Scientifica’s top 8 sessions at the 9th Annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting

The Canadian Association for Neuroscience will be holding its 9th annual meeting at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver from May 24th – 27th. Scientifica Product Specialist Louisa Mafeld will be in attendance demonstrating our Slicescope Pro 6000 system throughout the show on booth 104.

In order to help you get ready for the event, we picked out our top 8 sessions to attend at this year's meeting.

1. Presidential Lecture

How we see and hear stuff: visual and auditory routes to understanding the material properties of objects – Melvyn A. Goodale – Sunday 24th May 6:00 - 7:00 pm

Dr Goodale's research examines the functional organisation of visual pathways within the brain. He has advanced our understanding in this area through studies of visual discrimination and the visual control of skilled movements in patients with neurological damage to areas of the brain linked to visual processing.

His most recent research has looked at echolocation in humans, showing that humans can use echolocation in a way that is very similar to vision.

2. Parallel Symposium 3

Shaping inhibition: new insights into the development and function of GABAergic inhibitory interneurons in the cortex – Chair: Simon Chen – Monday 25th May 1:30 - 3:00 pm

This symposium will include the presentation of recent work from:

• Graziella Di Cristo on Mechanisms regulating GABAergic cell innervation fields in the adolescent brain
• Melanie Woodin on Inhibitory synaptic plasticity and chloride regulation in the hippocampus
• Minshan Xue on Inhibitory synapses equalise the excitation-inhibition ratios across cortical neurons
• Simon Chen Cell-type specific reorganisation of inhibitory circuits during motor learning

3. Plenary Symposium 2

Plasticity, pain and perception – Chair: Jesper Sjöström – Tuesday 26th May 8:30 - 9:30 am

This plenary symposium, chaired by Jesper Sjöström with presentations from:

• Lisa Topolnik on Synaptic integration and plasticity gradients in dendrites of hippocampal inhibitory neurons
• Michael Salter on From Receptors to Pain: The Molecular Dynamics of Pain

4. Featured Plenary Speaker

Illuminating the neural circuits underlying tactile decisions – Karel Svoboda – Tuesday 26th May 11:00 am - Midday

Dr Karel Svoboda's lab has spent the last ten years investigating the structure, function and plasticity of cortical circuits in behaving mice.

Their current research is looking at the neural code underlying tactile sensation in specific cell types, the cortical mechanisms or motor planning and movement based on tactile evidence and development of new optical, molecular and behavioural techniques for studying neural circuits.

5. Parallel Symposium 5

Imaging brain complexity – Chair: Paul Frankland – Tuesday 26th May 1:30 - 3:00 pm

This symposium will include talks from:

• Kasper Podgorski on Comprehensive 3D imaging of synaptic activity in the awake brain
• Majid Mohajerani on In vivo optical imaging assessment of mouse cortical-hippocampal dialogue during sleep
• Paul Frankland on Pharmacogenetic interrogation of a fear memory network
• Ji Hyun Ko on Network analysis approach with metabolic PET imaging in neurodegenerative movement disorders

6. Parallel Symposium 8

Homeostatic plasticity: molecular mechanisms and physiological function – Chair: Graham Diering – Tuesday 26th May 1:30 - 3:00 pm

This session will include presentations from:

• David Stellwagen on TNF-mediated suppression of striatal reward dysfunction
• Jaideep S. Bains on State-dependant plasticity in stress circuits
• Salvatore Carbonetto on Dystroglycan mediates homeostatic plasticity at GABAergic synapses
• Graham Diering on Homeostatic scaling-down of excitatory synapses during sleep

7. Parallel Symposium 9

Regulatory mechanisms in cortical neurogenesis – Chair: Angelo Iulianella – Wednesday 27th May 1:30 - 3:00 pm

This session, during the last slot in the conference's timetable, has presentations from:

• Carol Schuurmans on Cortical lineages are primed by the competing lineage determinants Neurog2 and Ascl1
• Stefano Stifani on Regulation of neurogenic and anti-neurogenic transcription factors during murine cortical neurogenesis
• Ruth Slack on Mitochondrial-mediated regulation of stem cell maintenance and cell fate decisions
• David Picketts on Defining the role of chromatin remodelling proteins in balancing progenitor expansion with differentiation during cortical neurogenesis

8. Parallel Symposium 11

Linking nervous system development with function – Chair: Artur Kania – Wednesday 27th May 1:30 - 3:00 pm

This symposium, also during the final slot in the conference, includes talks from:

• Freda Millar on Understanding cognitive disorders: from neural stem cells to neurons
• Ying Zhang on Distinctive developmental pathways of functional subpopulations of V3 interneurons in the mouse spinal cord
• Douglas Allan on Genetic mechanisms underlying sexually dimorphic development of female-specific neural populations in Drosophila
• Edward Ruthazer on How sensory experience controls circuit wiring in the developing visual system

Please let us know what you thought of the event and what your favourite sessions were. And don't forget to go and see Louisa and our Slicescope Pro 6000 system at booth 104.

See you there!