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Welcome Message

Welcome to the Young Neuroscientists Symposium 2016.

We are very pleased to welcome you to this year's Young Neuroscientists Symposium in association with Neuroscience Ireland. We acknowledge the support and attendance of Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor T.D. Generously supported by Science Foundation Ireland, Neuroscience Ireland and a variety of industrial corporations, this symposium has been organised for undergraduate and postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers to engage with each other, fostering scientific development and collaborations.

Presented by affiliates from institutions all over Ireland and abroad, a wide-range of current research topics will be covered. This year's symposium is committed to exhibiting all aspects of the contemporary neuroscience field, including keynote communications from academia and industry, and a full career panel session formatted to facilitate audience interaction.

We would like to extend a special thanks to our keynote speakers Dr. Dara Cannon, Prof. Dr. Alon Chen and Dr. Lee A. Dawson and our congratulations to this year's recipient of the Neuroscience Ireland Early Career Award, Dr. Shane Hegarty, UCC.

We hope you enjoy the programme and partake in our networking focused social event at Xico, Baggot Street afterwards.

Best Wishes, The Organising Committee for YNS 2016

SILVER SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSORS

Dr. Shane Hegarty - Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork.

Dr. Tudor Munteanu - Neurology Research Registrar, Dublin Neurological Institute at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin.

Dr. Gary Brennan - Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Royal College of Surgeons.

Dr. Jennifer Rouine - Postdoctoral Researcher in Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin

Dr. Sinead Ryan - Postdoctoral Researcher in Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Physiology, Trinity College Dublin.

Dr. Anand Gururajan - Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork.

Dr. Charlotte Callaghan - Postdoctoral Researcher in Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, TCD.

Dr. Jack Prenderville - Senior Scientist at Transpharmation Ireland Ltd.

Ms Laura Olsen - PhD Student in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, NUI Galway.

Dr. Niamh Connolly - Postdoctoral Researcher in the Centre for Systems Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Organising Committee

Dr. Tobias Engel - STAR Lecturer, RCSI, Dublin.

FanninCaring for life

Keynote Speakers

4.30-5.15 The ‘Career Panel Discussion’ involves 5 x 5 minutespresentations followed by open discussion. Panel includes:

1. Junior Faculty Member – Dr. Stella Vlachou, Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Human Sciences, DCU.

2. Faculty Member – Dr. Dara Cannon, Vice-Dean for Graduate Studies of College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at NUIG.

3. Novartis – Dr. Niamh Murphy, Medical Advisor, Neuroscience.

4. Senior Faculty Member – Prof. Mani Ramaswami, Director TCIN and Research Professor of Neuroscience

5. Astex Pharmaceuticals – Dr. Lee A Dawson, Vice President and Head of CNS

Career Panel Discussion

Neuroscience Ireland Early Career Award Winner

Dr. Dara Cannon - Vice-Dean for Graduate Studies of College of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences at NUIG. Dr. Cannon's research focuses on biological underpinnings of psychiatric diseases. She uses brain imaging to look at structure, function, and molecules of human brain during illness and attempts to understand

how these changes relate to genetic factors, cognitive function, and illness. This work is carried out by Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory, which she co-directs with Prof McDonald, as part of Centre for Neuroimaging and Cognitive Genomics. Dara lectures in human anatomy, neuroanatomy, medical imaging, neuroscience. She is Director of the Galway Neuroscience Centre, and associate editor of the journal 'Translational Neuroscience'.

Dr. Lee A. Dawson - Vice President & Head of CNS in Astex Pharmaceuticals. During a career of 20+ years in Pharmaceutical industry, Lee has held various Neuroscience research positions at Wyeth Research, GlaxoSmithKline, and was most recently Senior Director & Head of Open Innovation for Eisai Ltd. A biochemist by training, obtaining a BSc & PhD from University of Leeds, Lee

then specialised in Neurochemistry and Neuropharmacology and their application to Drug Discovery. Dr. Dawson has a broad scientific expertise in Neurological & Psychiatric Disease biology, and has over 75 peer reviewed publications on a wide variety of research areas, drug targets and technologies.

Researcher in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork.

