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Elsevier,The Boulevard, Langford Lane,Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK

© IBRO VOLUME 34 2006

International Brain Research Organizationwww.ibro.info

Marina Bentivoglio, Professor of Histology, Facultyof Medicine, University of Verona, Italy, is to bethe next Secretary-General of IBRO. Her three-year term of office begins in January 2007. Shesucceeds Jennifer Lund, who has been Secretary-General for the past three years.

Prof. Bentivoglio was a member of the GoverningCouncil of IBRO (1999-2004); she is now amember of IBRO Publications Committee, theCommittee on Neuroscience History and chairof the Libraries Committee. She has been alecturer in many IBRO/SONA training courses inneuroscience since 2000 (Petersburg, SouthAfrica, September 2000; Rabat, Morocco,April2002 and March 2005, Nairobi, Kenya, September2002; Cape Town, South Africa, September 2003;Nairobi, Kenya, December 2003 and December2005; Bamako, Mali, July 2005). She has beencounsellor of the Rita Levi Montalcini Foundationfor the Education of African Women since 2003.IBRO founded the Levi Montalcini Fellowships forAfrican Women Scientists in 2001.

“I have always firmly believed that building up astrong neuroscience community represents a highpriority worldwide, in terms of knowledge to beacquired, education and training, discoveries thatstill require an enormous effort for theirimplementation and which can exert a highimpact on society,” says Prof. Bentivoglio.“I havegreeted with great pleasure the switch of IBROactions in support to countries that need help.Working ‘in the field’ as lecturer in trainingcourses throughout the African continent, I havefound an extraordinary interest, motivation, talentand enthusiasm in young students living indeveloping countries.We cannot and we shouldnot ignore this richness, we do need this richness,we should work for it.

“In terms of my work program as Secretary-General, support for young scientists will, ofcourse, be a priority, as it is now in all IBROactivities. I wish to point out, however, that theeffort in training and communication must nowbe translated into concrete actions to build up

IBRO AND THE MIDDLE EAST:A NEW INITIATIVEIBRO is eager to develop a new initiative aimed atworking with colleagues in the Middle East tohelp strengthen neuroscience in the region.Theinitiative was implemented by providing supportfor an International Neuroscience Conference inAl Ain, United Arab Emirates in November 2005,an IBRO Visiting Lecture Team course held inIrbid, Jordan in June this year, and an IBROAssociate School in Tehran, Iran in August. InDecember this year another school is planned inAl Ain-Dubai, UAE.

These activities were supported by IBRO throughthe joint efforts of the IBRO Asia-Pacific (APRC)and African (ARC) Regional Committees and thelocal IBRO Affiliated Organizations.As a result ofthe Middle East initiative, a new organization ofneuroscientists in the UAE was created earlier inthe year: the United Arab Emirates NeuroscienceGroup, which became an Affiliated Organizationof IBRO in June.

IBRO President Albert Aguayo has travelledwidely in the Middle East in an attempt toestablish collaborations and support moreactivities in the region. Prof.Aguayo is convincedthat the creation of Regional NeuroscienceSchools would provide unique opportunities foryoung students and investigators to fostercollaboration between themselves and to haveexposure to scientists from leading institutionselsewhere.The launch of the schools would be astep towards the overall effort to reinforce anddevelop medical science.

7TH IBRO WORLDCONGRESS OFNEUROSCIENCECongress with a Difference!

With just nine months to go,preparations are in full swing for theIBRO Congress, which takes place inMelbourne,Australia, July 12-17, 2007.Eight plenary lectures and 64 symposiawill form the major scientific components of the Programme.There will also be workshops in theevenings on topics of wider interest that will be open to the general public. In addition, at least16 specialist satellite meetings will be held in the days before or after the Congress.The deadline for abstracts is 31 January 2007.

Some outstanding features: Peter Agre, Nobel Laureate for Chemistry (2003,) has accepted theinvitation to deliver a Plenary lecture.An international exhibition Neuroscapes 2006 will be heldconcurrent with the meeting.There will be patient-advocacy-based special interest forums thatwill be open to the general public as well as conference delegates.There will be an opportunityfor late-breaking and thematically suitable abstracts to be included in symposia (one persymposium at the discretion of the chair).

IBRO is preparing a series of events destined to facilitate the travel of Alumni to the Congressand also to maximize their scientific experience by providing opportunities for visiting Australianlaboratories while there.

CONGRESS WEB SITE: http://www.ibro2007.org

PRIORITY FOR NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL:INCREASED SUPPORT FOR

YOUNG SCIENTISTS

IBRO THE ‘DYNAMICFEDERATION’!

From 2 Affiliated Organizations to 82!

The incorporation over the last year into IBRO’sGoverning Council of eight neuroscienceinstitutions has brought the number of IBROAffiliated Organizations to 82.The new membersare: the Sociedad Mexicana de Neurociencias yNeurobiologia; the Sociedad Chilena deNeurociencia; the Colegio Colombiano deNeurociencias; the Association pour la Promotiondes Neurosciences (APRONES; Congo); the RoyalSwedish Academy of Sciences; the Society forNeurosciences for Serbia and Montenegro; theSlovak Society for Neuroscience; and the UnitedArab Emirates Neuroscience Group.

