Programme 2023

• 8th Annual Canadian Neurometabolic Meeting
• Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Knowledge Exchange
• Neural Stem Cells function and dysfunction

Keith Murai

Flora Vaccarino, Yale School of Medicine

Gut feelings: Peripheral and central regulation of motivational and affective states by gut signals

Chair: Alfonso Abizaid | Carleton University

Speakers:

• Keith Sharkey | University of Calgary
  How the gut changes behaviour in intestinal inflammation
• Jane Foster | McMaster University
  Microbes and Mental Health: Translating preclinical findings to the clinic
• Alfonso Abizaid | Carleton University
  Ghrelin-endocannabinoid system interactions in the VTA in the regulation of food reward

Sam Weiss

Posters/exhibits

Dana Small | Yale University

The wisdom of the body

Stronger together – building capacity for a Brain Moonshot in Canada

White Matter matters: the role of myelin in cognition

Chair: Meira Machado | Western University

Speakers

• Jérémie Lefebvre | University of Ottawa
  Learning to be on time: How white matter plasticity shapes brain dynamics and function
• Kendra Furber | University of Northern British Columbia
  Myelination in the aging mouse brain
• Olamide Adebiyi | Robarts Research Institute
  Remyelinating potentials of stigmasterol in vanadium-induced neurotoxicity and cognitive impairments
• Elizabeth Dao | University of British Columbia
  Myelin in aging and cognitive impairment

Parallel Symposium 2:

Neural mechanisms of skilled motor control across species, circuits, and behaviors

Chair: J. Andrew Pruszynski | Western University

Speakers:

• Ariel Levine | National Institutes of Health
  Cell Types and Networks for Spinal Motor Control
• Andrew Pruszynski | Western University
  Somatosensory predictions are directly embedded in neural activity that controls movement
• Chethan Pandarinath | Emory University and Georgia Tech
  Dynamical mechanisms of flexible pattern generation in spinal neural populations
• Alice Mosberger | Columbia University
  Learning and refining skilled actions in the basal ganglia forelimb circuitry

Parallel Symposium 3:

New approaches for human stem cell models of neurological disorders reveal mechanisms and therapeutic strategies

Chair: Gary Bassell | Emory University

• Karun Singh | University of Toronto
  Investigating neural circuitry abnormalities at cellular resolution in human 3D organoid models of brain development disorders
• Nisha Raj | Emory University
  Altered proteostasis in fragile X syndrome and other neuropsychiatric disorders
• Ryan Purcell | Emory University
  Identifying the neurodevelopmental impact of the 3q29 deletion through single-cell sequencing
• Anne Bang | Sanford Burnham, CA
  Drug Screens of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (hiPSC) Derived Neuronal Networks On Multi-Electrode Arrays

Parallel symposium 4:

Form dictates function: crosstalk between channels, scaffolds, and the cytoskeleton with implications for nervous system development and disease

Co-Chairs:
Leigh Anne Swayne | University of Victoria & R Anne McKinney | McGill University

Speakers

• Kota Mizumoto | The University of British Columbia
  UNC-9/Innexin locally inhibits chemical synapse formation independent of its channel activity in C. elegans
• Andrew K. J. Boyce | University of Calgary
  Cytoskeletal rearrangement promotes neuroprotection following excitotoxicity at peripheral dendrites
• R Anne McKinney | McGill University
  Synaptopodin, an actin-associated protein, is required for long-term depression
• Leigh Anne Swayne | University of Victoria
  Pannexin 1 regulates spine stabilization by sequestering spine cytoskeletal regulators

Poster session 1 / exhibits

Ole Kiehn, University of Copenhagen

Brainstem circuits for locomotion in the healthy and diseased brain

Neuroimmune interactions: when the immune system shapes the Central Nervous System

Chair: Nathalie Arbour | Université de Montréal

Speakers:

• Nader Ghasemlou | Queen’s University
  Rhythms of neuroinflammation and chronic pain in EAE: what’s time got to do with it?
• Catherine Larochelle | Université de Montréal
  Molecular mechanisms underlying T cell-oligodendrocytes direct interactions
• Veronique Miron | University of Toronto
  Glial interactions regulating myelin health

Posters/exhibits

Maja Jagodic | Karolinska Institutet
Deciphering mechanisms of Multiple Sclerosis development and progression

Interactions between diet and cognition

Chair: Léa Décarie-Spain | University of Southern California

Co-sponsored the Société des Neurosciences and the Canadian Association for Neuroscience

Speakers:

• Léa Décarie-Spain | University of Southern California
  Trapping a meal engram in the hippocampus
• Guillaume Ferreira | Université de Bordeaux
  Obesogenic diet induces circuit-specific memory deficits
• Vivien Chevaleyre | Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris
  How an obesogenic high-fat diet disrupts oxytocinergic signaling in hippocampal area CA2 and social memory formation
• Stephanie Borgland | University of Calgary
  Time dependent changes in the orbitofrontal cortex with exposure to an obesogenic diet.

