Press Conferences
All times listed in U.S. Pacific Time. All press conferences in Convention Center Room 15B.
Saturday, November 12
Sleep disturbances spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Insufficient sleep can trigger a wide range of negative effects on overall health — including increased mental distress. Researchers will share new findings specific to sleep and anxiety, including the links between mania and altered sleep; circadian rhythms, the gut microbiome and stress response; the brain’s immune cells and sleep-wake regulation; and nerve cell activity and behavioral changes following exposure to stress.
Moderator(s):
Sara Aton, University of Michigan
Presenter(s):
Gabriel S. S. Tofani, University College Cork
Kazuya Miyanishi, University of Tsukuba
Takato Honda, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Laszlo Acsady, Institute of Experimental Medicine
The marriage of neuroscience and technology opens new avenues of treatment for brain diseases and disorders. Neurotechnology, ranging from electrical brain stimulation to brain-computer interfaces, can decode and alter brain activity and function. Researchers will discuss advances in neurotechnology, including stimulating brain areas to quiet fear memories and decoding brain activity to restore speech in people with paralysis.
Moderator(s):
Leigh Hochberg
Presenter(s):
Sarah Kim Wandelt, California Institute of Technology
Christa McIntyre, University of Texas at Dallas
Sean L. Metzger, University of California, San Francisco
Epidemiology points to early life adversity as a major risk factor for psychiatric disorders and other health issues. Now, neuroscientists are uncovering why. Using advanced molecular techniques and rodent models, scientists are investigating specific neural pathways, cells, and circuits to pinpoint how early life adversity influences brain development and long-lasting changes in behavior. Researchers will discuss sex-specific findings on the neurobiological mechanisms associated with anxiety, reward response, maternal behavior, and emotional processing, including responses to ketamine treatment.
Moderator(s):
Mar Sanchez, Emory University
Presenter(s):
Tallie Z. Baram, University of California-Irvine
Kathleen E. Morrison, West Virginia University
Jennifer A. Honeycutt, Bowdoin College
Camila Demaestri, New York State Psychiatric Institute
Sunday, November 13
An estimated 20% of adults in the U.S. who had COVID-19 in the past report at least one long COVID symptom. New studies provide further evidence that through neuroinflammation, SARS-CoV-2 can impact brain function for months after infection across age groups. Researchers will share their findings on the persistent implications of COVID-19 on the sensorimotor brain regions of children, on memory and cognition in a mouse model, and on the visuoconstructive abilities of adults — months post-infection.
Moderator(s):
Robyn Klein, Washington University in St. Louis
Presenter(s):
Marco Aurelio Romano-Silva, Universidade Federal De Minas Gerais
Natalie C. Tronson, University of Michigan
Silvia Hidalgo-Tobon, UAM-Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez
The human brain weathers many changes and obstacles over the course of a lifespan. Three new papers from JNeurosci and eNeuro explore how stress affects the brains of preterm infants, how early life adversity in Romanian orphans impacts adolescent brain development, and the differences between the brains of “successful agers” and people with memory impairment.
Moderator(s):
Marina Picciotto, JNeurosci editor-in-chief
Presenter(s):
Björn Schott, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Göttingen
Joram Soch, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Göttingen
Martijn van den Heuvel, Vrije University Amsterdam
Femke Lammertink, University Medical Center Utrecht
Edmund Barke, King's College London
Nuria Mackes, King's College London
Autism spectrum disorder affects 1 in 44 children in the U.S., with boys four times as likely to receive a diagnosis. Neuroscientists are investigating autism’s genetic components to discover how they influence brain development and give rise to the wide spectrum of autism-associated behaviors. Researchers will discuss developing male and female brains, mapping clusters of autism-related behaviors to segments of the genome, brain connectivity, and how naturally occurring genetic and brain development variations may contribute to the diversity of behaviors in autism.
Moderator(s):
Nicola Grissom, The University of Minnesota
Presenter(s):
Marco Pagani, Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia
Nate Tyler Stockham, Stanford University
Donna Werling, Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison
The pandemic has made it clear that social needs are a need like any other. A wide array of brain areas contributes to our complex and nuanced social behaviors, ranging from reward circuits to memory regions. Researchers will share how different cells and circuits assess social need, make decisions about altruism, judge the quality of social interactions, and how these functions go awry after isolation or trauma.
Moderator(s):
Moriel Zelikowsky, University of Utah
Presenter(s):
Long Li, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Pedro Espinosa, University of Geneva
Hassan Lopez, Skidmore College
Ding Liu, Harvard University
Neuroscientists are mapping billions of cells to create a complete cell-type atlas of the human brain. Researchers are deploying powerful new tools in advanced visualization that provide better resolution and accuracy as they sort through the complexity to catalog brain regions and cell types. They will discuss the potential of 2-photon shadow imaging (TUSHI), multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH), single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), highly multiplexed immunofluorescence imaging using tricks in spatial biology, and recently explored tissue clearing methods.
Moderator(s):
Hongkui Zeng, Allen Institute for Brain Science
Presenter(s):
Jiang He, Vizgen
Oliver Braubach, Akoya Biosciences
Hiroki R. Ueda, RIKEN Center For Biosystems Dynamics Research
U. Valentin Nägerl, University of Bordeaux/CNRS
Zizhen Yao, Allen Institute for Brain Science
Monday, November 14
The most common complication from pregnancy targets the mother, not the child. About 20% of the people who give birth each year will suffer from postpartum mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. Despite the pervasive impact, research into the maternal experience of pregnancy is still in its infancy: most research focuses on the infant. Researchers will discuss potential biomarkers for postpartum depression, the relationship between stress and genetic changes, and the mechanism of a new treatment.
Moderator(s):
Jodi Pawluski, Univ Rennes, INSERM, EHESP, Irset
Presenter(s):
Jennifer Chan, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai
Jamie Maguire, Tufts University School of Medicine
Janace Gifford, University of Delaware
The many problems with current depression and anxiety treatments — unwanted side effects, prolonged time to kick in, and unpredictable efficacy — have prompted scientists to turn to a new treatment approach: psychoactive drugs. Researchers will discuss attempts to harness the antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects of cannabis and psilocybin, without triggering their psychoactive effects in the process.
Moderator(s):
Lisa Monteggia, Vanderbilt University
Presenter(s):
Steven R. Laviolette, University of Western Ontario
Katherine M. Nautiyal, Dartmouth College
Alannah H. Miranda, University of California, San Diego
The gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in human health — including brain and neurological health. New scientific findings examine how varied mechanisms link the microbes in the gut with the brain, and how that interplay relates to certain metabolic and neurological disorders. Researchers will discuss the association between early life adversity and obesity, evidence that the genesis of Parkinson’s disease may be in the colon, and how oral pesticide exposure can lead to functional and molecular changes in both the gut and brain relevant to Parkinson’s disease.
Moderator(s):
Sonia Villapol, Houston Methodist
Presenter(s):
Johnny Figueroa, Loma Linda University
Timothy R. Sampson, Emory University
Yoon-Seong Kim, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School