All are Corporate Members of IBRO, except forthe Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is anAcademic Member.The Affiliated Organizationsform part of IBRO’s Governing Council, whichdetermines the policies and programmes of IBROand directs their implementation and conduct.

The first two institutions to become AffiliatedAssociations of IBRO in 1972 were the SwissSociety for Neuroscience and the US NationalAcademy of Sciences.The number oforganizations joining has risen steadily since then(see graph).There were 54 Affiliated Associationsin 2001, after which came a dramatic rise in 2000-3 when a record number of 12 institutions joinedin 2003.The incorporation of 28 institutions intoIBRO between 2001 and 2006 reflects the ever-growing effectiveness of and respect for IBRO'saims in neuroscience.

IBRO President Albert Aguayo aptly referred toIBRO as a ‘Dynamic Federation’; former IBROPresident Torsten Wiesel called it ‘an organizationof the 21st century’.

Marina Bentivoglio

Medical Faculty with local sponsors, InternationalNeuroscience Conference, Al Ain

IBRO SupportsConference in UnitedArab EmiratesIBRO’s Symposia & Workshops Programmehelped fund a conference Research Strategies andClinical Challenges in Neuroscience held in AlAin, United Arab Emirates, November 26-29,2005. Prof.Valsa Eapen, Fac. of Medicine andHealth Sciences, UAE University,Al Ain,Conference Chair, reports:“531 delegates from48 countries participated in the conference and256 delegates attended the pre-conferenceworkshop.There were 25 international speakers.

“The conference helped strengthen our existingcollaborative links with leading internationalcenters and helped to foster new initiatives in thefield of neuroscience in the region and abroad.Some examples of such collaborativeresearch efforts:Parkinson’s Disease: Dr Omar El-Agnaf (UAE)with Prof. Matthew Farrer (Mayo Clinic, USA), DrHilal Lashuel (Switzerland) and Dr Nasser Zawia(Rhode Island, USA).Alzheimer’s Disease: Prof.Abdu Adem (UAE) with

Cont. page 8

active neuroscience centers in those countries inwhich economical and political problemsrepresent a great obstacle. It is now time to puttheory into practice.We should follow up ourstudents, fight against the brain drain fromcountries whose young people seek employmentabroad.We need to make sure that neurosciencecenters are decently equipped and becomeoperant everywhere in the world”.

The Levi Montalcini Foundation is committed tothe education of African girls and young women,based on the strong belief that women can play akey role in the future of the African continent.

Marina Bentivoglio (2nd from left, seated) andcolleagues, 11th ISN-IBRO Africa Region NeuroscienceSchool, 10-17 December 2005, Nairobi, Kenya

ARE YOU ELIGIBLEFOR FREE JOURNAL

ACCESS?See page 8.

IN THIS ISSUEFunding

Research Fellows

Alumni

News and Events

The Regions

Neuroscience Schools

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FELLOWSHIPS & TRAVEL GRANTS

Chair: Kwok-Fai So

All applications to be submitted on-linevia the IBRO web site www.ibro.info

IBRO Research Fellowships: The IBRO Fellowship Programme aims to foster quality neuroscienceespecially in the less developed and less well-funded countries. It welcomes high-quality scientists (underthe age of 45) from diverse geographic and scientific areas wishing to broaden the scope of theirtraining in neuroscience by working one month to one year abroad in good laboratories (US/CanadaRegion excluded).The funding for a 12-month fellowship is Euros 33,300.An "Outstanding IBROFellowship" of an additional Euros 4,200 will be awarded to the distinguished candidate.

IBRO Travel Grants: IBRO offers Travel Grants for high-quality neuroscientists especially from theless-developed and less well-funded countries to present their findings at international neurosciencemeetings (US/Canada Region excluded). Funding for travel will be up to Euros 1,250 per award.Applications for Travel Grants for six-month period:• July-December 2007: Deadline March 1, 2007• January-June 2008: Deadline September 1, 2007• July-December 2008: Deadline March 1, 2008

John G. Nicholls Fellowship: The John G. Nicholls IBRO Fellowship of Euros 33,300 aims to assistone promising researcher younger than 30 years of age who wishes to further his/her training inneuroscience at a distinguished foreign laboratory for one year.The successful candidate is expected toreturn to his/her home country after the training, bringing new knowledge and skills in theneurosciences. Candidates should at the time of application reside in one of the 18 countries where theIBRO Visiting Lecture Team Programme (VLTP) has been held:Asia Pacific: China, India, Malaysia,Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam;Africa: Nigeria; Central/Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Iran and Poland; LatinAmerica:Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela (US/Canada Regionexcluded).

IBRO Studentships: IBRO’s new initiative offers five Studentships (2008) of Euros 8,340 per award tosupport students from the less developed and less well-funded countries to take up projects of up tosix months, contributing towards their degree (PhD, MPhil, or even BSc) in good overseas laboratorieswith facilities and training not available in their home countries (US/Canada Region excluded).

