Young Researchers Day 2019

IoNS Young Researcher Day will give you the opportunity to hear the talk of Alban de Kerchove d’Exaerde (and maybe exchange a word or two with him over the drinks afterwards), to meet fellow young scientists from our institute and to learn about their work. Even if you are already an experienced postdoc, we encourage you to come meet your new colleagues and share with them some of your wisdom. We also remind PhD students that the participation in YRD can be used to get credits, and that a talk or a poster presentation will earn you an extra credit on top.

Program

9:00 - 10h30 First session of oral presentations

• Simone Vespa - Vagus nerve stimulation-induced Laryngeal motor evoked potentials: a possible biomarker of effective nerve activation
• Ghady El Khoury - Manual ability in hand surgery patients: validation of the ABILHAND scale in four diagnostic groups
• Iana Slobodeaniuc - Novel functions of RhoA small GTPase in non-radial migration of cortical excitatory neurons
• Raphael Mesquita - The bouncing mechanism of running with a hindering or aiding traction force

10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 - 12:00 Second session of oral presentations

• Estelle De Groote - Effect of Hypoxia Exercise on Glucose Metabolism in Healthy and Prediabetic Adults
• Olga Seminck - The use of electronic messages for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease: the MIND-IT project
• Emmanuelle Wilhelm - The role of Basal Ganglia and Dopamine in Preparatory Inhibition: What can we learn from Parkinson’s disease?

12:00 - 12:30 Poster teaser session

12:30 - 14:00 Poster session & lunch

14:00 - 15:30 Third session of oral presentations

• Antoine De Comite - Online modification of the control policy in human reaching movements
• Vincent Malotaux - Glucose metabolism predicts subsequent cognitive decline in regions whose metabolism is associated with amyloid-β deposition.
• Océane Perdaens - MicroRNA dysregulation in Multiple Sclerosis and other neuro-inflammatory diseases: multi-compartment patterns of expression and pathway analysis
• Solenn Gousset - Identifying the optimal electrical stimulation protocol for the induction of secondary hyperalgesia in humans

15:30 - 16:15 Vote and coffee break

In accordance with the tradition, two prizes will be awarded at the end of the YRD to the best poster and the best oral presentation and all attendees will have the possibility to vote for their favorite. This year, the prizes are being sponsored by Merck.

16:15 - 16:30 Word of the President + prizes

16:30 - 17:45 Keynote talk

Addiction elsewhere than in dopaminergic neurons

by Alban de Kerchove d’Exaerde
Lab of Neurophysiology, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Bruxelles

Abstract:

Motivational processes are under the critical influence of the ventral part of basal ganglia, comprising several interconnected nuclei (as striatum, globus pallidus and ventral tegmental area (VTA)). Addictive drugs increase extracellular DA levels in the ventral striatum, Nucleus Accumbens (NAc), and share this ability despite varied pharmacological properties and mechanisms of action. A major goal in the field of drug addiction has been to uncover the molecular, cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying addiction-associated neuroadaptations. It has been hypothesized that one such mechanism is the regulation of gene expression7, and there have been numerous studies that have documented altered expression of genes in the NAc.
We discovered that Maged1 (Melanoma antigen genes d1) has a mandatory role in behaviours related to drug addiction in BG. Mice lacking Maged1 are insensitive to the behavioural effects of cocaine as assessed by locomotor sensitization, conditioned place preference (CPP), and drug self-administration. Electrophysiological experiments in brain slices and conditional KO mice demonstrated that Maged1 is critical for cortico-accumbal neurotransmission. Further, expression of Maged1 in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, but not in dopaminergic or striatal neurons, is required for cocaine-induced extracellular DA release in the NAc as well as cocaine-mediated behavioural sensitization and acute cocaine effect respectively. This work identifies Maged1 as a critical molecule involved in cellular processes in BG and behavioural models of addiction.

You want to know more about Alban and his work? Have a look at this video where he introduces his research and talks about his scientific career.

17:45 - Drink

Prizes are offered by

Want more?

Follow us on Twitter: @UCL_IoNS_YRD

See the list of posters

See the book of abstracts