2014 Program

This program is also available as a PDF document and a program-at-a-glance pdf

You can also view the List of Confirmed Posters 2014 or the Abstract booklet

Download the CAN 2014 Program book

Saturday, May 24, 2014

3:00 – 5:00 PM CAN 2014 Public Lectures:3 PM: Comment le vécu affecte la santé mentaleGustavo Turecki, McGill University4 PM: How life experiences impact on mental health Michael Meaney, McGill University

Both researchers will answer questions in French and English after the presentations. More info on the Public lecture posters

Venue: Jeanne Timmins Auditorium, Montreal Neurological Institute, 3801 University street

 

Sunday, May 25, 2014

5:00 – 5:15 PM Welcome and Opening Remarks by
Samuel David, President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience
5:15 – 5:30 PM CAN Young Investigator Award Presentation:
Yves De Koninck, Chair of the Nominations Committee
5:30 – 6:00 Anthony Phillips
Director of the Institutes of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction, CIHR
6:00 – 7:00 Presidential Lecture:
Lynn A Raymond, University of British Columbia
Mechanisms and neuroprotective strategies in neurodegeneration: Huntington disease can lead the way
7:00 – 8:15 Opening Reception

Monday, May 26, 2014

8:30 – 9:30 AM Featured Plenary speaker: Edward S. Boyden, MIT  Tools for Mapping Brain Computations
9:30 – 9:45 Brain Star talk: Kaylena A. Ehgoetz Martens, U of Waterloo
Freezing of Gait in Parkinson’s Disease: A Mysterious Phenomenon with an Unknown Neural Mechanism
9:45 – 10:00 Coffee break
10:00 – 11:00 Posters/exhibits
11:00 – 12:00 Plenary symposium:
Development and application of optogenetic tools
Chair: Robert Campbell, University of Alberta

  • Timothy H Murphy, University of British Columbia In vivo optogenetic assessment and control of mouse cortical circuits
  • Andrew Woolley, University of Toronto Optogenetic control using photoactive yellow protein
12:00 – 12:30 Launch of CQDM/Brain Canada Partnership Funding Program, with

  • Diane Gosselin, President and CEO of CQDM
  • Inez Jabalpurwala, President and CEO of Brain Canada
  • Rémi Quirion, Quebec Chief Scientist
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch on own – Posters & Exhibits
1:30 – 3:00 Parallel symposia
1:30 – 3:00 Symposium 1: Functional and dysfunctional regulation of brain blood flow
Sponsored by Hotchkiss Brain Institute
Chair: Grant Gordon, HBI, UCalgary

  • Grant Gordon, HBI, UCalgary: Tonic activity-independent blood flow control by astrocytes
  • Bijoy Menon, HBI, UCalgary: Pial Collaterals in humans: Imaging, hemodynamics, determinants and effect on clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke
  • Ian R Winship, U Alberta: Imaging and augmenting collateral blood flow in the brain during acute ischemic stroke
  • Campbell Teskey, HBI, UCalgary: Seizures Induce a Severe Ischemic/Hypoxic Episode
1:30 – 3:00 Symposium 2: Genetic and environmental regulation of gene expression and development of vulnerability to psychiatric disorders
Sponsored by Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec
Chair: Michael Meaney, McGill University

  • Rosemary C Bagot, Mount Sinai, NY: Circuit-wide transcriptional profiling in a mouse model of depression
  • Timothy W. Bredy, U Queensland: Role of DNA hydroxylation in regulating memory associated with fear-related anxiety disorder
  • Kieran J O’Donnel, McGill U: Epigenetics and Early intervention: a study of DNA methylation in the Nurse Family Partnership
  • Michael S. Kobor, UBC: Genomic Embedding of Early Life Experiences
1:30 – 3:00 Symposium 3: Synaptic Adhesion Molecules: From Synapse Development to Complex Behavior
Sponsored by The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Chairs: Valérie Mongrain, U Montreal, Hideto Takahashi, U Montreal

  • Hideto Takahashi, U Montreal: Synaptogenic adhesion complexes for excitatory and inhibitory synapse development
  • Jason Lerch, SickKids H: Variable effects on brain and behaviour in mouse models featuring loss of function mutations in Neuroligin3, Neurexin1, and Cntnap2
  • Valérie Mongrain, U Montréal: Role of Neuroligins and Eph receptors in sleep regulation
  • Nahum Sonenberg, McGill U: Translational control of autism and Fragile-X syndrome
1:30 – 3:00 Symposium 4: Moving toward an understanding of brain functioning using computational approaches.
Chairs: Frances K Skinner, U Toronto, Maurice Chacron, McGill U
Sponsored by the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro

  • Eve Marder, Brandeis U: Variability, homeostasis and modulation in neural circuits
  • Tara Klassen, UBC: Multi-­‐scale in silico modeling of personal ion channel gene mutations as a cause of epilepsy and brain mediated sudden death
  • Jesse Gillis, Cold Spring Harbor Lab:Gene networks for understanding brain function and dysfunction
  • Gunnar Blohm, Queen’s University: Understanding sensory-to‐motor transformations through network models
3:00 – 5:30 Posters and Exhibits
5:30 PM Parallel Sessions: Career Development Sessions of Potential Interest to All (Choose your favorite!)