SfN/IBRO International Travel Fellowships: The Society for Neuroscience offers Travel Fellowshipsof up to Euros 1,250 each for neuroscientists under the age of 35 from the less developed and lesswell-funded countries of the five IBRO regions (Africa,Asian/Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, LatinAmerica,Western Europe). Complementary registration is waived for successful candidates (SfN/IBROITF & IBRO TG) attending SfN 2007.Those candidates under the age of 35 years of age who wish toattend SfN 2007 should apply for the SfN/IBRO International Travel Fellowship.Those above the age of35 should apply for the IBRO Travel Grant. Note that this fellowship is not available to candidates fromUS/Canada Region to attend SfN Annual Meetings.

Regional Funding: Most of IBRO's funding is channelled to the membership via programmes managedby the Regional Committees.

SYMPOSIA AND WORKSHOPSChair: Ken Muller

IBRO invites requests for partial funding of Symposia and Workshops on important topics inneuroscience with the aim of encouraging neuroscience research and scholarship in regions ofthe world with limited funds for science. Participants should represent the internationalneuroscience community as well as regional interests. Meetings should have a clear focus on aparticular topic. Preference will be given to activities that include younger scientists and offertraining for scientists from countries in which little money is available for research or teaching.

Applicants are encouraged to include a component available publicly on the web that couldinvolve participant discussion either before or after a regular symposium or workshop. Suchdiscussions might, for example, include opportunities for students and others to ask questions,make suggestions and provide relevant information.

Symposia should deal with topics of key interest, specialized or broad, with background talks tohelp those unfamiliar with the material, as well as accounts of current research.

Workshops are more technical and practical in orientation.A major portion of the programmeshould involve discussion, practical teaching of techniques and the presentation of concepts andcontrols necessary for experimental work.Workshops that bring useful techniques and donatepermanent equipment to less funded countries are encouraged.

Deadlines for receiving proposals are 1 February and 1 September of each year.

SYMPOSIA & WORKSHOPS FUNDED IN 2006Chile: 13th International Symposium on Chromaffin Cell Biology (January 2006)India: From Molecules to Networks and Behaviour (January 2006)Chile: Regulation and function of free intracellular Ca 2+ and intercellular Ca 2+ waves (January 2006)Brazil: I Latin-American School on Computational Neuroscience (LASCON’06) (Jan 2006)USA: 2nd International Meeting on Physiology and Pharmacology of Temperature Regulation (March 2006)Chile: Cellular and Molecular mechanisms of neuronal vesicle dynamics (March 2006-06-22)Argentina: Corticostriatal Systems and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (March 2006)Argentina: VIII Argentine Workshop in Neuroscience (April 2006)Germany: Cerebral Ischemia and Stroke (May 2006)Uganda: Certificate Course in Neuroscience (May 2006)Brazil: III International Symposium on Myosin V - International Training Course: Proteins asCellular Nanomachines: Molecular Motors, Channels & Pumps (May 2006)Japan: Fifth International Workshop on Brain Connectivity (May)Italy: Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience (May 2006)Italy: 4th FMRI analysis with AFNI and SUMA course (June 2006)Vietnam: EEG and electrophysiological recording techniques (June 2006)Sweden: The Legacy of Golgi and Cajal (June 2006)Russia: Hippocampus and Memory (June 2006)Venezuela: 4th Caribbean Neurobiology Course "Restoring Brain Functions” (June-July 2006)Nigeria: Environment and the Developing Brain (July 2006)Cuba: Summer Course in Cognitive Neuroscience (Aug-Sept 2006)Belgium: 11th European Drosophila Neurobiology Conference (Sept 2006)Israel: Intracellular Recordings In-vivo (Sept 2006)Peru: International diploma course on neuroscience (Sept-Oct 2006)Russia: Simpler Nervous Systems (Sept 2006)Serbia: Imaging in Neurosciences and Beyond (Sept 2006)Brazil: 14th International Summer School in Behavioural Neurogenetics (Nov-Dec 2006)

PENS: PROGRAMME FOR EUROPEANNEUROSCIENCE SCHOOLS

For information about the joint FENS/IBROfunding venture:

http://mars.glia.mdc-berlin.de/pens/

RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

Africa RegionAmin, Daniel (Buea, Cameroon): Host laboratory Deptof Neuroscience, Division of Neurodegenerative DiseaseResearch, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden(Kristensson, Krister)

Asia Pacific RegionMachaalani, Rita (Sydney,Australia): Host laboratoryJoseph Fourier University, University Hospital ofGrenoble, France (Dematteis, Maurice)Noudoost, Behrad (Tehran, Iran): Host laboratoryNeurobiology Department; School of Medicine, StanfordUniversity, Stanford, CA, USA (Moore,Tirin)

Central & Eastern Europe RegionPetrovic, Milos (Belgrade, Serbia Montenegro): Hostlaboratory Institute of Physiology AS CR, Prague, CzechRepublic (Vyklicky Jr., Ladislav)Samarova, Elena (Moscow, Russia): Host laboratory,Dept of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Latin America RegionAbudara,Veronica (Montevideo, Uruguay): Hostlaboratory INSERM U114, Collège de France 11, Paris,France (Giaume, Christian)Alfonso, Julieta (San Martin,Argentina): Hostlaboratory Dept of Clinical Neurobiology,Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience/ University ofHeidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany (Monyer, Hannah)

