortical Cholinergic Circuits Coordinate Cognitive Operations - Laszlo Zaborszky

Chair: Laszlo Zaborszky, MD, PhD
Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Co-Chair: Gina Poe, PhD
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Date & Time: Sunday, November 4, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme H: Cognition

The basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic projections, once viewed as a diffuse system, is emerging as highly specific in its connectivity based on molecular genetics as well as functional and quantitative anatomical studies. The BF can both rapidly and selectively modulate activity of specific circuits and coordinate ACh release in multiple areas related to particular aspects of cognitive processing. This symposium presents new approaches and findings from studies of the function and dysfunction of this system.

Blood-Brain Barrier in Health and Disease: Role in Neurodegeneration, CNS Autoimmunity, and Gene Transfer - Berislav V. Zlokovic

Chair: Berislav Zlokovic, MD, PhD
Institution: Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Date & Time: Sunday, November 4, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme F: Integrative Physiology and Behavior

This symposium summarizes current advances on the role of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in health and disease, including major human neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and neuroimmune disease. It highlights single-cell approaches to understanding the role of brain vasculature in health and CNS disorders; cellular and molecular mechanisms at the BBB causing neurodegeneration and CNS autoimmunity; and gene transfer across the BBB to treat neurodegenerative and CNS disorders.

Local Field Potentials and Deep Brain Stimulation - Cameron C. McIntyre

Chair: Cameron McIntyre, PhD
Institution: Case Western Reserve University

Date & Time: Sunday, November 4, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme I: Techniques

This symposium will provide an integrated story of scientifically driven clinical translation in deep brain stimulation (DBS) using local field potentials (LFPs). The talks will span from the basic science and fundamentals of LFP signals, to techniques and strategies for performing the clinical research necessary to define the appropriate LFP biomarkers, to direct application of adaptive DBS algorithms in clinical practice.

Repairing the Injured Nervous System: Inhibiting the Inhibitors - Elizabeth J. Bradbury

Chair: Elizabeth Bradbury, PhD
Institution: King's College London
Co-Chair: Catherina Becker, PhD
Institution: University of Edinburgh

Date & Time: Monday, November 5, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme C: Neurodegenerative Disorders and Injury

This symposium will focus on inhibitory factors that prevent neuroplasticity and functional recovery after central nervous system injury. We will present new advances in understanding how inhibitory molecules present in a tissue injury environment are a barrier to repair and may be therapeutically targeted. The symposium will cover bench-to-bedside approaches that span mammalian and nonmammalian systems, organic chemistry, gene therapy, and clinical trials, with a common goal of repairing the injured nervous system.

Targeted Therapies for Parkinson's Disease: From Genetics to the Clinic - Lamya S. Shihabuddin

Chair: Lamya Shihabuddin, PhD
Institution: Sanofi
Co-Chair: Patrik Brundin, MD, PhD
Institution: Van Andel Research Institute

Date & Time: Monday, November 5, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme E: Motor Systems

The greatest unmet need in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the development of treatments that slow the relentless progression of the neurodegenerative process. The discovery of genomic and biochemical biomarkers for PD is starting to revolutionize its diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. This symposium will focus on therapeutic paradigms under active clinical development and highlight a wide range of outstanding questions that need to be addressed to advance the field of disease modification in PD.

Extracellular Vesicles: Insights Into Cell-to-Cell Communication in the Nervous System - Jason D. Shepherd

Chair: Jason Shepherd, PhD
Institution: University of Utah

Date & Time: Monday, November 5, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme A: Development

Cells communicate and signal between each other in multiple ways. Emerging evidence suggests that extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate intercellular signaling in the nervous system. Moreover, EVs have been implicated in the pathology of various neurodegenerative disorders, as several pathogenic proteins are released from cells associated with EVs. This symposium will highlight the biogenesis of EVs in neurons and the role EVs play in synaptic plasticity and neural circuit development.

Global Efforts to Build More Predictive Animal Models of Neurodegenerative Disease - Bruce T. Lamb

Chair: Bruce Lamb, PhD
Institution: Indiana University School of Medicine
Co-Chair: Rudolph Tanzi, PhD
Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Date & Time: Monday, November 5, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme C: Neurodegenerative Disorders and Injury

Neurodegenerative diseases are an increasingly common form of disability and death. Despite intensive efforts, no effective therapeutic strategies have been developed, perhaps in part due to inadequate animal models. This symposium will highlight global initiatives to develop and characterize novel animal models of Alzheimer’s disease using state-of-the-art technologies, including genome editing, that will be critical for building animal models more predictive for therapeutic efficacy.

RNA Control of Axonal Functions - Jeffery L. Twiss

Chair: Jeffery Twiss, MD, PhD
Institution: University of South Carolina
Co-Chair: Michael Fainzilber, PhD
Institution: Weizmann Institute of Science

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 6, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme A: Development

This symposium will highlight new insight on RNA control of axonal functions. Discoveries in different models and paradigms are coming together to provide a comprehensive view of how RNA localization and local translation regulate axon growth, maintenance, and regeneration. Intracellular trafficking, localized regulation, and axon-to-soma communication are key aspects of these mechanisms. The presentations will showcase diverse examples of how these fundamental mechanisms are implemented.

