Plenaries
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Professor Masud Husain, University of Oxford
When memory and motivation fade in brain disorders
18:10 Monday 10th April
Sponsored by Johnson and Johnson Innovation
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Professor Andrea Brand, University of Cambridge
Nutritional control of neural stem cells
11:20, Tuesday 11th April
Sponsored by The Guarantors of the Brain
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Professor Graham Collingridge (winner of the 2016 Brain Prize),University of Toronto / University of Bristol
Synaptic plasticity, memory, and molecules
16:40, Tuesday 11th April
Sponsored by The Brain Prize
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Professor Alon Chen, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry
Genetic and optogenetic dissection of the central stress response and stress-linked psychiatric disorders
11:20, Wednesday 12th April
In association with The Physiological Society
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Professor May-Britt Moser (2014 Nobel prize winner for Physiology and Medicine), Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Brain mechanisms for representing space
16:40, Wednesday 12th April
In Association with The Wolstencroft Trust
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Professor Sarah Jayne Blakemore, UCL
Adolescence as a sensitive period of brain development
12:00, Thursday 13th April
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President's Symposium
Current BNA President Professor John Aggleton FRS has selected to highlight how neuroscience can meaningfully inform the way education is delivered.
PRESIDENT'S SYMPOSIUM: Neuroscience informed education (S16)
Tuesday 11th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Sponsored by the Experimental Psychology Society
Chair: Professor Paul Howard-Jones (University of Bristol)
- Speaker 1: Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg (University of Oxford) 'Fit to study'
- Speaker 2: Professor Usha Goswami (University of Cambridge) 'GrahoGame Rime - aiding learning'
- Speaker 3: Professor Michael Thomas (Birkbeck, University of London) 'New initiatives in educational neuroscience'
- Speaker 4: Dr Katie Blackmore (University of Bristol) 'Engaging the brain's reward system
The speakers will outline ways in which our understanding of neuroscience can be applied to improving methods of education. The talks will include different components of a major project funded by the Wellcome Trust, The Education and Neuroscience Initiative, which seeks to test different ways of applying our knowledge of brain function to the classroom.
You can attend the President's symposium by selecting it during the Festival registration process.
Sponsored by:
Paul Howard-Jones is also giving a public lecture on this topic: see public programme.
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Programme by theme
We have twelve themes running throughout the Festival, covering a wide range of neuroscience research and applications:
Attention, motivation, behaviour
S1: Neural networks of fear and anxiety - PTSD - Monday 10th April, 13.00 - 14.40
S5: Disorders of motivation in brain conditions - Monday 10th April, 16.20 - 18.00
Sponsored by the Association of British Neurologists
S11: Neuronal control of nutrition: integrating energy balance and motivation - Tuesday 11th April, 9:00 - 10:40
S33: What is special about 'social'? - Thursday 13th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by the British Psychological Society
Sensory and motor systems
S2: Spinal motor control: more than just a reflex - Monday 10th April, 13:00 - 14:40
S18: The relevance of invertebrate neuroscience to food security - Tuesday 11th April, 13:20 - 15:00
S22: Information integration across the senses - Wednesday 12th April, 9:00 - 10:40
S27: Towards a causal understanding of motor learning in humans: a role for non-invasive brain stimulation - Wednesday 12th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Sponsored by Rogue Resolutions
S34: MRI at 7 Tesla: new capabilities and insights - Thursday 13th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by Oxford Neuroscience
Novel treatments and translational neuroscience
S3: Novel targets for pain, depression and their co-morbidity - Monday 10th April, 13:00 - 14:40
Sponsored by Neuroscience Ireland
S24: Epilepsy and precision medicine - Wednesday 12th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by the Association of British Neurologists
S30: Bad Pharma? Improving CNS drug discovery and development with live human CNS tissue - Wednesday 12th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Sponsored by Takeda
Genetics and epigenetics
S6: Epigenetics: causes and consequences of neurological disorders - Monday 10th April, 16:20 - 18:00
Sponsored by the Biochemical Society