Western Europe RegionCohen Kadosh, Roi (Beer-Sheva, Israel): Hostlaboratory Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience & Deptof Psychology, University College London, London, UK(Walsh,Vincent)Lerner,Yulia (Rehovot, Irael): Host laboratory NeuralScience & Psychology, New York University, New York,NY, USA (Rubin, Nava)

JOHN G. NICHOLLS FELLOWSHIP

Panizzutti, Rogerio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil): Hostlaboratory, Dept. of Otolaryngology, UCSF, San Francisco,CA, USA (Merzenich, Michael)

IBRO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSHIPS

Africa RegionGatome, Catherine (Nairobi, Kenya): Host laboratory,Anatomisches Institut,Abteilung Neuroanatomie &Verhalten, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Asia Pacific RegionKhan,Adil (Bangalore, India): Host laboratory ColdSpring Harbor Laboratories, Cold Spring Harbor, NY,USA (Mainen, Zachary)Moshayedi, Pouria (Tehran, Iran): Host laboratoryDept of Neurological Surgery,The NeuroscienceProgram,The Miami Project, University of Miami MillerSchool of Medicine, Miami, FLA, USA

Central & Eastern Europe RegionGhazaryan,Astghik (Yerevan,Armenia): Hostlaboratory Department of Molecular and CellularNeurobiology & Evolution, Nencki Institute ofExperimental Biology,Warsaw, Poland

Latin America RegionKusuda, Ricardo (Sao Paulo, Brazil): Host laboratory,Dept of Anatomy & Neuroscience, Hyogo College ofMedicine, Hyogo, Japan (Noguchi, Koichi)

Western Europe RegionKokras, Nikolaos (Athens, Greece) Host laboratory,

IBRO FUNDING AWARDS 2006-2007Neuroadaptations Group, Max Planck Institute ofPsychiatry, Munich, Germany (Almeida, Osborne)

TRAVEL GRANTS JANUARY-JUNE 2006

Asia Pacific RegionLoeliger, Michelle (Australia): Paediatric AcademicSocieties’ Annual Mtg, San Francisco, CA, USANayagam, David (Australia): 29th Annual MtgAssociation for Research in Otolaryngology, Baltimore, MD, USAFu, Qingling (China): Assn for Research in Vision andOphthalmology, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USALi, Suk-Yee (China):Assn for Research in Vision andOphthalmology, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USAAnand,Akshay (India): 58th Annual Mtg AmericanAcademy of Neurology, San Diego, CA, USA Kumar,Anil(India): 17th Annual Mtg American NeuropsychiatricAssociation, La Jolla, CA, USA

Central & Eastern European RegionKorzh, Oleksii (Ukraine):World Parkinson Congress inWashington, DC, USA

Latin American RegionGomez Casati, Maria Eugenia (Argentina): 29thAnnual Mtg Association for Research in Otolaryngology,Baltimore, MD, USAContin, Maria Ana (Argentina):Assn for Research inVision and Ophthalmology , Fort Lauderdale, FL, USARamos,Alberto (Argentina): 4th Int’l Symposium onNeuroprotection and Neurorepair, Magdeburg, GermanyBoccia, Mariano Martin (Argentina):WinterConference of Learning and Memory, Park City, UT, USAde Araujo, Draulio (Brazil): 12th Annual Mtg Organizationfor Human Brain Mapping in Florence, ItalyCanto-Pereira, Luiz Henrique (Brazil): 6th AnnualMtg Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, USAMontoya,Arquimedes (Cuba): 58th Annual MtgAmerican Academy of Neurology, San Diego, CA, USASerrano,Teresa (Cuba): Int’l Conference on MonitoringMolecules in Neuroscience, Cagliari, Italy

Western Europe RegionBekinschtein,Tristan (Argentina): 10th Annual MtgAssociation for the Scientific Study of Consciousness,Oxford, UKSallagundala, Nagaraja (India): 2nd Intl Mtg onPhysiology and Pharmacology of Temperature Regulation,Phoenix,AR, USACohen Kadosh, Roi (Israel): Annual Mtg of theCognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco,California, USA Reznichenko, Lydia (Israel):WorldParkinson Congress,Washington, DC, USA

IBRO TRAVEL GRANTS JULY-DECEMBER 2006

Africa RegionNyatia, Edward (Kampala, Uganda): SfN 2006,Atlanta, GA, USAMoftah, Marie (Alexandria, Egypt): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaWahab, Kolawole (Ilorin, Nigeria): Joint WorldCongress on Stroke, Cape Town, South AfricaFakoya, Francis (Ile-Ife, Nigeria): ISDN, Banff, Canada

Asia Pacific RegionLiang,Yu-Xiang (Hong Kong, China): SfN 2006,Atlanta, GA, USAMa, Sherie (Melbourne,Australia): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaShankaranarayana Rao (Bangalore, India): SfN 2006,Atlanta, GE, USAKhan,Adil (Bangalore, India): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaBajestan, Sepideh (Kagoshima, Japan): Int’l Congress ofNeuropsychiatry, Sydney,AustraliaSingh, Jaspreet (Jalandhar, India): SfN 2006,Atlanta, GA, USACont. page 3

