Program – 2026 Meeting

8:30 AM 4:00 PM

CAN Satellite Symposia

5:15 – 6:15PM

Presidential Lecture

Clifford J. Woolf (Harvard Medical School ,  F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital)

8:30 – 10:15 AM

Plenary symposium 1

Single-cell approaches for novel biological insight

Chair: Shreejoy Tripathy (CAMH, University of Toronto, Canada)
Speakers:

• Kristen Brennand (Yale School of Medicine)
• Corina Nagy (Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University)
• Shreejoy Tripathy (CAMH, University of Toronto)

10:25 – 10:45

Coffee break
Posters/exhibits

11:00 – 12:00

Featured Plenary speaker 1

Keri Martinowich (Lieber Institute)

Molecular vulnerability in brain circuits: mechanisms relevant for human brain disorders

1:30 – 3:00 PM

Parallel symposium 1

Sleep dynamics in cognition, memory and emotion: a circuit perspective

Co-Chairs:
Bénédicte Amilhon | Université de Montréal & Jimmy Fraigne | University of Toronto

Speakers:

• Jimmy Fraigne | University of Toronto
  REM sleep hub—From homeostasis to state characteristics
• Adrien Peyrache | McGill University, Montreal Neurological Institute
  The thalamus shifts from relay to generator of cognitive signals in Non-REM Sleep
• Mattia Aime | University of Bern, Switzerland
  Hacking emotional memories during REM sleep
• Bénédicte Amilhon | Université de Montréal – CHU Sainte-Justine Azrieli Research Center
  Modulation of sleep- and memory-related hippocampus rhythms by raphe glutamatergic inputs

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Parallel symposium 2

Molecular Codes and Trans-Synaptic Architecture of Central Synapses

Chair: Derek Bowie |McGill University

Speakers

• Xin-tong Wang | McGill University
  New insights into AMPA receptor function in health and disease
• Hideto Takahashi | IRCM
  Excitatory synapse maintenance by a newly identified alpha-neurexin ligand
• Melina Agosto | Dalhousie University
  Role of Elfn1 in retinal synapse development
• Tabrez Siddiqui |University of Manitoba
  Mechanisms governing nanoscale trans-synaptic alignment in the mammalian brain

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Parallel symposium 3

Peripheral Hormones, Central Effects: Mechanisms Linking Metabolism, Motivation, and Mental Health

Chair: Patricia Pelufo Silveira |McGill University

Speakers:

• Alfonso Abizaid | Carleton University
  Ghrelin and the metabolic stress response to social stressors in females
• Stephanie Fulton | Université de Montréal
  Immunometabolic mechanisms modulating emotional dysregulation and impulsivity
• Rodrigo Mansur | University of Toronto
  Brain Insulin Resistance in Mood Disorders: Research Developments and Therapeutic Implications
• Patricia Pelufo Silveira | McGill University
  Neurometabolic Gateways to Resilience: Insulin and Leptin Receptor Pathways Modulating Early-Life Stress Effects on Physical and Mental Health

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Parallel symposium 4

High-content CRISPR screens to understand and treat genetic disorders of the nervous system

Chair: Troy McDiarmid |University of British Columbia

Speakers:

• Edward Fon | McGill University
  CRISPR-based screening to elucidate the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease
• Maxime Rousseau | University of Ottawa
  Probing the synaptome for regulators of alpha-synuclein pathology
• Yun Li | University of Toronto
  CRISPR screens define regulatory programs and neurodevelopmental disease relevance in human neural stem cell subtypes
• Troy McDiarmid | University of British Columbia
  Large-scale discovery of neural enhancers for cis-regulation therapies

3:45 – 5:15PM

Coffee break

Poster session 1 / Exhibits

5:45 – 6:45

Award winner

Brain Prize lecture
Michelle Monje (Stanford University)

8:30 – 10:15 AM

Plenary Symposium 2

Computational modeling in theory-driven discovery

Chair: Paul Masset (McGill University)
Speakers:

• Richard Naud (University of Ottawa)
• Paul Masset  (McGill University)
• Andreea Diaconescu (Krembil, CAMH, University of Toronto)

10:25 – 10:45

Coffee break
Posters/exhibits

11:00 – 12:00

Featured Plenary speaker 2

Adam Kepecs (Washington University School of Medicine)

Computational and neurobiological processes underlying cognition and decision-making 

1:30 – 3:00 PM

Parallel symposium 5

Hippocampal circuits in health and disease

Chair: Justin Botterill | University of Saskatchewan

Speakers:

• Justin James Botterill | University of Saskatchewan
  Local and long-range inputs to the hippocampus that influence diverse behaviours and seizures
• Jordan Farrrell | Boston Children’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School
  Corrupted hippocampal computations in hyperexcitability
• Lisa Topolnik | Laval University
  Brainstem control of hippocampal disinhibition during learning
• Esther Krook-Magnuson | University of Minnesota
  Inhibitory hippocampal neurons with extended reach

Parallel symposium 6

Glial-neuron and glial-immune interactions in nervous system development and repair

Chair: Wendy Xin |University Health Network

Speakers:

• Alana Hoffmann | Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science and Barlo MS Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital
  Brain myeloid cells contribute to oligodendrogenesis and myelination in the developing central nervous system
• Wendy Xin | University Health Network
  Oligodendrocytes and myelin shape neuronal maturation and plasticity in the mammalian cortex
• Anastassia Voronova | University of Alberta
  Chromatin regulator Ankrd11, associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, regulates glial cell development and function
• Roberta Piovesana | Université de Montréal
  Glial CB1 receptors drive NMJ Plasticity in Injury and ALS

Parallel symposium 7

Hypothalamic peptides in dual control of homeostasis and behaviour

Chair: Katrina Choe |McMaster University

Speakers:

• Masha Prager-Khoutorsky | McGill University
  Glial cells as regulators of fluid and cardiovascular homeostasis
• Melissa Chee | Carleton University
  Fructose fuels hunger at the hypothalamus
• Valery Grinevich | Heidelberg University
  Axonal Oxytocin Signaling in Rat and Human Brain
• Katrina Choe | McMaster University
  Autism-risk gene mutations convergently disrupt oxytocin modulation of social circuits

Parallel symposium 8

Reassessing Structural Plasticity in Depression: Rodent–Human Evidence and Rapid Antidepressant Mechanisms

Chair: Argel Aguilar Valles |Carleton University

Speakers:

• Giovanni Hernandez | The Douglas Research Centre and McGill University
  Infralimbic DCC Receptors Regulate Social Avoidance and Dendritic Architecture in the Cortico-Accumbens Pathway

• Omar Ahmed | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  Newly Engineered Mouse Lines Reveal Rules for Psychedelic Neuroplasticity of Cortical Neurons Expressing or Lacking 5-HT2a Receptors in Health & Disease
• Ruth Asch | UT Southwestern
  Translational Synaptic Imaging: completing the bench-to-bedside and back loop in psychiatry research
• Rebecca Price | University of Pittsburgh
  Rapid effects of ketamine on plasticity mechanisms across levels of analysis: Findings from clinical trials

3:30 – 5:00PM

Coffee break Poster session 2 / Exhibits

6:00 – 7:00

Equity Diversity and Inclusion session

8:30 – 10:15 AM

Plenary Symposium 3

Neural mechanisms of internal states

Chair: Rutsuko Ito  (University of Toronto, Scarborough)

Speakers:

• Jessica Osterhout (University of Utah)
• Rutsuko Ito (University of Toronto, Scarborough)
• Adrian Owen (University of Western Ontario)

10:25 – 10:45

Coffee break
Posters/exhibits

11:00 – 12:00

Featured Plenary speaker 3

David J. Anderson (Caltech)

Neurobiology of emotion

1:30 – 2:00

Trainee organized

Trainee powerpitch session

3:30 – 5:00 PM

Parallel symposium 9

 Guiding behavior through reward-predictive cues

Chair: Matthew Gardner |Concordia University

Speakers:

• Erin Rich | New York University
  Orbitofrontal cortex computes gaze-dependent comparisons between attributes rather than integrated values
• William Esber | Concordia University
  Orbitofrontal neurons encode both the relative and absolute predictive credit of reward cues
• Becket Ebitz | Universite de Montreal
  dACC Stimulation Stabilizes Exploitation
• Paul Cisek | Universite de Montreal
  Distributed dynamics of decisions about actions

Parallel symposium 10

RNA Modifications: Implications for Brain Function and Behavior

Chair: Mathieu Flamand |Université Laval

Speakers:

• Mathieu Flamand | Université Laval,, CHU de Quebec Research Centre
  Deciphering the roles of m6A and YTHDF proteins in synaptic function and plasticity
• Timothy W. Bredy |The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, Centre for RNA in Neuroscience
  The qualitative state of regulatory RNA determines its influence on plasticity and memory
• Ina Anreiter |University of Toronto
  Epitranscriptomic regulation of feeding behaviour in Drosophila Melanogaster
• Yanhong Shi |Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases
  RNA Modifications in Brain Disorders: Decoding the Functional Impact on Disease Mechanisms

Parallel symposium 11

Sex and Gender Influences on Stress Disorders and Cognitive Bias

Chair: Derya Sargin |University of Calgary

Speakers:

• Amanda Namchuk | Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
  Characterizing the sex-specific functional networks underlying chronic stress-induced negative cognitive bias
• Robert-Paul Juster |University of Montreal
  Beyond the Binary: Unraveling Sexually Polymorphic Cognition Across Biological and Sociocultural Dimensions
• Derya Sargin | University of Calgary
  Sex-specific Neural and Behavioural Consequences of Adolescent Stress
• Etienne Sibille | Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
  Sex differences in cell-dependent molecular mechanisms in humans and rodent models of depression

Parallel symposium 12

The brain vasculature: from imaging to insights into disease.

Chair: Baptiste Lacoste |Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Speakers:

• Alexandre Dubrac | Centre de recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine
  Neurovascular program dynamics shaping postnatal brain vascularization
• Ravi Rungta | Université de Montréal
  Impact of vascular topology on neurovascular coupling
• Grant R.J. Gordon | Hotchkiss Brain Institute
  State dependent astrocyte control of cerebral blood flow
• Aurelie-Rose de Rus Jacquet | Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval
  3D modeling of the neurovascular unit: new insights into communication at the blood-brain barrier in neurodegenerative diseases