  • Parkinson Society Canada Donald Calne Lecture (of interest to all)
  • Career development – Careers Inside Academia (targeted to trainees and junior faculty)
  • Implicit Gender Bias Workshop (of interest to all)
  • Publishing 2.0 (of interest to all)
7:15 – 8:45 W. Garfield Weston Foundation Reception
The W. Garfield Weston Foundation invites all CAN Meeting registrants to a reception to learn more about their neuroscience medical research funding. They will share details of upcoming funding programs, and answer any questions you have.
The reception is open to researchers and post-docs who are, or could be doing translational research in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, FTD, ALS, PSP, dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple system atrophy or mild cognitive impairment as prodromal to one of the other listed diseases. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres provided.
Space is limited and preregistration is required. Email or call Crystal Braganza crystal.braganza@weston.ca or (416) 922-1383 ext.5695 to RSVP.
7:30 – 9:30 CAN Student Social
Thomson House, 3650 Rue McTavish
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/labc5zl

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

8:30 – 9:30 A.M. Featured Plenary speaker:
Eric Nestler, Mt. Sinai, NYC Transcriptional and Epigenetic Mechanisms of Drug Addiction
Sponsored by Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé
9:30 – 9:45 Brain Star talk: Francesco Ferrini, U of Turin, Italy
Microglia-mediated alteration of Cl- homeostasis underlies morphine hyperalgesia
9:45 – 10:00 Coffee break
10:00 – 11:00 Posters/exhibits
Sponsored by SickKids Center for Brain & Mental Health
11:00 – 12:00 Plenary symposium: Mechanisms in learning reward value.Sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Chair: Stephanie Borgland, HBI, UCalgary

  • Jonathan Britt, McGill U: Dissecting the Neural Circuits Underlying Motivated Behaviours Relevant to Reward Learning and Drug Addiction
  • Stan Floresco, UBC: Dopaminergic circuits mediating risk/reward decision biases
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch on own – Posters and Exhibits
Sponsored by SickKids Center for Brain & Mental Health
1:30 – 3:00 Parallel symposia
1:30 – 3:00 Symposium 5: Large-scale brain dynamics: combining insights from intracranial EEG and fMRI
Sponsored by Tucker-Davis technologies
Chairs: Karim Jerbi, U de Montréal,
Christopher Honey, U Toronto

  • Yuri Saalmann, U of Wisconsin: Thalamic control of cortical dynamics
  • Christopher Honey, U Toronto: Large-scale patterns of rhythmic suppression in human cerebral cortex
  • Thilo Womelsdorf, York U: How single cell activity in prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex contributes to large-scale network dynamics: State specific burst synchronization at beta and gamma band activity
  • Karim Jerbi, U Montreal: The neurophysiological basis of the default-mode network
1:30  – 3:00 Symposium 6: Novel cellular and molecular mechanisms in the pathophysiology of parkinsonism
Sponsored by Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University
Chair: Austen J Milnerwood, UBC

  • Edward Fon, McGill U: Function of Parkin and PINK1 in mitochondrial Quality-Control
  • Louis-Eric Trudeau, U Montréal: Axonal arborization and energetic metabolism of nigral dopamine neurons: a window into selective vulnerability
  • Martin Lévesque, U Laval: Multiple roles of Lmx1a and Lmx1b in dopaminergic axonal connectivity and maintenance
  • Austen J Milnerwood, UBC: Multiple Parkinson’s disease-linked proteins regulate synaptic transmission and neurotransmitter receptor trafficking
1:30  – 3:00 Symposium 7: New cuts by calpain to remodel the nervous system
Sponsored by Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec
Chair: Wayne Sossin, McGill University

  • Tim O’Connor, UBC: Calpain activity maintains the stability of neurite morphology in Vivo
  • Mandana Amini, U Ottawa: Dual nature of calpain in the CNS: Plasticity and Injury
  • Paul De Koninck, U Laval: A tail to memorize : cleavage of synaptic GluN2B by calpain to support synaptic plasticity
  • Carole Abi Farah, McGill U: Role of typical and atypical calpains in cleavage of PKCs into PKMs for memory formation
1:30  – 3:00 Symposium 8: Linking neural circuit dynamics to cognition and behaviour
Chair: Masami Tatsuno, U Lethbridge,
Paul Frankland, U Toronto