2006-2007IBRO’S FUNDING PROGRAMMES

See page 8

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ARGENTINIANRESEARCHER NAMEDIBRO OUTSTANDINGFELLOW 2007

Julieta Alfonso from SanMartin,Argentina, wasnominated OutstandingFellow out of the nineyoung researchersawarded IBRO ResearchFellowships for 2007.Julieta, who works atthe Instituto deInvestigacionesBiotecnologicas,Universidad de SanMartin,Argentina, willbe taking her fellowshipto the Dept. of ClinicalNeurobiology,

Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience/Universityof Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, where shewill be working with Dr Hannah Monyer. She hasbeen working at Dr A.C. Frasch’s laboratory since1997.Their project has involved the study of themolecular and cellular processes that take placeduring chronic stress in the mammalian brain. Ithas long been known that prolonged exposure toadverse situations can have importantconsequences for the brain, conferringsusceptibility to psychiatric disorders such ashuman depression.The hippocampal formationpossesses a remarkable degree of plasticity and isparticularly sensitive to stress.

BRAZILIAN NEUROSCIENTIST WINS JOHN G. NICHOLLS FELLOWSHIPRogerio Panizzutti, a Brazilian neuroscientist was awarded the IBRO John G. Nicholls Fellowship for 2007.TheFellowship aims each year to assist a promising researcher under 30 who wishes to further their neurosciencetraining at a distinguished foreign laboratory for one year. A molecular neurobiologist, Dr Panizzutti’s research isfocused on brain neurochemistry linked to schizophrenia. He will be working with Dr Michael Merzenich theDept. of Otolaryngology, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA.The Merzenich group is elaborating a brain plasticity-based training strategy designed to prevent the disease onset in prodromal and at-risk individuals, and toameliorate its symptoms in patients. Dr Panizzutti describes his research so far:

“I graduated as a Medical Doctor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1999. In 2004 I finishedmy PhD in Biochemistry at the same university. For six months of the PhD I joined the neuroimagegroup of the Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland. Just after my PhD I wasappointed assistant professor at the Biomedical Sciences Institute of Federal University of Rio deJaneiro, where I am starting a new research group working on the biological basis of neuropsychiatricdiseases. I received the Young Talent in Science Award sponsored by GE Healthcare in 2004 and the2005 Young Latin American Scholars Award from the American Society for Neurochemistry.

“I have been studying the neurobiological role of D-serine, an endogenous D-amino acid that occurs athigh levels in the central nervous system. Several lines of evidence indicate that D-serine is anendogenous modulator of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors.As an endogenous co-agonist of NMDA receptors, D-serine may play a role inseveral pathological conditions related to NMDA receptor dysfunction. Mammalian serine racemase, an enzyme enriched in cerebral cortex, whichconverts L- to D-serine, has been purified and cloned.

“I focused my attention on identifying factors that regulate serine racemase and D-serine signaling.We found that Mg2+ and ATP are physiologicalligands of serine racemase and they are able to increase the production of D-serine several folds.These cofactors elicit another function of theenzyme, a considerable pyruvate generation by direct deamination of L-serine. Since pyruvate and its metabolites are exported from astrocytes toneurons, serine racemase production of pyruvate may play a role in glial-neuronal communication. I joined the neuroimage group of the NovartisInstitute of Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland. Studying the effect of D-serine administration in rats, we found that D-serine elicited a relevantactivation in the hippocampus. Since D-serine acts specifically in NMDA receptors and the hippocampus is a region rich in these receptors, this resultshows that co-agonists can increase the activity of NMDA receptors in this region. In this way the site could not be fully activated. Hippocampus isrelated to learning and memory processes and the co-agonist site of NMDA receptors can be a target to improving these process.”

Outstanding FellowJulieta Alfonso

John G. Nicholls Fellow Rogerio Panizzutti

In 2001, with a generous donation from the LeviMontalcini Foundation, IBRO created two RitaLevi Montalcini fellowships for womenneuroscientists from Africa. Rita Levi Montalcini,winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology orMedicine for her discovery of the nerve growthfactor, established with her artist sister Paola theLevi Montalcini Foundation in 1992.Through theIBRO fellowships Dr Montalcini wishes tosupport education in Africa and is particularlyinterested in the advancement of African women.The fellowships are awarded to 1) a researcherfor a two-year training period at a universityabroad; 2) a researcher to spend two years at anAfrican university, not in her own country.

This year’s fellowships for 2006 have beenawarded to Esperance Kashala, KinshasaUniversity Hospital, Kinshasa, DR Congo andDeepa Sukhdev Maharaj, Rhodes University,Grahamstown, South Africa.The fellowships lastfor two years.

