Sex Matters - My Winter School Experience

'Sex, Hormones and the Brain' was the title that convinced me to head off to southern Germany and participate in a conference [1].
Being part of it turned out to introduce me to a vibrant research landscape, in Tübingen and beyond. The winter school was organized by the Materiki Network of Universities (MNU) [2], connecting universities across Europe, America and Australia. One of its foci is integrative neuroscience, for which the Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) in Tübingen was a perfect match. The city itself is very picturesque and worth a visit on its own. 

As the first symposium ‘Sex hormones and mood‘ started, I could immediately sense the open-minded and supportive atmosphere. Here, researchers were facing a part of science that often is overlooked elsewhere. I learned how important sex hormone fluctuations and the hormone-brain interface itself can be for mood disorders, cognition, memory and even brain connectivity. Talks and posters ranged from sex differences to gender dysphoria, and from basic brain functions to clinical implications. Not only the topic, but also the participants were open-minded and fostered a warm and welcoming spirit that really showed at a museum dinner party that featured nice food and live music and offered the possibility to closely interact with the speakers.

Their talks were inspiring and included some very well-known scientists like Inger Sundström Poromaa (Uppsala), Ute Habel (Aachen) or Niels Birbaumer (Tübingen). Of three parallel ‘Meet an expert‘ sessions, I chose 'Women in Academia: the path to a successful career and work-life balance'. It offered the wonderful opportunity to meet three successful female scientists at once. Getting to know such role models motivated me a lot and once again pointed out how important it is to help each other in science, rather than to compete.

So, what should you take home from this?
1)   Whenever you start a new project: consider sex and hormones as a crucial influence.
2)   As soon as you see an upcoming neuroscience winter school in Tübingen: register!

by Annika Reinhold, MSc Student MedNeuro


[1] http://bit.ly/2EKn16w
[2]http://bit.ly/2o8syJC

Conference Report - FENS 2012

The 11th FENS Forum of Neuroscience (FENS 2018, http://www.forum2018.fens.org/), will take place in Berlin, Germany from 7-11 July, 2018. Early registration and abstract submission opens today. One of our students attended the FENS in 2012, read her impressions here.


The Federation of European Neurosciences Societies (FENS) held its 8th Forum of Neuroscience in Barcelona, Spain, from July 14th to 18th 2012. Organized every two years since 1998, the FENS Forum is the largest meeting for neuroscientists in Europe. This year, it gathered more than 6500 scientists from all over the world, who were able to present, share and learn from the latest and most important advances in brain research, in fields like learning and memory, synaptic plasticity, neurodegeneration, neurodevelopment, behavior and emotion, psychiatric disorders, genetics, epigenetics, etc.

The program was very attractive, with a combination of plenary lectures, parallel symposia, technical workshops and special lectures every day. Poster presentations played a very big role, with four sessions each day and more than 2500 posters displayed during the whole event.
One of the special lectures held at the FENS Forum was dedicated to the winners of the Brain Prize in its inaugural 2011 edition. The Brain Prize is awarded by the Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation to one or more scientists who have contributed to European neuroscience advance with an outstanding and relevant research. Although nominees can be of any nationality, the prize is aimed at researchers whose work has been carried out in Europe or in collaboration with neuroscientists in Europe.

The prize, consisting in € 1 million, was awarded in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 2nd, 2011, to Péter Somogyi (Oxford University, UK), Tamás Freund (Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary) and György Buzsáki (Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA) 'for their wide-ranging, technically and conceptually brilliant research on the functional organization of neuronal circuits in the cerebral cortex, especially in the hippocampus, a region that is crucial for certain forms of memory' [1].
The three awarded researchers are native Hungarians. The prize therefore seeks to also recognize the recent contribution of Hungarians to neuroscience that follows the tradition already started by scientists like Károly Schaffer (who gave name to ´Schaffer collaterals´) or Mihály Lenhossék (who introduced the term ´astrocyte´). Somogyi, Freund and Buzsáki have worked together, as reflected in several collaborations and joint publications, with their research focused on the structure and function of complex circuits of nerve cells, particularly in the hippocampus, as unravelling these is important for the understanding of information processing.

During the FENS lecture, Peter Somogyi explained his concept of the unity of time and space in the brain, an idea he has termed ´chronocircuitry´. He presented his latest work aiming at understanding the functional organization of the brain by identifying the specific neuronal subtypes that make up a given neuronal circuit, their morphology, the particular expression of certain neurotransmitters and receptors and their input-output relationships.