Dr. Shane Hegarty - Lecturer & Postdoctoral

Graduated as top-ranked student of Neuroscience Bsc (1st Hons) from UCC in 2010, and was awarded the distinction of “College Scholar” and 'Certificate of Excellence'. In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious

'IRCSET EMBARK Postgraduate Scholarship' by Irish Research Council (IRC) to carry out a PhD project in Dept. Anatomy & Neuroscience, UCC, under supervision of Professor Aideen Sullivan & Dr. Gerard O'Keeffe. Since then, he was awarded the highly competitive 'Government of Ireland Post-Doctoral Fellowship' by IRC, and the 'NUI Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Sciences' by National University of Ireland, to facilitate his current Post-Doctoral research. As a researcher, he was awarded places on international training courses, travel bursaries and 'best presentation' at a number of conferences. He has published 11 peer-reviewed journal articles (10 first author) to date. In 2015 he was awarded IRC 'New Foundation Award' to launch the ongoing 'BRAINTALK' outreach project. He was awarded prestigious 'Charlemont Grant' in 2016 from Royal Irish Academy to extend his research in Prof. Danny Huylebroeck’s laboratory in Erasmus MC, Netherlands. In August 2016, he began his current position as a full-time Lecturer in the Dept. of Anatomy & Neuroscience, UCC.

related emotional disorders. In 2013, he was nominated as Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and as the Head of the Max Planck Society Weizmann Institute of Science Laboratory for Experimental Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurogenetics. To date, he has been awarded many prestigious honors, including a Rothschild Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, the ‘Alon Fellowship’; the Novartis Prize in Neuroendocrinology, the Hans Lindner Prize, the Sieratzki-Korczyn Prize, the Morris L. Levinson Prize and the Teva Research Prize.

Prof. Dr. Alon Chen Director and Scientific Member in the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry. Prof. Chen’s research focuses on the Neurobiology of Stress. His lab has made discoveries linking the action of specific stress-related genes with anxiety, depression, weight and diabetes. Prof. Chen’s team use mouse models and human patients to research therapeutic interventions to treat stress-

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Young NeuroscientistsSymposium 2016

8.00 Social Event (Xico, 143 Lower Baggot Street)

Tea & Coffee

8.50-9.10 Welcome Address

8.50-9.00 Prof. David Henshall, President of Neuroscience Ireland

9.00-9.10 Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor T.D.Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

8.00-8.45 Registration

Morning Session 1

9.15-10.05 Keynote 1 Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry

“Genetic and optogenetic dissection of the central stress response”

10.05-10.20 Rana Raoof, RCSI. “Could extracellular microRNAs act as novel biomarkers in epilepsy?”

10.20-10.35 David O'Driscoll, TCD. “An investigation of human plasma protein biomarkers in burning mouth syndrome”

10.35-10.50 Conor Keogh, TCD. “Modulation of auditory attention using transcranial direct current stimulation”

Prof. Dr. Alon Chen

Morning Session 2

11.15-12.05 Keynote 2 Dr Dara Cannon NUI Galway

“The Role of Neuroimaging in Biological Psychiatry”

12.05-12.20 Rachel Furlong, UCC. “PINK1 activation of Pi3- Kinase/Akt - understanding mechanisms which lead to Parkinson's Disease”

12.20-12.35 George Timmons, TCD. “Iron handling and metabolism: Defining microglial populations”

Chairs - Dr. Anand Gururajan, Dr. Niamh Connolly

Chairs - Dr. Gary Brennan, Dr. Jack Prenderville

Afternoon Session 1

2.15-3.05 Keynote 3 Dr. Lee A. Dawson Astex Pharmaceuticals “Neuroscience drug discovery – the search for a needle in a haystack?” 3.05-3.25 Dr. Sarah Roche, UCC. “Progesterone is neuroprotective

in the retina by attenuating microglial-driven degeneration” 3.25-3.45 Dr. Katharina Ulrich, TCD. “Are cells within the rostral

thalamus sensitive to sensory inputs?”

3.45-4.05 Dr. Beatrice D'Orsi, RCSI. “The Bcl-2 family proteins in the control of neuronal Ca2+-induced mitochondrial dysfunction”

Afternoon Session 2

4.30-5.15 Career Panel Discussion

5.15-6.15 Chairs - Dr. Shane Hegarty, Dr. Tudor Munteanu

5.15-5.35 Dr. Janosch Heller, UCL. “Subcellular distribution of astroglial receptors monitored with super-resolution microscopy”

5.35-5.55 Dr. Min Liu, NUIG. “Ulk4 is essential for ciliogenesis and CSF flow”

5.55-6.15 Dr. Orla Finucane, TCD. “NLRP3 inflammasome activation alters macrophage metabolic phenotype in APP/PS1 murine model of Alzheimer's disease”

Chairs - Dr. Max Bianchi, Dr. Charlotte Callaghan

Chairs - Dr. Sinéad Ryan, Ms Laura Olsen

1.00-1.15 Poster Data Blitz

LUNCH / POSTER SESSION

6.30-7.45 Prize-Giving & Wine Reception

Schedule

Tea & Coffee

12.35-1.00 Neuroscience Ireland Early Career Award Dr. Shane Hegarty, UCC. “Characterisation of the role of canonical BMP-Smad 1/5/8 signalling in the development of ventral midbrain dopaminergic neurons”