Parallel Symposium 6

Synaptic, molecular and ultrastructural dynamics during learning

Co-Chairs : Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal | Université Laval
Jean-Claude Béïque | University of Ottawa

Speakers :

• Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal | Université Laval
  Machine learning-assisted super-resolution microscopy at synapses
• Jean-Claude Béïque | University of Ottawa
  Nature and dynamics of synaptic eligibility traces in cortex
• Aparna Suvrathan| McGill University
  Heterogeneity in information processing by cerebellar synapses
• Shernaz Bamji | University of British Columbia
  Role of posttranslational palmitoylation in synaptic plasticity

Parallel Symposium 7

Adolescent Stress Sensitivity and Modulation of Behaviour Across the Lifespan

Chair:  Maithe Arruda Carvalho | University of Toronto Scarborough

Speakers:

• Maithe Arruda-Carvalho | University of Toronto Scarborough
  Synaptic maturation of affective learning circuits
• Deena Walker | Oregon Health and Science University
  Adolescent social isolation disrupts sex-specific developmental profiles of GABA- and glutamatergic gene expression throughout the reward circuitry
• Tamara Franklin | Dalhousie University
  The long-term and intergenerational effects of adolescent stress
• Heidi Meyer | Boston University
  Developmental age and sex interact to scale the effects of stress on fear regulation

Parallel Symposium 8

Protein Synthesis in Brain Health and Disease

Chair: Jesper Sjöström | McGill University

Presenters:

• Hovy Ho-Wai Wong | McGill University
  Local protein synthesis in axons sustains synapse-specific neurotransmission
• Cyril Hanus | University of Paris
  Impact of dendritic processing on synaptic receptor glycosylation and function
• Ning Cheng | University of Calgary
  Targeting ERK signaling to treat Fragile X Syndrome and autism
• Barbara Bardoni | Université Côte d’Azur
  RNA metabolism and pathophysiology of brain developmental disorders: Fragile X Messenger Ribonucleoprotein (FMRP) as a paradigmatic factor

2:30 – 4:30 Poster session 2 & Exhibits

Sheena Josselyn, SickKids Hospital

Making memories in mice

Panel discussion with Sheena Josselyn, Ole Kiehn, Flora Vaccarino, Maja Jagodic, Hugo Bellen, Dana Small

Emerging molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration

Chair: Maria Ioannou

Speakers:

• Heidi McBride | McGill University
  Immune signaling in Parkinson’s Disease: perspectives of a mitochondria
• Karl Fernandes | Université de Sherbrooke
  Fatty acid desaturation: an unexpected role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease
• Maria Ioannou | University of Alberta
  Protecting neurons from degeneration by autolysosomal exocytosis

Diane Bovenkamp, PhD
Vice President, Scientific Affairs, BrightFocus Foundation

Coffee break

Hugo Bellen – Baylor College of Medicine
Lipid droplets in Alzheimer’s Disease

• CAN-ACN Annual General Meeting of members
• Career Networking event
• Lunch on own

Cross-disciplinary neuroscience perspectives on autism spectrum disorder

Chair: Argel Aguilar Valles | Carleton University

Speakers

• Emma Duerden | Western University
  Amygdala subnuclei maturation and the association with anxiety in children and youth with autism spectrum disorder
• Melissa Perreault | University of Guelph
  Sex considerations in translational ASD research
• Tabrez Siddiqui | University of Manitoba
  Molecular logic of circuit organization by autism-associated synaptic adhesion proteins
• Eric Klann | New York University
  Autism-related mutations in EEF1A2 alter translation and actin bundling

Parallel Symposium 10

Cannabinoids, Endocannabinoids and Microglia

Chairs: Haley Vecchiarelli | University of Victoria & Marie-Ève Tremblay | University of Victoria

Speakers:

• Mallar Chakravarty | McGill University
  The impact of prenatal delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol on the brain and behaviour development across the lifespan
• Haley Vecchiarelli | University of Victoria
  Effect of acute vapourized cannabis on microglia
• Tuan Trang | University of Calgary
  Central actions of cannabis in neuropathic pain
• Cecilia Hillard | Medical College of Wisconsin
  Role of microglial CB2 receptors in the locomotor effects of cocaine

Parallel Symposium 11

Cerebellar wiring and vulnerability in health and disease

Chair: Julie Lefebvre | The Hospital for Sick Children

Speakers:

• Julie L Lefebvre | The Hospital for Sick Children
  Regulation of inhibitory interneuron wiring in the cerebellum by an atypical Cadherin
• James P Fawcett | Dalhousie University
  Fundamental mechanism in interneuron synaptic organization and function
• Sophie Tremblay | Université de Montréal
  Modulation of microglia responses to prevent cerebellar injury and function
• Jeehye Park | The Hospital for Sick Children
  Investigation of cerebellar pathology in MATR3 S85C knock-in mouse model of ALS

Parallel Symposia 12

Brain wide network mapping in mice and its applications

Chair: Anne Wheeler | The Hospital for Sick Children

Speakers:

• Timothy Murphy | University of British Columbia
  Wide field single photon cortical imaging in combination with sub-cortical or cerebellar neuropixel or fiber photometry
• Sophie Pezet | ESPCI Paris
  Identification of specific cerebral networks functionally altered during neuropathic pain in awake mice, using ultrafast ultrasound imaging
• Gisella Vetere | École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris
  Memory networks in mice
• Anne Wheeler | The Hospital for Sick Children
  Disruption of white matter maturation and its impact on brain-wide networks and behaviour