In his talk, Tamás Freund presented how different types of interneurons modulate neuronal oscillation in the cortex and hippocampus and the role of endocannabinoid signaling. To explain it, Freund used a comic, yet very didactic video of an octopus: In the animation the octopus represented the interneuron, holding in its tentacles several swimmers (pyramidal cells) under the water. When the octopus releases the swimmers, they all go and reach the surface of the water at the same time to catch their breath, therefore, representing the role of interneurons in synchronizing pyramidal cells to fire at the same time and frequency. In the same way, release of endocannabinoids by a pyramidal cell inhibits GABA release by the interneuron onto them - thus, avoiding synchronization. This was shown in the video as a Bob Marley-looking swimmer who, by smoking marijuana (the analogue to endocannabinoid release), had escaped from the octopus tentacles and could thus breathe at his own rate.

Finally, György Buzsáki presented his recent work on how brain rhythms coordinate cell assemblies - transiently active ensembles of neurons- to allow them to perform operations like encoding memories or reasoning. The idea behind his research is that hierarchical organization of cell assemblies can be seen as a ´neural syntax´, i.e. as a mean of an ordered language construction in the brain.
In addition to the scientific program, a number of social and special events were organized, such as 'Cooking with the brain' about the evolution of food perception, 'Meet the expert' and 'Build your career', giving scientists and industrial partners the chance to meet other scientists in a more informal environment or the 'Jump the FENS Party'. Finally, participants had the opportunity to visit several touristic attractions in the city as well as museums, such as the Museum of Natural Sciences, located next to the FENS venue.

The Forum took place at the International Convention Center of Barcelona (CCIB), right in front of the beach, by the Mediterranean sea, an ideal location to allow everyone to enjoy the warm temperatures and sunshine weather before, in-between and after the daily sessions.


[1] Soltesz I, Trends in Neurosciences, 2011
The Brain Prize: http://www.thebrainprize.org/flx/the_brain_prize/



By Violeta Castelo Szekely, MSc Student Medical Neurosciences
This article originally appeared 2012 in CNS Volume 5, Issue 3, Engineering the Brain

Neurasmus Annual Meeting

This year's annual meeting of the Neurasmus Master's program, in which Charité is a partner university, took place in the first week of July in Göttingen. 

As usual, the graduating students presented their Master theses on the first day, and this time also attended a lecture by Prof. Erwin Neher, father of the patch-clamp technique and Nobel laureate in 1991. In the evening, a guided tour through the university town welcomed the participants.

Focus on Career Development
The Neurasmus program has become strongly committed to offering career guidance to its students. The second day of the meeting was dedicated to this topic: it started with a workshop where the current students discussed their career questions and issues with the alumni. The afternoon followed with talks by invited speakers from Sartorius, a biotech company from Göttingen and parallel meetings amongst the students and the advisory board for the program coordinators to come up with ideas to improve the career development of Neurasmus students.

Art and Culture
The third day was reserved for a day trip to the neighboring city of Kassel, which included a guided tour through Documenta – a contemporary art exhibition that takes place there every five years – and the 'Hercules Park' and its several waterfalls and fountains. And, of course, the annual meeting is never complete without its traditional karaoke night.

Closure and Next Steps
On the fourth and final day of the meeting, MedNeuro alumna and program officer Julia Rummel conducted a design thinking workshop powered by her company, Innoki. The goal for the students: to investigate how to find a suitable lab for a PhD. In the evening, the graduation ceremony and dinner for the second-year students took place in a beautiful outdoor setting. It is hard to say goodbye to Neurasmates, but we know it is always a mere 'see you later'. Next year's annual meeting will take place in Bordeaux, the Neurasmus headquarters, at the end of August, together with Orientation Week for the freshmen. Until then, we in Berlin are looking forward to welcoming the new Neurasmus students who are about to start their studies at the Charité!

by Mariana Cerdeira, PhD Student AG Harms

This article originally appeared September 2017 in CNS Volume 10, Issue 3, Spirituality in Science

MedNeuros on the Loose: PhD Retreat 2016

Next week the second MedNeuro PhD retreat will take place. Let's have a look at the report from last year.

It all began when an email was sent inviting students to help in the organization of the first ever MedNeuro PhD retreat.
Having formed a team of organizers, several meetings were held together with the representative of the MedNeuro office. The retreat was organized by MedNeuro PhD students with the aim of reinforcing the communication and interaction among the PhD students amidst the exchange of scientific ideas.
The enthusiastic response of students led to a total of 33 registered participants. On D-day, our bus took off at 4 pm en route to Schloss Wahlsdorf, 2 hours south of Berlin. In the bus, each participant received the booklet for the retreat which contained the program schedule, as well as some instructions.
Our graduate school has remained very international over the years, with a diversity of nationalities from across the globe represented. Most students work in labs scattered across Berlin on the Charité campuses, with the majority on campus Mitte. A quick survey showed that most participants are in the middle of their PhDs, although a few students are just beginning and very few almost finishing.