S17: Genetics of language disorders: from gene mapping to biological mechanisms - Tuesday 11th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Supported by The Genetics Society
S28: Epigenetics, placenta and developmental programming: coordination of mother and offspring brain - Wednesday 12th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Supported by The Genetics Society
Learning and memory
S7: Retrosplenial cortex - a gateway to episodic memories? - Monday 10th April, 16:20 - 18:00
S16: PRESIDENT'S SYMPOSIUM: Neuroscience informed education - Tuesday 11th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Sponsored by the Experimental Psychology Society
Neurodegenerative disorders and ageing
S9: Towards disease modifying drugs for neurodegeneration: connecting learnings from genetics, molecular and pathology studies - Monday 10th April, 16:20 - 18:00
S12: Old brains, new insights - Tuesday 11th April, 9:00 - 10:40
S23: The APOE paradox: pathway to Alzheimer's disease - Wednesday 12th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Developmental neuroscience
S19: Neurobiological roots of brain tumours - Tuesday 11th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Sponsored by the British Neuropathological Society and the British Neuro-Oncology Society
Neuronal, glial and cellular mechanisms
S10: Microglia, neuroinflammation and psychiatric disease: biomarkers and therapeutic potential - Tuesday 11th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by the British Association for Psychopharmacology
S15: Synaptic plasticity in physiological contexts - Tuesday 11th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Supported by Scientifica
S21: Opioids revisited: new developments and opportunities for opioid pharmacology - Wednesday 12th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by the British Pharmacological Society
S29: From channelopathies to synaptopathies - Wednesday 12th April, 13:20 - 15:00
S32: Understanding microglial functional heterogeneity in the healthy and diseased brain - Thursday 13th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by Alzheimer's Research UK
The Neurobiology of Stress - A Topic Meeting of The Physiological Society
S14: Stress and cardiovascular control - Tuesday 11th April, 9:00 - 10:40
S20: Imaging the Emotional Brain: fMRI studies in rodents and man - Tuesday 11th April, 13:20 - 15:00
S25: Environment and synaptic function - Wednesday 12th April, 9:00 - 10:40
S31: Long-term effects of early life activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis: a comparative approach - Wednesday 12th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Neuroendocrine and autonomic nervous sytems
S4: Hypothalamic Tanycytes: the metabolic brain and adult neurogenesis - Monday 10th April, 13:00 - 14:40
Sponsored by the British Society for Neuroendocrinology
S36: Early life stress: consequences for neurodevelopment and behaviour - Thursday 13th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by the British Society for Neuroendocrinology
Psychiatry and mental health
S8: Treating anxiety – the role of benzodiazepines and beyond - Monday 10th April, 16:20 - 18:00
Sponsored by Society for Neuroscience, London Chapter
S13: Young peoples mental health: uniting the sciences to find answers - Tuesday 11th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by MQ: Transforming Mental Health
S35: What the brain tells us about the mind: lessons from neuropsychiatry - Thursday 13th April, 9:00 - 10:40
Sponsored by the British NeuroPsychiatry Association
Methods and techniques
S26: Why Neuroinformatics and Computational Modelling matters for Neuroscience - Wednesday 12th April, 13:20 - 15:00
Other (e.g. history, education, outreach)
Posters can be submitted under this theme.
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Talk abstracts
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Early-career events
We realise that the Festival provides a valuable opportunity for students and early-career researchers and clinicians. A host of features have therefore been tailored specifically with you in mind!
- Heavily subsidised student registration fee
- 750 poster presentation slots
- Bursaries for presenting authors
- Selected poster submissions highlighted in a rapid-fire oral session (3 minute talks) - sponsored by MRC
- Poster prizes for early-career delegates (supported by bio-techne)
- Scientific speed-dating
- Careers booth in the exhibition area - sponsored by MRC
- Evening social event 'Eight til Late' run by and for students and early-career researchers - sponsored by Imanova
- All symposia include at least one up-and-coming scientist amongst the speaker line-up
There is therefore an 'Early-career strand' of events through the Festival:
- Monday afternoon: Rapid-fire poster talks - sponsored by MRC
A quick-fire poster talk session, where selected poster abstracts are presented via short, 3 minute talks, giving you the chance to raise awareness of their research and invite people to visit their posters.