Dr Kashala is a specialist in neuropsychiatry fromthe Department of Neurology (Centre Neuro-Psychopathologique) at Kinshasa UniversityHospital. Her work involves in- and out-patientcare of neurologic and psychiatric patients, clinicaltraining and teaching of undergraduate medicalstudents on neurological and psychiatric issues. InNovember 2005, she defended her PhD thesis atthe University of Bergen, Norway. Her researchwas on mental health of African schoolchildren inKinshasa, DR Congo, with a particular focus onattention deficit and hyperactivity disorder(ADHD).This research was conducted incollaboration with the Department of Neurology

TWO AFRICAN WOMEN SCIENTISTS RECEIVELEVI MONTALCINI FELLOWSHIPS

at Kinshasa University Hospital and both theDepartment of Paediatrics and the Centre forInternational Health, University of Bergen.

In September 2006, as an IBRO Levi Montalcinifellow, she will be investigating the effects ofatomoxetine in an animal model for ADHD incollaboration with Professor Vivienne Russell atthe University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Dr Maharaj will be taking up her fellowship inFebruary 2007 with Prof. B. D. Glass, Chair ofPharmac, James Cook University,Australia, whereshe will investigate the role of melatonin andVitamin D in sun protection andneurodegenerative disorders.

She says:“Like many other idealistic youngstudents I am attracted to science in part becauseof the hope that science could improve life for allhuman beings. I have become increasinglytroubled by the unequal access to science andtechnology in Africa and the complex implicationsof scientific advancement for society (humancloning, biopiracy, genetic engineering, andbioterrorism issues). On an international scaleone cannot fail to be concerned with the growingdisparity between the benefits of science andtechnology to citizens of the first world ascompared with those of the third world. I hopethat by receiving the scholarship and returning toAfrica with my new found knowledge I can makea difference albeit a small one. I also am veryaware of the cultural biases and difficulties facedby women in Africa and other cultures whereexpectations regarding women's roles in theworkforce and the home can be more narrowlycircumscribed.”

2006-2007OUR RESEARCH FELLOWS

Esperance Kashala

Deepa Sukhdev Maharaj

Cont from page 2Central & Eastern Europe RegionFirsov, Michael (St. Petersburg, Russia): 5thINMED/TINS Conference, La Ciotat, FranceJanzsó, Gergely (Budapest, Hungary): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaWittner, Lucia (Budapest, Hungary): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaDravolina, Olga (St. Petersburg, Russia): ECNP, Paris, FranceFedorovich, Sergei (Minsk, Belarus): ISN SpecialNeurochemistry Conference on Neural Glycomics andLipidomics,Antigua & Barbuda Jelitai, Márta (Budapest, Hungary): ISDN, Banff, Canada

Latin America RegionLópez-Costa, Juan (Buenos Aires,Argentina): SfN2006,Atlanta, GA, USARotstein, Nora (Bahia Blanca,Argentina): Summer EyeResearch Conference, Fort Myers, FL, USADelorenzi,Alejandro (Buenos Aires,Argentina):ICOM-4, International Conference on Memory, Sydney,AustraliaCaviedes, Pablo (Santiago, Chile): SfN 2006,Atlanta, GA, USAFidelio, Gerardo (Cordoba,Argentina):VIIberoamerican Congress of Biophysics, Madrid, SpainMorelli, Laura (Buenos Aires,Argentina): 10thInternational Conference on Alzheimer`s Diseases andRelated Disorders, Madrid, SpainResstel, Leonardo (Ribeirão Preto, Brazil): FENS 2006,Vienna,Austria

Western Europe RegionHerrero,Anabel (Madrid, Spain): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaSlamberova, Romana (Prague, Czech Republic): SfN2006,Atlanta, GA, USATordera, Rosa (Pamplona, Spain): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaAng, Eng Tat (Fribourg, Switzerland): SfN 2006,Atlanta, GA, USAMontero-Pedrazuela,Ana (Madrid, Spain): FENS 2006,Vienna,AustriaFranklin,Tamara (Zurich, Switzerland): FENS 2006,Vienna,Austria

SFN INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL FELLOWSHIPS 2006

Asia Pacific RegionWang, Pei-Yu (New Zealand)Taylor, Juliet (Melbourne,Australia)Benakareddy, Madhurima (Mumbai, India)Joo,Yuyoung (Seoul, Korea)

Central & Eastern Europe RegionBorhegyine Holderith, Noemi (Budapest, Hungary)Salozhin, Sergey (Moscow, Russia)Biro,Agota (Budapest, Hungary)

Latin America RegionFunchal, Claudia (Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil)Salvador, Gabriela (Bahia Blanca,Argentina)Fonseca, Cristina Guatimosim (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)Oliva, Carolina (Valparaiso, Chile)

Western Europe RegionMartinez de Lagran, Maria (Barcelona, Spain)Brambilla, Paolo (Udine, Italy)Bernacer Maria, Javier (Madrid, Spain)Cebrian, Carolina (Pamplona, Spain)

NIDA/IBRO TRAVEL FELLOWSHIPS 2006

Awards to attend the NIDA mini-convention, 'Frontiersin Addiction Research', satellite meeting of SfN 2006,Atlanta, GA, USAGelazonia, Lia, I. (Tbilisi, Georgia)De Luca, Maria Antonietta, (Cagliari, Italy)

The SfN provided complimentary registration for its 2006meeting to all 15 SfN/IBRO International Travel Fellowshiprecipients, to the eight recipients of IBRO Travel Grants, andthe two recipients of the NIDA/IBRO Travel Fellowship.