Hitting the Town In Wahlsdorf
When we arrived at Schloss Wahlsdorf, we had a grill party for supper – lots of meat with servings of mixed greens and bread. The quietness of the location with its few inhabitants was a great advantage for socializing and brainstorming. The cool breeze of the night with its accompanying stars in the sky encouraged us to stay outside longer, socializing over bottles of beer and wine. This facilitated the interaction among participants, which was one of the main reasons for organizing the retreat.
The speed dating session that night permitted practically all participants to interact with the others. This already closed the gap between participants making each one feel comfortable and at home. Of course, on a day like this, after embarking on such a long journey, while some preferred to go early to bed, others waited a little while to enjoy the night with the stars and cool breeze. It was full of smiles, laughter and giggling.

From the Bench...
This was the day assigned to the talks and poster sessions for the exchange of scientific knowledge. The organizers ensured that each talk had 5 minutes of discussion and each poster 3 minutes. It was very inspiring to see how the students listened attentively and participated actively in the discussions that arose after each talk. Furthermore, the poster and talk sessions unraveled the dynamism of neuroscience topics in the PhD program, ranging from electrophysiology to clinical studies. To relax our minds after the scientific program, we had a game session combining mime, puzzles, a quiz and making music from some selected scientific words.

... to the Boardroom
We had an interactive table discussion about careers with Rob Thompson, an entrepreneur and well-renowned trainer. His approach was quite different from what most of us are used to. Participants raised questions or topics which were of interest to them and we dealt with them accordingly. We learnt some tips for getting the job we want and building your network. We also learnt how to deal with difficult colleagues and work in a team. The talk was exciting and had a mock job interview with some participants acting as recruiters.
Around 5 pm we prepared to head back to Berlin bringing our 2-day retreat to a successful end.
This was really a retreat to remember and we look forward to making it an annual event. Just in case you missed it, watch out for the next PhD retreat.

The organizing team is grateful to all for your support and enthusiasm shown before and during the retreat. We thank the team (Valérie, Mariana, Priscilla, Fenia, Laura and Veronika) and the MedNeuro office for the financial support for making this retreat see the light of the day, and of course the wonderful participants without whom the retreat would not have been successful.

by Priscilla Koduah, PhD Student AG Paul
this article originally appeared December 2016 in Vol. 09 Issue 4: From Cradle to Grave

Conference Report: World Health Summit

Hold once a year, the World Health Summit (WHS) has grown into the world’s most prominent forum for addressing global health issues. It takes place in Berlin and brings together key leaders from academia, politics, civil society, and the private sector to address the most pressing health-related challenges on the planet. Until July 31, 2017 students can register for 69 EUR. Some of our students attended the WHS last year.

By chance I was even wearing the WHS colours.

During the eighth World Health Summit (WHS) 2016, a lot of big and ambitious topics were discussed: medical care for refugees, access to medicine, epidemics such as Ebola or Zika, non-communicable diseases such as stroke, antimicrobial resistance (which constitutes one of today's major health challenges), translational research, technological innovations, data management and empowerment of women.

The WHS brought together about 1800 researchers, physicians, government officials, representatives from industry, non-governmental organizations, and healthcare systems from more than 90 countries to discuss the most pressing issues facing every facet of healthcare and medicine in the upcoming decade and beyond. Prominent participants were Herrmann Gröhe, the German minister of health, Emanuelle Charpentier from the Max Plank Institute for Infectious Diseases and Pascale Ehrenfreund from the German Aerospace Center ... just to do some name dropping.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE 

SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE

Rather than a series of snooze-inducing presentations, the three days were full of open dialogues and discussion rounds in small rooms with a handful of appointed speakers who gave short presentations, followed by group discussions with plenty of opportunities to ask questions. The atmosphere was very inspiring and everyone from high-level policy makers to students held discussions together as equals.

One highlight of the conference was the startup track pitch competition. This included amazing contributions such as Midge Medical, who invented a new blood testing device for malaria, or the startup Glasschair, who developed a wheelchair that can be navigated by eye movements, or COLDPLASMATECH, a startup that produces an amazing new solution to help wounds heal faster.

Attending this conference was a great opportunity to break beyond my comfort zone, meet interesting people from the health sector and of course do some networking (I recommend printing business cards if you want to go). But above all, it was a great conference to get updated on global health issues, and it made me want to focus even more on the translational aspect of science.

The conference ended with a call to action in five key central areas of global health: 

1) Empowerment of Women and Girls

2) Right to Health of Refugees and Migrants, 

3) Resilience and Global Health Security, 

4) Sustainable solutions against antimicrobial resistance, 

5) Investment in Research, Development and Health Innovation. 

It's all tall order, but nonetheless a good start!

by Claudia Willmes, PhD Alumni AG Eickholt/AG Schmitz

this article originally appeared  2016 in CNS Volume 9, Issue 4, From Cradle to Grave in the Brain