Imaging brain circuits in health and disease
Roscoff (Brittany), France, June 30-July 4, 2010
Deadline for application: March 15, 2010
Chairperson: Arthur Konnerth
Institute of Neurosciences, TUM,
Biedersteiner Str. 29, 80802 München, Allemagne
Téléphone : + 49 89 4140-3350 – Télécopie : + 49 89 4140-3352
Mèl : arthur.konnerth@lrz.tum.de
Vice-Chairperson: Daniel Choquet
CNRS UMR 5091 - Université Bordeaux 2, Physiologie Cellulaire de la Synapse,
rue Camille Saint-Saëns, 33077 Bordeaux, France
Phone: 33 (0) 5 57 57 40 90 – Fax: 33 (0) 5 57 57 40 82
Mèl : dchoquet@u-bordeaux2.fr
Imaging the brain at the cellular level provides essential information about its anatomy, function and pathology. Ever since the groundbreaking work of Golgi and Ramón y Cajal more than a century ago, many approaches have been developed to label and visualize nerve cells. Using specific labeling molecules in brain tissue, images can be obtained by using illumination, magnetization, radiation, or other physical processes. Changes in intracellular calcium ion concentrations [Ca2+]i, for example, have been extensively studied in brain tissue over the past two decades. Ca2+ is an intracellular messenger involved in many cellular functions such as contraction, secretion, excitability and neuronal plasticity. Because calcium fluxes are tightly linked to neuronal electrical activity, recordings of intracellular free calcium dynamics are used to monitor indirectly the electrical activity of individual neurons.
The development of calcium indicators for fluorometric microscopy has opened up a wide field of research in calcium signaling. Originally, Roger Tsien and his colleagues developed small synthetic molecules, like fura-2 and fluo-3, which were rapidly adopted by many laboratories world-wide and still intensively used. The introduction of fluorescent proteins, like GFP, allowed tagging specific cell types or subcellular compartments. Recently, genetically engineered fluorescent proteins have been combined with calcium-sensitive proteins in order to measure calcium directly in defined subsets of cells. An advantage of genetically-encoded calcium indicators compared to synthetic dyes is the possibility of performing long-term calcium imaging in vivo, not only at the cellular level but also in specific subcellular compartments. Some genetically-encoded calcium indicators contain a single fluorescent protein while others have been engineered based on changes in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) efficiency between two different mutants of GFP, a technique that had previously been widely applied to image protein-protein interactions.
The goal of the conference “Imaging brain circuits in health and disease” is to show how these new advances have allowed neurobiologists to investigate the brain circuits at the level of single neurons, synapses and small brain ensembles such as cortical columns, in the living brain of healthy and diseased animals. The conference is structured in several topics:
- Probes and approaches for in vivo imaging
- Analysis of synaptic function at the nano-scale
- Probes to manipulate neural activity
- Super-resolution
- Functional analysis of brain circuits in vitro
- Functional analysis of brain circuits in vivo
- Connectome analysis
- Functional analyses in behaving animals
- Imaging brain disease
Invited speakers
(provisional titles)
BRECHT Michael (Berlin, Germany)
Mapping a small mammalian brain
CHARPAK Serge (Paris, France)
Two-photon imaging of neuronal activity and blood flow
CHOQUET Daniel (Bordeaux, France)
Glutamate receptor trafficking
COSSART Rosa (Marseille, France)
Imaging of network activity
DEISSEROTH Karl (Stanford, USA)
Optical control of neuronal activity
DENK Winfried (Heidelberg, Germany)
Imaging the brain with photons and electrons
DIEUDONNÉ Stéphane (Paris, France)
High-speed two photon imaging
DI GREGORIO David (Paris, France)
Subcellular optical detection of membrane voltage
FELLER Marla (Berkeley, USA)
Retinal waves
FITZPATRICK David (Durham, USA)
Functional organization of neural circuits in primary visual cortex
HÄUSSER Michael (London, UK)
Cerebellar circuit function in vivo
HELMCHEN Fritjof (Zürich, Switzerland)
New imaging approaches to record neuronal activity in vivo
HÜBENER Mark (München, Allemagne)
Brain circuit plasticity
KANO Masanobu (Tokyo, Japon)
Cerebellar synapse elimination
KONNERTH Arthur (München, Germany)
Optical monitoring of dendritic activity in vivo
LARKUM Matthew (Bern, Switzerland)
Imaging dendritic spike activity in vivo
LICHTMAN Jeff (Boston, USA)
Connectome analysis
LIVET Jean (Paris, France)
Brainbow mice: a tool for circuit analysis
LLANO Isabel (Paris, France)
Cerebellar calcium signalling
MARTY Alain (Paris, France)
Dynamics of the cerebellar inhibitory circuitry
MIESENBOCK Gero (Oxford, UK)
Lighting up the brain
MIYAWAKI Atsushi (Riken, Japan)
Development of fluorescent indicators
MULLE Christophe (Bordeaux, France)
Kainate receptors and synaptic transmission
MURPHY Tim (Vancouver, Canada)
Imaging mouse models of stroke
NÄGERL Valentin (Bordeaux, France)
Live-cell imaging at nanoscopic resolution by STED microscopy
OHEIM Martin (Paris, France)
Single molecule imaging
ROCHEFORT Nathalie (München, Germany)
Two-photon imaging of the mouse visual cortex in vivo
SAKMANN Bert (München, Germany)
Neurophysiology of decision making in the rodent brain
SCHNITZER Mark (Stanford, USA)
Microendoscopy in behaving animals
SILVER Angus (London, UK)
Synaptic mechanisms and signal processing
TANK David (Princeton, USA)
Imaging in behaving animals
TRAUNER Dirk (München, Germany)
Optical control of neuronal activity: functional reengineering of ion channels
TRILLER Antoine (Paris, France)
GABA receptor trafficking
Deadline for application: March 15, 2010
Registration fee (including board and lodging)
320 € for PhD students
500 € for other participants
Application for registration
The total number of participants is limited to about 115 and all participants are expected to attend for the whole duration of the conference. Selection is made on the basis of the affinity of potential participants with the topics of the conference. Scientists and PhD Students interested in the meeting should send:
- their curriculum vitae
- the list of their main publications for the 3 last years
- the abstract of their presentation
to the Chairperson of the conference before the deadline. After it, the chairman will select the participants. Except in some particular cases approved by the Chairperson, it is recommended that all selected participants present their work during the conference, either in poster form or by a brief in- session talk. The organizers choose the form in which the presentations are made. No payment will be sent with application. Information on how and when to pay will be mailed in due time to those selected.