UK-Japan Neuroscience Symposium 2020

External Event - 3rd to 5th Feb 2020

We are delighted to announce that the third “UK-Japan Neuroscience Symposium” will be held in Edinburgh at the John McIntyre Conference Centre on 3-5 February 2020.

The meeting is co-sponsored by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).

Building on the success of the London 2018 and Chiba 2019 meetings of the two Neuroscience communities, the Edinburgh 2020 meeting aims to further establish collaborative links and exchange of ideas between our two countries.

The Symposium will comprise two days of talks (20 minutes plus 5 minutes discussion each) and poster sessions from UK and Japanese Neuroscience scientists.

We will cover a wide range of topics including “Advanced imaging methods for understanding brain function”, “Strategies and synaptopathy of neurodegenerative conditions”, and “Synapse and circuit development in relation to neuropsychiatric conditions”.

Registration will be shortly available via our Eventbrite site.

Registration costs £10, with the option of attending the conference social (hog roast at the Rowantree) on Monday 3 February for a further £10.

Programme Committee:

Haruhiko Bito (University of Tokyo), Kei Cho (King's College London), Kevin Fox (Cardiff University), Yukiko Goda (RIKEN Centre for Brain Sciences), Peter Kind (University of Edinburgh), Michisuke Yuzaki (Keio University) Giles Hardingham (Edinburgh University).

Programme:

Scientific Meeting Day 1: Monday 3rd February

12.30pm Registration with light snacks (30 mins)

1.30pm Welcome from AMED and MRC (15 mins)

1.45pm Richard Morris (Plenary speaker) (University of Edinburgh) (35 + 10 mins) “The making and keeping of memory”

Session 1: Neurodegenerative conditions: Strategies and synaptopathies

Chair: Giles Hardingham

2.30pm Takaomi Saido (RIKEN CBS) (20 + 5 mins) “Modeling Alzheimer’s disease: from mice to non-human primates”

2.55pm Anne Bertolotti (University of Cambridge) (20 + 5 mins) “Boosting protein quality control: a strategy to treat neurodegenerative diseases”

3.20pm Koji Yamanaka (Nagoya University) (20 + 5 mins) “Molecular pathomechanism for motor neuron disease”

3.45pm Tea/coffee break (30 mins) – opportunity to view posters

4.15pm Marc Aurel Busche (University College London) (20 + 5 mins) “What happens to neural circuits in Alzheimer’s Disease?”

4.40pm Soyon Hong (University College London) (20 + 5 mins) “Microglia, the synaptic scavengers”

5.05pm Poster blitz talks (1 min per poster x 30)

5.35pm Day 1 end

Evening: Conference dinner for all delegates

Scientific Meeting Day 2: Tuesday 4th February

8.30am Tea/coffee with pastries (30 mins)

9.00am Adrian Bird (Plenary speaker) (University of Edinburgh) (35 + 10 mins) “DNA methylation and the origin of Rett Syndrome”

Session 2: Synapse and circuit development in relation to neuropsychiatric conditions

Chair: Peter Kind

9.45am Yasunori Hayashi (Kyoto University) (20 + 5 mins) “A novel role of CaMKII in synaptic plasticity”

10.10am Juan Burrone (King’s College London) (20 + 5 mins) “Plasticity of axo-axonic synapses at the axon initial segment”

10.35am Yukiko Gotoh (University of Tokyo) (20 + 5 mins) “Regulation of neural progenitor cell fate during development”

11.00am Aleks Domanski (University of Bristol) (20 + 5 mins) “From cortical circuits to simulated touch: Exploring strategies to overcome distorted sensory processing in Autism”

11.25am Tea/coffee break (30 mins)

Chair: Yuki Goda

11.55am Rie Kimura (NIPS) (20 + 5 mins) “Activity of low contrast-preferring neurons in rat primary visual cortex during an orientation discrimination task”

12.20pm Ragnhildur Thora Karadottir (University of Cambridge) (20 + 5 mins) “Oligodendrocyte precursor cells become heterogeneous with age: different functional cell states”

12.45pm Aya Ito-Ishida (Keio University) (20 + 5 mins) “Regulation of heterochromatin structure by MeCP2”

1.10pm Thomas Chater (RIKEN CBS – Goda Lab (10 + 5 mins) “Heterosynaptic spine structural plasticity across dendritic branches”

1.30pm Lunch (60 mins) 3 Session 3: New technology and novel approaches in Neuroscience Chair: Haruhiko Bito

2.30pm Hideji Murakoshi (NIPS) (20 + 5 mins) “Optogenetic manipulation and imaging of signaling molecules in dendritic spines of neurons”

2.55pm Tom Mrsic Flogel (Sainsbury Wellcome Centre) (20 + 5 mins) Title TBC

3.20pm Keisuke Ota (RIKEN CBS – Murayama Lab) (20 + 5 mins) “In vivo calcium imaging with a single-cell resolution using "COSMOSCOPE", a new fast and wide-field two-photon microscope”

3.45pm Tea/coffee break (30 mins)

4.15pm Mick Hastings (University of Cambridge) (20 + 5 mins) “Dissecting circadian pacemaking in the suprachiasmatic nucleus using translational switching of clock proteins”

4.40pm Kenichi Ohki (University of Tokyo) (20 + 5 mins) “Functional organization of marmoset visual cortex”

5.10pm Highlighted poster talk 1 (10 + 5 mins)

5.25pm Highlighted poster talk 2 (10 + 5 mins)

5.40pm Highlighted poster talk 3 (10 + 5 mins)

5.55pm Highlighted poster talk 4 (10 + 5 mins)

6.15pm Day 2 end

Evening: Conference dinner for invited guests

Scientific Meeting Day 3: Wednesday 5th February

8.30am Tea/coffee with pastries (30 mins)

9.00am A general discussion group for all participants on strategies for understanding neurodegenerative and mental health conditions, methods and means for future collaborative working.

10.00 Poster prize giving event

10.30 Tea/coffee break