Doctoral students, postdocs and principal investigators from all areas of neuroscience met in the Centre for Biotechnology and Biomedicine (BBZ) for the second Scientific Day of the Graduate School Brain Dynamics on September 28th. Continuing the concept established at the inaugural Scientific Day, participants from the faculties of Life Sciences, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Education, as well as from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, and MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, engaged in scientific discussions throughout the day of oral and poster presentations.
The opening keynote lecture by Prof. Dr. Dr. Sabine Liebscher introduced contemporary methods and newest findings from her research of the two neurodegenerative disorders - spinocerebellar ataxia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Presented work showed how in vivo imaging techniques in behaving mice along with chemogenetic manipulations of key regulatory elements of the neurodegenerative processes lead to identifying hitherto unrecognized novel therapeutic targets. The day continued with poster- and oral presentation sessions by doctoral students and postdocs, who shared and discussed their latest results and ideas. During the midday break, annual assemblies of doctoral students, postdocs and PIs were organized and two GS Board members were elected for each member group. The second part of the day started with lightning talks - five-minute talks presented by ten principal investigators introducing their labs and main research focuses. After another round of oral and poster presentations by doctoral students and postdocs, the scientific program ended with the second keynote lecture by Prof. Dr. Stefan Debener from the Department of Psychology at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. In his talk, Prof. Debener presented current state-of-the-art in mobile electroencephalography (EEG) research and demonstrated how mobile EEG could be used for the investigation of cognitive-motor interference and auditory attention tracking in uncontrolled environments. The 2nd Scientific Day ended with a guided tour of the of the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, the largest memorial complex in Europe.
The next scientific day will be held in late September 2024.