Message from the President, Melanie Woodin
Dear members and colleagues,
The start of a new academic year is an exciting time for all of us, and especially for trainees. Trainees are the driving force in many new neuroscience initiatives and their contributions help define our community’s future directions. This is especially true for CAN, as 50% of our members are students and 11% are post-doctoral fellows. CAN is grateful for the many contributions our trainees make to our association, and as an association, we want to ensure we are supporting your professional development. Today, we are launching the CAN Trainee Survey, where trainees can provide feedback on existing CAN initiatives and suggestions for future programming .
There is quite a lot happening at CAN in the coming weeks:
I am excited to present the first CAN2025 meeting announcements, with the launch of the Call for parallel symposia proposals opening this month, and the initial list of plenary speakers announced. You can read more in this newsletter.
CAN is also happy to announce the next CAN Parliament Hill Day will take place November 5, 2024 in Ottawa. You can read our latest call for reinvestment in scientific research in Canada in our most recent submission to pre-budget consultations. This is the message we will be taking to Ottawa – an important one in a time of competing investment priorities.
I want to invite all who are attending the SfN meeting next month in Chicago to join me and the CAN team at the CAN Social, which will take place on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 – View details below.
Finally, a new academic year also means a new membership year for CAN, so I invite you to renew your membership to support all our activities. We are also seeking new members for our advocacy, nominations, EDI and Meeting program committees, so please consider serving in one of these committees, and apply by the end of this month.
With my best wishes for this new academic year,
Melanie Woodin
President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience
CAN Trainee survey
Help us define CAN’s priorities for the coming years by responding to our trainee survey.
This is a short survey to review existing trainee opportunities, and also to welcome new suggestions from our membership.
Please take the survey today!
Advocacy
Read our submission to pre-budget consultations
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance invited Canadians to participate in its annual pre-budget consultations process. The committee will table a report on these consultations in the House of Commons with recommendations to be considered by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the development of the 2025 federal budget.
Read CAN’s submission to these consultations here:
Next CAN Parliament Hill Day
Our next Parliament Hill Day will take place in Ottawa, November 5, 2024. Stay tuned for updates!
Apply for a CAN trainee outreach/advocacy award today
Do you have a great project or initiative to promote neuroscience research in Canada? We can provide support. Applications are accepted at all times, and reviewed every three months (March 1, June 1, September 1, and December 1). Awards will be given based on adherence to award criteria and be contingent on budget availability.
Share your science!
Are you interested in science communication? Would you want to share your research story?
We are looking for contributors for the Canada Brain Power website.
Visit the website:
CAN Meeting updates
Join us for the 2025 Canadian Neuroscience meeting in Toronto, May 21-24, 2025. The Canadian Neuroscience meeting is a great opportunity to present your work, learn about new cutting-edge research and network with neuroscience leaders from Canada and abroad.
The chairs of this year’s meeting, Drs. Matt Hill and Rosemary Bagot are putting together an exciting program that covers a wide range of neuroscience topics.
The Call for parallel symposia is coming up soon – don’t miss this opportunity!
Next Canadian Neuroscience Meeting
- Dates: May 21-24, 2025
- Location: Toronto Sheraton Centre Hotel
- Organizers: Matt Hill, Chair of the Scientific Program Committee & Rosemary Bagot, Co-Chair of the Scientific Program Committee, with the CAN team
Plenary speakers
Gina Turrigiano, PhD
Brandeis University, Joseph Levitan Professor of Vision Science
Director, Neuroscience Graduate Studies
The Turrigiano lab studies the plasticity mechanisms that allow our brains to “tune themselves up” and remain both plastic and stable.
https://www.brandeis.edu/biology/faculty/turrigiano-gina.html
Yasmin Hurd, PhD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Dr. Yasmin Hurd is the Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience and the Director of the Center for Addictive Disorders within the Mount Sinai Behavioral Health System.