  • Masami Tatsuno, U Lethbridge: Role of sleep for motor skill learning
  • Jennie Young, MIT: Processing objects and space in the hippocampus
  • Matthijs van der Meer, U Waterloo: Segmentation of spatial experience by theta oscillations
  • Kari Hoffman, York U: Hippocampal oscillations in monkey and humans during memory-guided visual search
3:00 – 5:00 Posters and Exhibits
Sponsored by SickKids Center for Brain & Mental Health
5:00 – 6:00 Young investigator award and lecture
Sponsored by Faculty of Medicine – McGill University
6:00 – 7:00 Keynote Lecture:
Michael E. Greenberg, Harvard Medical School
Signaling Networks that Regulate Synapse Development and Cognitive Function

  Wednesday, May 28, 2014

3:00 – 3:30CAN Annual General Meeting – all CAN members invited to attend – Breakout room A

8:30 – 9:30 A.M. Featured Plenary Speaker:
Jay Gottfried, Northwestern U
All Roads Lead to Smell: What Odors Can Teach Us About Brain Function
9:30 – 9:45 Brain Star talk: Marc Bergeron, CRIUSMQ – U Laval
Chloride extrusion enhancers as novel therapeutics for neurological diseases
9:45 – 10:00 Coffee break
10:00- 11:00 Posters/exhibits
11:00 – 12:00 Plenary symposium:
The Cognitive Neuroscience of the Senses
Sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Chair: Shayna Rosenbaum, York U

  • Morris Moscovitch, U Toronto: Spatial (and event) memory in humans and rodents
  • Ingrid Johnsrude, Queen’s U: The role of prediction and attention in speech perception
12:00 – 12:30 Focus on Brain : new CQDM/Brain Canada partnership funding program in neurosciences to accelerate drug discovery – information session, with

  • Judith Caron, Director of Programs, CQDM
  • Haifa Staiti, Manager, Research Programs, Brain Canada, and
  • Steven Xanthoudakis, Director, Business Development & Licensing at Merck
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch on own
1:00 – 3:00 Posters and Exhibits
3:30 – 5:00 Parallel symposia
3:30 – 5:00 Symposium 9: An unexpected roundtrip journey through the hippocampal trisynaptic excitatory network
Sponsored by Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec
Chair: Jean-Claude Béïque, U of Ottawa

  • Katalin Toth, U Laval: Synaptic vesicle dynamics and the timing and efficacy of glutamate release at hippocampal mossy fibre terminals
  • Richard Robitaille, U de Montréal: Astrocytes detect and regulate basal synaptic transmission at single CA1 synapses
  • Jean-Claude Béique, U of Ottawa: Developmentally-regulated spatiotemporal features of calcium signaling at CA1 glutamatergic synapses
  • Sylvain Williams, McGill U: New mechanisms for bidirectional communication in the trisynaptic glutamatergic circuit of the hippocampus
3:30 – 5:00 Symposium 10: Novel Pharmacology of Ion-Channels & Transporters
Sponsored by The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Chairs: Derek Bowie, McGill U and
Yu-Tian Wang, UBC

  • Yu-Tian Wang, UBC: Allosteric potentiation of synaptic inhibition by excitatory neurotransmitters
  • Brent Dawe, McGill U: Sodium ion On/Off switch for ionotropic glutamate receptors
  • Anne McKinney, McGill U: Na+/H+ exchanger NHE6, X-linked intellectual disability and autism
  • Yves De Koninck, U Laval: Chloride dysregulation; a culprit for several brain diseases
3:30 – 5:00 Symposium 11: Alzheimer’s disease molecular mechanisms and therapeutics
Chairs: Marco AM Prado, Robarts RI,
Douglas P Munoz, Queen’s U

  • Weihong Song, UBC: The role of BACE1 in Alzheimer’s Disease Pathogenesis
  • Marco AM Prado, Robarts RI: Chaperoning neurotoxicity in Alzheimer’s disease
  • Douglas P Munoz, Queen’s U: Role of beta oligomers in triggering Alzheimer’s like pathology and the role of insulin receptor signalling in neuroprotection
  • R. Jane Rylett, U Western Ontario: Multiple roles of cholinergic neurons in the modulation of amyloid production
3:30 – 5:00 Symposium 12: Comfort Feeding: Functional Interplay Between Feeding Behaviour, Stress and Emotionality
Sponsored by: Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Chair: Barbara Woodside, Concordia U

  • Alfonso Abizaid, Carleton U: Ghrelin signaling drives social stress-­‐mediated obesity
  • Matthew Hill, HBI, UCalgary: Glucocorticoid hormones recruit endocannabinoid signaling to promote obesity and metabolic syndrome
  • ClaireDominique Walker, McGill U: Early life exposure to high fat diet modulates the development and maturation of stress responses
  • Stephanie Fulton, U Montréal:  Nutritional, metabolic and neural signals connecting obesity and depression

End of Meeting