CHINESE FELLOWFROM CHINA

REPORTS FROMTHE US

Bin Liu,Assistant Professor,Center for New Drugs

Evaluation, School of Pharmacy,Shandong University, Shandong,China, won an IBRO Research

Fellowship to work from March2005 in the Department of

Anatomy at Northeastern OhioUniversities College of Medicine.She arrived in the US in March2005 and worked in Dr Dean

Dluzen’s laboratory, NortheasternOhio Universities College of

Medicine (NEOUCOM), whereshe focused on observing the

effects of gonadal steroidhormones against neurotoxinswhich target the nigrostriatal

dopaminergic system of rodents.By October 2005 she completed

two first-author papers.Two abstracts based on the

papers were presented at the SfNMeeting in November 2005,

Washington, DC.

Research Fellow Bin Liu

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WESTERN EUROPEREGIONAL COMMITTEEHAS NEW CHAIRMonica Di Luca, Dept. of Pharmacology,University of Milan, Italy, was elected as the newChair of IBRO’s Western European RegionalCommittee (WERC).

IBRO would like to thank Gaetano di Chiara forthe work he has done for the Western EuropeRegion whilst in the role of WERC Chair.

Monica Di Luca

MOVING FROM‘BRAIN DRAIN’ TO‘BRAIN GAIN’IBRO’s Return Home Programme (RHP) enablesyoung researchers from less developed countrieswho have studied neuroscience in advancedresearch centres to return home to continuebrain research.The programme is currentlyaimed at scientists who have worked abroadwhile receiving IBRO Fellowships, travel grantsor other IBRO-related stipends.The ReturnHome Programme expects to award one-timegrants of approximately US$15,000.On-line applications were under way in June.Chair: F. H. Lopes da Silva.

NEW CHAIR FORTRAINING PROGRAMMESREGISTRYLaurence Garey (Switzerland) was elected newChair of IBRO’s International Registry ofNeuroscience Training Programmes Committee(IRNTP).The IRNTP’s aim is to provide on theIBRO web site a comprehensive listing ofneuroscience training programmes operatingworldwide. National and regional neurosciencesocieties and federations are invited to work withIBRO to establish national web-based registriesbased on their own requirements and resources.To facilitate international access and consistency,the local listings include details that conform asclosely as possible to guidelines issued by IBRO, inagreement with IBRO’s Affiliated Organizations.The creation and maintenance of the Registry willhelp define and make better known trainingpossibilities worldwide.

Register now! If you would like your institutionto be listed, please forward the information to:The IBRO International Registry of NeuroscienceTraining Programmes(stephanie.delarochefoucauld@ibro.info).Allsubmissions will also be made available to theappropriate national Neuroscience Society inyour region.

NEW PAGES FOR NEUROSCIENCE HISTORY SERIES

Histories of IBRO’s Affiliated OrganizationsA new section tracing the origins of the IBRO’s 82 Affiliated Organizations has been added to the Neuroscience History pages of the IBRO web site.This is an initiative of Javier De Felipe, Chair of IBRO’s Committee on Neuroscience History and creator of the Neuroscience History section.The first fivehistories to be published on the web were the Israel Society for Neuroscience (ISFN), the Spanish Society for Neuroscience (SENC) and the Swiss Societyfor Neuroscience (SSN), the Sociedad Chilena de Neurociencia (SCN), and the Italian Society for Neuroscience (Società Italiana di Neuroscienze, SINS).

IBRO’s Affiliated Organizations are invited to write a brief history of their societies with information of how they were formed and any other relevantinformation (images, documents).Texts may be sent to Dr De Felipe at defelipe@cajal.csic.es.

Distinguished Neuroscientists InterviewsThis new section in the web’s Neuroscience History series aims to satisfy our curiosity about the thoughts of prestigious neuroscientists and thephilosophy behind their science. Scientists so far interviewed: Masao Ito,Vernon B. Mountcastle, Floyd E. Bloom.

NEW ELECTRONICSYSTEM SUPPORTSIBRO PROGRAMMESOn-line management systems are in full swing forour Neuroscience Schools, Funding and AlumniProgrammes and under way for others. On-linesystems facilitate each stage of a programme; forschools, from applications for school hosting,management of students, faculty, schoolprogrammes, to the collection and maintenanceof learning resources and preparation of schoolreports.Alumni are able to communicate witheach other via a dedicated web site.

IBRO’S ScienceAdvisory Board

Can ReviewYour Institute!

IBRO Science Advisory Programme (ISAP)provides expert advisory boards to review

neuroscience institutions around theworld.The ISAP recognizes that informedpeer review is one of the most effective

systems for setting standards of excellencein the scientific establishment and provides

a resource that is scarce in theinternational neuroscience community.

Institutions seeking reviews are invited toapply to the ISAP. Information can be found

on the IBRO web site. Or contact ISAPChair Walter Stuehmer(wstuehm@gwdg.de).