Dr. Hurd’s multidisciplinary research investigates the neurobiology underlying addiction disorders and related psychiatric illnesses.
https://scholars.mssm.edu/en/persons/yasmin-hurd
Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Chief Scientific Officer, McLean Hospital
Fear Circuits and Psychiatric Disorders
https://brain.harvard.edu/?people=kerry-ressler
Paul Frankland, PhD
Senior Scientist in Neurosciences & Mental Health at the Hospital for Sick Children
Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neurobiology
Professor at University of Toronto
His lab’s research focuses on modeling cognitive function and dysfunction in mice. In particular, the lab is interested in understanding of systems consolidation, the role of adult neurogenesis in hippocampal memory function and forgetting, the identification and manipulation of memory engrams, and hippocampal memory development.
https://www.psych.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/paul-frankland
Yulong Li, PhD
Boya Professor, School of Life Sciences, Peking University
Principal Investigator, PKU-THU Center for Life Sciences, IDG/McGovern Institute For Brain Research
http://www.yulonglilab.org/index.html
Key dates – 2025 meeting
| Begins | Ends | |
|---|---|---|
| Call for parallel symposia | September 16, 2024 | October 23, 2024 |
| Call for satellite meetings | September 16, 2024 | October 23, 2024 |
| Call for poster presentations | November 18, 2024 | January 24, 2025 |
| Call for application – Meeting Travel awards | November 18, 2024 | January 30, 2025 |
| Call for New Investigator Award nominations | November 18, 2024 | January 30, 2025 |
| Meeting registration (early-bird rate) | January 15, 2025 | March 17 2025 |
| Meeting registration (regular rate) | March 18, 2025 | April 29, 2025 |
| Meeting registration (late, on-site) | April 30, 2025 | May 24, 2025 |
Opportunities
Canadian Neuroscience Seminars – Post-doc series
New season starting September 5 with speakers Caroline Landelle and Cécilia Tremblay
Don’t miss the first seminar of the season, September 5 at 3PM EST, featuring
Speaker 1: Caroline Landelle, McGill University
Title: Simultaneous functional neuroimaging of the brain and the spinal cord in vivo in human
Speaker 2: Cécilia Tremblay, Banner Sun Health Research Institute
Title: RNA sequencing of olfactory bulb in aging and Parkinson’s disease reveals gene alterations associated with olfactory dysfunction
Canadian Postdoc Seminar Series – Call for Organizers (2024-2025)
A message for the CNS-PDS team:
Dear CAN members,
With the growing success of the Canadian Neuroscience Seminars – Postdoctoral Series (CNS-PDS), we are delighted to announce a “Call for Organizers” for the third round of CNS-PDS (2024-2025).
The CNS-PDS initiative, organized by postdocs for postdocs, promotes research accomplishments of postdocs throughout Canada and Canadian postdocs abroad. Our speakers have a unique opportunity to increase their scientific visibility and network within the CAN community. These seminars also give a room for the CAN community to interact with the next generation of neuroscientists.
The series takes place monthly in the format of virtual presentations, and features scientific talks from talented postdocs in any field of fundamental or clinical neuroscience.
Currently we are inviting CAN postdocs to join the committee for the upcoming year (2024-2025) to help organize the seminars. Being part of this committee is not only an excellent way of expanding your network, but it is also a great opportunity to gain leadership and outreach experiences along with making an impact in the scientific community.
Ideally, the organizing committee will be representative of multiple institutions across Canada. To promote better representation, people who identify as belonging to under-represented groups in neuroscience research are strongly encouraged to apply.
Duties of the committee will include reviewing submissions, speaker selection, organizing the 2025 schedule and hosting seminars. Please note that while serving on the committee, members are prohibited from presenting their work at the seminars due to conflict of interest.
If you are interested in being part of next year’s committee, please fill out the following Google form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/195KIEUMr9beb4nTCdkqEYv8u64DGwBrThO85CGlUSPQ
Application deadline: SEPTEMBER 6, 2024, by 11:59 pm (Pacific Time)
Questions? Contact seminars@can-acn.org
Sincerely,
CNS-PDS Committee
Twitter: @CNS_PDS
Join a CAN committee
Get involved !
Get involved in the Canadian Association for Neuroscience by joining one of our committees!
Learn more about our committees
Please apply using the online forms available here:
https://can-acn.org/can-committee-membership-application/
Application deadline is September 30, 2024
Next Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is seeking the next Scientific Director of its Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction. Read more about the job opportunity and what the role of a Scientific Director entails. The deadline to apply is September 16, 2024.