The Feeling Within: Molecules to Behavior Underlying Interoception - Lisa Stowers

Chair: Lisa Stowers, PhD
Institution: The Scripps Research Institute
Co-Chair: Ardem Patapoutian, PhD
Institution: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and The Scripps Research Institute

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 6, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme D: Sensory Systems

How does the brain monitor and react to our constantly changing internal physiology? While there has been rapid progress in understanding exteroception, less is known about how organisms sense and process information from within, such as hunger, respiration, circulation, excretion, and gut-brain interactions. This symposium will take a multidisciplinary approach to describe recent advances in interoception, from defining the signals that monitor internal states to identifying critical neuronal circuits that drive behavior.

Language Networks Derived From Direct Intracranial Recordings in Humans - Nitin Tandon

Chair: Nitin Tandon, MD
Institution: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Co-Chair: Stanislas Dehaene, PhD
Institution: National Institute for Health and Medical Research

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 6, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6C
Theme: Theme H: Cognition

Intracranial recordings in humans provide data unsurpassed in spatiotemporal resolution that yield novel insight into the rapid computations that underlie language. This symposium details results from a broad array of questions asked and experimental paradigms used across five labs to probe language architecture — from reading and sentence comprehension to lexical retrieval and articulation processes. This new knowledge about language networks carries implications for learning and disease.

Organelle Dynamics and Proteostasis in Neuronal Homeostasis and Degeneration - Xinnan Wang

Chair: Xinnan Wang, PhD
Institution: Stanford University

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 6, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme C: Neurodegenerative Disorders and Injury

Neuronal organelles are highly dynamic, and their biogenesis is tightly regulated in the extended extremities of a neuron. How to maintain organelle homeostasis is a fundamental cellular concern and crucial to neuronal survival. Defects in organelle function have emerged as key contributors to several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s disease. This symposium will present cutting-edge research at the intersection of neuronal cell biology and neurodegeneration.

The Dynamic Brain: Signatures of Fast Functional Reconfiguration, Their Interpretability, and Clinical Value - Javier Gonzalez-Castillo

Chair: Javier Gonzalez-Castillo, PhD
Institution: National Institute of Mental Health, NIH
Co-Chair: Peter Bandettini, PhD
Institution: National Institute of Mental Health, NIH

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 6, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme I: Techniques

Communication across brain regions fluctuates tirelessly as we interact with our environment. Established patterns of functional connectivity (e.g., DMN) often disintegrate in the span of a few minutes, making the concept of networks elusive under such volatile conditions. This symposium will review how to best capture, model, and interpret dynamic patterns of functional connectivity in the human brain. It will then discuss in what ways aberrant dynamic connectivity underlies clinical conditions.

Mental Structures and Sequences: Evolutionary Solutions From Birds to Primates - Christopher I. Petkov

Chair: Christopher Petkov, PhD
Institution: Newcastle University
Co-Chair: Angela Friederici, PhD
Institution: Max Planck Institute

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 7, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme H: Cognition

The human brain appears to be specialized for certain operations. To what extent aspects of our neurobiology can find realistic animal models constitutes a pressing issue for neuroscience. This is most salient in the domain of language, a uniquely human neurocognitive capacity. This symposium will review the revolution taking place in understanding the neurobiology of language as it includes how the brain creates mental structures and which aspects engage evolutionarily conserved or convergent neural mechanisms.

Multiple Axes of Dopamine Systems for Behavioral Controls: From Fly Via Rodent to Monkey - Mitsuko Watabe-Uchida

Chair: Mitsuko Watabe-Uchida, PhD
Institution: Harvard University
Co-Chair: Okihide Hikosaka, MD, PhD
Institution: National Eye Institute

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 7, 8:30–11 a.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme F: Integrative Physiology and Behavior

Across the animal kingdom, dopamine plays a central role in regulating diverse flexible and habitual behaviors. This symposium brings together researchers using different models, from invertebrates to primates, to discuss how multiple dopamine systems work in concert to generate appropriate behavioral control. This comparative framework will highlight conserved and divergent organizational principles across dopamine systems and how they confer flexibility to neural circuits and behavior.

The Emerging Role of the Amygdala in Modulating the Somatosensory and Emotional Components of Pain and Itch - Benedict J. Kolber

Chair: Benedict Kolber, PhD
Institution: Duquesne University

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 7, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6B
Theme: Theme F: Integrative Physiology and Behavior

Pain involves a complex mix of sensory, cognitive, and emotional processes. This symposium will address the emerging role of the amygdala in modulating all of these components in the mammalian limbic system. Speakers will provide important and novel mechanistic insight at the cellular, synaptic, and circuit levels achieved through cutting-edge microscopy, recording, and rodent behavioral techniques.

Unveiling the Extracellular Space of the Brain: From Super-Resolved Microstructure to In Vivo Function - Valentin U. Nägerl

Chair: Valentin Nägerl, PhD
Institution: CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Co-Chair: Sabina Hrabetova, MD, PhD
Institution: State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 7, 1:30–4 p.m.
Location: SDCC 6A
Theme: Theme B: Neural Excitability, Synapses, and Glia

The extracellular space (ECS) of the brain provides the physical stage and signaling platform where neuronal and glial players perform in concert. While the ECS takes up a fifth of brain volume, its topology is incredibly complex and miniaturized, defying traditional investigative approaches. This symposium will review our current knowledge of the ECS, evaluating recent methodological and conceptual progress that throws new light on this understudied yet critically important compartment of the brain.