Neuroscience Day 2025

Neuroscience Day will be held on Wednesday 23 April 2025 at the Nucleus Building on King's Buildings campus, University of Edinburgh. 

Join us for a day of diverse scientific talks from brain and mind researchers across the University, a distinguished keynote speaker, posters, sponsor exhibitions and of course networking! Lunch, refreshments and a drinks reception are included in the registration fee. 

Registrations are now closed.

Programme

08.30 Arrival and Registration

Tea/coffee and pastries, served in the ground floor reception area

 

SESSION I

Chair: TBC

 

09.15 Welcome remarks from Edinburgh Neuroscience Co-Directors

Professors Cathy Abbott and Malcolm MacLeod

 

09.25 Flash talks from new Group Leaders

Metabolism in motor neuron diseases, Prof Kiterie Faller, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

Towards understanding real-world visual cognition with brain-computational models, Dr Benjamin Peters, School of Informatics

All-optical interrogation of the neural code underlying episodic memory, Dr Nick Robinson, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

Unlocking the power of predictive processing by reverse-engineering biological neural networks, Dr Nina Kudryashova, School of Informatics

Age-related retinal degeneration: genetics, mechanisms and future therapies, Dr Chloe Stanton, Centre for Inflammation Research

TBC, Dr Sally Till, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

 

9.55 Relevance of tauopathy mouse models in understanding human neurodegenerative diseases

Dr Naruhiko Sahara, Advanced Neuroimaging Center, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Japan

 

10.15 PhD Student Data Blitz

Development of ultra-high frame rate imaging approaches to investigate circuit mechanisms for memory-related network oscillation, Yifang Yuan, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

Unravelling the role of APOE4 in vascular dysfunction and cognitive impairment, Krystal Laing, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences

Novel Therapeutic Candidates & Behavioural Insights in a Mouse Model of EEF1A2-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Nika Balkic, Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine

Visualising Parkinson’s disease at the nanometre length scale, Noelia Pelegrina-Hidalgo, School of Chemistry / Institute of Regeneration and Repair

Epigenetic signatures of perinatal systemic inflammation and their relation to childhood cognition, Rebekah Smikle, Centre for Reproductive Health

Does treating common mental health problems in childhood reduce the risk of severe mental illness in adulthood?, Ioanna Kougianou, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences (Psychiatry)

 

10.45 Refreshments & Posters

 

Session II

Chair: Cathy Abbott/ Malcolm Macleod, Edinburgh Neuroscience Co-Directors

 

11.30 Emerging Stories

Sensory-driven synaptic plasticity at behaviourally relevant timescales is impaired in a mouse model of autism, Dr Leena Williams, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

From Decline to Resilience: New Perspectives on the Roles of Pericytes at the Blood-Brain Barriers, Dr Audrey Chagnot, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences

Modelling the role of primary cilia in autism spectrum disorders using human cortical organoids, Dr Thomas Theil, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

The role of DNA damage and repair in neurovascular heath and disease, Dr Sarah McGlasson, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences

From hypothesis-free to hypothesis-driven psychiatric genetics, Dr Mark Adams, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences (Psychiatry)

Utility of Large Animal Models for Biomarker Identification, Prof Tom Wishart, Roslin Institute

Time is brain: pre-hospital diagnosis and treatment of acute neurological disorders, Dr Tom Moullaali, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences

 

13.00 Lunch & Posters

 

Session III

Chair: TBC

 

14.15 Shout-outs

TBC

 

14.30  

Responding to homelessness and severe mental illness in Africa with HOPE, Prof Charlotte Hanlon, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences

SET3 complex dysfunction upregulates active genes in a family of neurological disorders, Dr Matt Lyst, School of Biological Sciences

Insights from the EDIFY programme on pathways into and out of eating disorders, Dr Helen Sharp, School of Health in Social Sciences, Clinical Psychology

Broadcasting Rules of Entorhinal Cortex Output to the Rest of the Brain, Dr Gulsen Surmeli, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

Better statistical reporting does not lead to statistical rigour: lessons from two decades of pseudoreplication in mouse-model studies of neurological disorders, Dr Constantinos Eleftheriou, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences

 

15.45 Refreshments & Posters

 

Session IV

Chair: Dr Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots, BNA Scholar

 

16.15 The Sir Colin Blakemore Memorial Lecture

Building brains and making connections, Prof Laura Andreae, King’s College London

 

17.15 Drinks reception