Apply by September 16, 2024: https://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/53950.html
Neurojobs
View recent advertisements from our website
- Graduate Student Positions in Behavioral & Systems Neuroscience – Botterill laboratory at University of Saskatchewan 2024/08/30
- Canadian Postdoc Seminar Series – Call for Organizers (2024-2025) 2024/08/21
- MSc or PhD student: Vascular repair mechanisms following traumatic brain injury – University of Manitoba 2024/08/20
- Graduate student and post-doctoral positions: Neural basis of motor learning and performance, McGill University 2024/08/20
- Post-doctoral or PhD Position for the development of a neuroprosthesis that supports the production of complex movements – Université de Montréal 2024/07/03
- Post-doctoral or PhD Position on Neurophysiological Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in Preclinical Models of Stroke – Université de Montréal 2024/07/03
- Postdoctoral Associate, Neuroscience – Joy lab at Jackson Laboratory 2024/06/27
- Postdoctoral Fellow in Focused Ultrasound (FUS) Neuromodulation Imaging/Electrophysiology and Modeling – University of Calgary 2024/06/27
- Position for a postdoctoral fellowship in neurorehabilitation – Université de Montréal 2024/06/26
- Assistant or Associate Professor in Cardiac Arrhythmias 2024/06/26
- Doctoral student position available in the Descalzi lab at the University of Guelph 2024/06/25
View the neurojobs webpage here: https://can-acn.org/neuro-jobs/
CAN members can submit advertisements for free
Upcoming Events
| 2024-09-05 15:00 – 16:00 | Canadian Neuroscience Seminars – Post-doc series September 5, 2024: Caroline Landelle & Cécilia Tremblay |
| 2024-09-21 2024-09-24 | 25th Bennial Meeting of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience |
| 2024-10-03 15:00 – 16:00 | Canadian Neuroscience Seminars – Post-doc series October 3, 2024: Diana Mitchell & Ashley Schormans |
| 2024-10-06 2024-10-09 | CAN Booth at SfN |
| 2024-10-08 18:30 – 20:00 | CAN Social at SfN |
| 2024-11-05 2024-11-08 | CSMOpto Open Science Miniature Microscopy Workshop |
| 2024-11-07 15:00 – 16:00 | Canadian Neuroscience Seminars – Post-doc series November 7, 2024: Paige Whyte-Fagundes & Andrew Boyce |
| 2024-11-08 2024-11-09 | 3rd Annual Canadian Movement Disorders Meeting |
Connect with CAN at SfN
CAN Social at SfN
Date: Tuesday October 8, 2024 18:30 – 20:00
Location: Vu Rooftop Chicago, 133 E Cermak Rd, Chicago, Illinois, 60616, United States+ Google Map
Join us at SfN! Vu Rooftop Chicago is only a few minutes away from McCormick Place
CAN booth at SfN
Come meet the CAN team at Booth #1740 in Hall A of McCormick Place in Chicago, October 6-9, 2024.
Renew your membership or become a member today!
If you have not already done so, we invite you to renew your annual membership or become a member of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, for the 2024-2025 membership year. Your membership helps support our activities which aim to promote neuroscience research and advocate for increased funding for research in Canada.
CAN continuously strives for the betterment of the Canadian Neuroscience community by:
- Advocating for increased funding for basic research in Canada (https://can-acn.org/advocacy/) and supporting grass-roots advocacy initiatives
- Promoting Canadian neuroscientists and neuroscience research, through awards, our website and social media
- Strengthening the Canadian neuroscience community by providing opportunities to connect and network
- Supporting Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Neuroscience in Canada, through the efforts of the CAN-EDI committee, and by supporting grass-roots actions proposed by neuroscientists (https://can-acn.org/equity-diversity-and-inclusivity-in-neuroscience/)
- Developing partnerships to help us achieve our goals – Examples include a Memorandum of Understanding with the Society for Neuroscience, which provides significant funds for advocacy in Canada; with CIHR-INMHA to manage the Brain Star awards; with IBRO and BrightFocus to support participation of underrepresented groups in the CAN meeting through Travel award attribution.
Your membership helps support these initiatives and many more. To learn more about us and the benefits of being a CAN member, please visit: https://can-acn.org/become-a-member/
CAN membership is open to all scientists, principal investigators and students actively involved in neuroscience research from across Canada and around the world. CAN membership dues are paid annually and cover the calendar year from September 1st to August 31st.
We hope we can count on your participation and support this year!