See list of abstracts selected for presentation
- Tuesday morning: Funding workshop: ‘Getting grants - Advice for young scientists’ - sponsored by MRC
A workshop in which major funders will present information about current schemes and provide information about better grant writing. The presentations will be followed by a Question and Answer session. Speakers:
- Kate Adcock - Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health, MRC
- Giovanna Lalli - Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Wellcome Trust
- Alexandra Spittle - Peer Review Officer, BBSRC Science Delivery Group
- Marianna D'Arco - Scheme Manager, Grants, Royal Society
- Anbalakan Paramasivam - Senior Manager, UK Grants, Royal Society
- Tuesday lunchtime: Speed-dating for careers in science
A ‘scientific speed-dating’ session where early-career scientists sign up in advance for a five minute conversation with an established, senior neuroscientist. This arrangement creates a relaxing forum in which questions and answers naturally bounce to and fro.
(This proved highly popular at the previous Festival; book your place fast! Select 'speed-dating' when registering for the Festival.)
- Wednesday morning: Beyond Academe
A workshop for students and early-career researchers looking at alternatives to the academic research career pathway, e.g. working in the pharmaceutical industry, policy, education, acaedmic administration and beyond.
- Victoria Gill - BBC Science Correspondent
- Gary Gilmour - Senior Research Scientist, Eli Lilly
- Lucy Foss - Team Manager, Neuroscience and Mental Health, Wellcome Trust
- Natasha Bray - Associate Editor, Nature Reviews Neuroscience
- Erica Smyth - Preclinical scientist, Imanova Ltd
- Wednesday lunchtime: Speed-dating for alternative careers
Given the demand for scientific speed-dating at the previous Festival, we have added a second session to the 2017 programme. This second session will include more scientific speed-dating sessions should there need to be an overflow from the first session, as well as the chance for conversations about careers beyond academia – e.g. in industry or policy making – with people working in these areas.
- Throughout the meeting: Posters
Three full poster sessions covering 12 themes and allowing for 750 poster presentations. All have a separate preview session to allow poster presenters to also see other posters in the same session, and for all delegates to select posters to return to and discuss with the presenting author in more detail.
- Throughout the meeting: Careers Booth - sponsored by MRC
A careers booth in the exhibition area, open at any time for students and early-career researchers to get help and find information to further your career
We are very grateful for the support from Imanova and the MRC in the early-career researcher and student events taking place at BNA2017.
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Satellite Symposium
What makes good code?
Two-hour interactive seminar open to all delegates at BNA2017 Festival of Neuroscience
Poor code is often the weakest link in neuroscience. Do you write scripts as part of your work, and want to improve your code? If so, this seminar is for you. Unlike a "programming" course, we will focus on maximising productivity in a scientific setting. It is ideally suited for people who already have 2-3 years’ experience of writing code. The teaching will be language-agnostic but examples will be drawn from Matlab and Python. In the session we will discuss the factors that contribute to well-written programs, focusing on style, clarity, technique and robustness. As scientific programmers, you will discover how to move from writing a series of one-use scripts, to writing well-planned, transparent, re-usable code.
Topics to be covered will include: Commenting, Formatting, Naming, Abstraction, Externalisation, Functions and Namespaces, Stack frames, Lambdas and Debugging.
Where: Executive Room 8, Birmingham ICC
When: Monday 10th April, 11:00 - 13:00
A sandwich lunch will be provided. Places are free, but will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis. Please book by emailing sanjay.manohar@ndcn.ox.ac.uk with your name and institution. Funded by the Software Sustainablity Institute http://www.software.ac.uk.
Tutor: Dr Sanjay Manohar is an MRC Clinician Scientist at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford. He has taught Good Coding Practice courses at UCL and Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Software Sustainability Institute, an RCUK-funded body aiming to improve software in academia.
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