Programme

As ever, the programme will feature a mix of talks from PhD students and early-career researchers from across Scottish universities, including Edinburgh, St Andrews, Dundee, Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Napier and Heriot Watt universities.

Session I (9am - 11am)

mGluR1α-dependent LTP normalises sex-specific differences in temporoammonic plasticity in a rat model of 16p11.2-microdeletion

Britt van Gevel, PhD student, University of Edinburgh

Pontine waves in brain-wide sleep-dependent neuronal activity and memory consolidation

Dr Mirna Merkler, Postdoc, University of Strathclyde

Characterising Early Synaptic Breakdown in Motor Neurone Disease

Dr Zsofia Laszlo, University of Dundee

Uncovering Prodromal FTD in Mice: Neural Circuit Dysfunction and Early Behavioural Changes 

Anna Stuckert, PhD Student, St Andrews

Bittersweet: Exploring the sex dependent effects of adolescent sugar consumption on metabolic health and food-seeking behaviour

Dr Diptendu Mukherjee, Postdoc, University of Aberdeen

Epilepsy and Telemetry – A Match Made in Heaven

Christabel Kouame, ADInstruments

REFRESHMENTS BREAK

Session II (11.30am - 1pm)

BBB, Bypassed: Overcoming the Major Hurdles in AAV-Based CNS Delivery

Vector Builder

FMRP regulates adult human cortical neuron excitability via cyclic-AMP signalling

Max Knops, PhD student, University of Edinburgh

Functions of the intellectual disability-associated E3 ligase RNF12

Sophie Rappich, PhD student, University of Dundee

Identifying metabolic and imaging signatures of oxidative stress driven ALS-FTSD

Dr Holly Spence, MND Association Lady Elizabeth Wolfson Non Clinical fellow, University of Aberdeen

Flash talks selected from submitted poster abstracts:

Heterogeneity of locus coeruleus prediction error responses

Paige Windmill, University of Edinburgh

Mapping Muscarinic Circuits: Unravelling mAChR1 and mAChR4 Expression and Connectivity in the Brain

Abbey Begen, University of Glasgow

Brain-wide, state-dependent GABAergic neural population dynamics in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model

Gabriela Gil, University of Strathclyde

Effects of focused ultrasound thermal neuromodulation of the mediodorsal thalamus on value-based decision making

Isla Barnarard, University of Dundee

LUNCH

Session III (2pm - 4.10pm)

Multiomic Spatial Analysis with Bio-Techne

Jack Hunter, Bio-Techne

The Inferior Olive Relays Sensorimotor Prediction Errors to Shape Motor Learning

Dr Pierce Mullen, Postdoc, University of St Andrews

GLIAgeing: optimising a screening workflow to study impact of longevity genes on astrocyte homeostasis

Dr Laura Blaikie, Postdoc, Edinburgh Napier University

Environmental toxicants as potential initiators of early disease biology in neurodegeneration

Tatiana Langarova, PhD student, University of Aberdeen

Understanding the how and why: making proteins at neuronal connections

Dr Paul Donlin-Asp, Simons ESAT Fellow, University of Edinburgh

Protein Misfolding Enteropathy: Using Explainable AI to Map TDP-43 Pathways Along the Gut-Brain Axis

Lukas Jurcaga, PhD student, Heriot Watt University

REFRESHMENTS BREAK

Session IV: Keith Sillar Keynote Lecture (4.40pm - 5.40pm)

Polarity, plasticity and transmitter release in some really weird dopaminergic neurons

Professor Matthew Grubb, King’s College London

DRINKS RECEPTION