OUR JOURNAL NEUROSCIENCE: LATEST! As all readers of Neuroscience will have experienced, the Journal has undergone a transformation overthe past few years. Most obvious are the changes in layout and physical appearance. But these changesshould not eclipse the deeper and more fundamental restructuring of the Journal, which has involved

introduction of web-based submission and streamlining of the reviewing and editorial handling ofsubmitted manuscripts.The modernization of the Journal has coincided with a sharp increase in the

authors’ approval rating as pointed out in our recent Editorial (Neuroscience 137:1, 2005).

The 2006 mid-year report on the status of Neuroscience has now been compiled and we are glad toconclude that the positive trends seem to continue.The Journal saw a large increase in the influx of

new papers following the move to web-based submission late 2003. In the first five months of 2006 theEditorial Office received 674 new submissions. Extrapolating through December 2006, this would resultin 1618 submissions for the whole year, compared with less than 1000 submissions in 2003 and 1603 in

2005.To avoid a backlog of articles we now have to apply even higher-quality standards than before,implying that a smaller proportion of the submitted papers will be accepted for publication.We trust

that this will be understood and accepted as a natural consequence of the development of the journal.To cope with the large volume of submissions, the staff at the Editorial/Production office in San Diego

has now been increased.

There is also a positive development in the response time to authors.Thus the average ‘time to firstdecision’ is down to 32 days in the first quarter of 2006 – a substantial improvement on the 61 daysrecorded for 2003, prior to the deployment of e-submission.The aim is to process the manuscripts

even faster so that the time to first decision will be less than 30 days by the end of 2006. Swift handlingof manuscripts is considered as a key to the continued success of the journal and depends on the

concerted efforts of reviewers and editors alike.

As important elements of the restructuring of the Journal it was decided in 2003 to introduce ReviewArticles and Special Issues.The last few months have seen the publication of three Special Issues:

Quantitative Neuroanatomy in November 2005, Neuroactive Steroids in March 2006, and WorkingMemory in April 2006. In addition, commissioned for 2007 publication is a special issue on DNA Repairand Genome Instability in the CNS.The Reviews and Special Issues are expected to increase further the

visibility of the Journal and – eventually – its impact factor.We do hope that you will continue tosupport Neuroscience and IBRO by submitting your best work to our Journal.

Ole Petter OttersenChief Editor, Neuroscience

Table of Contents for each issue of Neuroscience are e-mailed to all IBRO members.

The winning image of IBRO’s annualNeuroscience cover competition for 2005 isthe cover for Vol. 137, Issue 2, 2005, whichforms part of the article by Steve P.McGaraughty et al., ‘Mapping brain activityfollowing administration of a nicotinicacetylcholine receptor agonist,ABT-594, usingfunctional magnetic resonance imaging inawake rats’. Dr McGaraughty described theresearch and image relating to theNeuroscience article:

“Our laboratory is dedicated to using imagingtechniques, including fMRI, in order to developand advance our understanding of noveltherapeutics for disorders of the nervoussystem.This project was initially conceivedand implemented by a handful of Abbottprincipal scientists and over a three yearperiod has blossomed into a full-fledgedExperimental Imaging group.This paperrepresented the first publication from ourgroup and is significant for its use of awake-habituated animals in a functional imagingprotocol. It is this latter point that weattempted to convey in the cover image.

In the cover image itself, the brain isosurfacewas created from a high-resolution scan of arat's brain that was manually segmented using

AFNI (http://afni.nimh.nih.gov/afni/).The 3-dimensional isosurface was then formulatedusing Paraview (www.paraview.org).Theoverlay of functional brain activity wasgenerated and registered to the high-resolution brain scan (again using AFNI) andimported into Paraview for placement withinthe brain isosurface.The ‘floor’ of the coverimage represented one of our figures fromthe Neuroscience paper.The GNU ImageManipulation Program (www.gimp.org) wasused to combine the multiple layers as well asachieve ‘floor’ warping and alpha-blending.”

As in previous years, the cover competitionwinner is entitled to choose USD1000 ofbooks from Elsevier Science, publisher ofNeuroscience.

WINNER OF NEUROSCIENCE JOURNALCOVER COMPETITION ANNOUNCED

The winning cover

NEUROSCIENCE NEWS AND EVENTSIN THE NEWS

DETAILS OF ALL IBROPROGRAMMES CAN

BE FOUND ATWWW.IBRO.INFO

The winner

NeuroscapesExhibition To VisitIBRO Congress

An exhibition entitled Neuroscapes 2006 had itsinternational launch in Barcelona, Spain on April6, 2006 at the Cajal Centenary Conference onthe Cerebral Cortex (April 25-29), held at the

CosmoCaixa Science Museum in Barcelona. 433images from 62 laboratories around the world

were submitted to Neuroscapes forconsideration in the section The UntouchedNervous System.The winning image was byTamily Weissman and Jeff Lichtman (Harvard

University, USA).The Exhibition will be displayedat the IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience,

Melbourne in July 2007.

5

IBRO ALUMNI NOWTOTAL 2000The Alumni Programme has seen much success,with 2000 IBRO Alumni worldwide and a sitededicated exclusively to them (http://alumni.ibro.info).Several very successful international gatheringshave taken place and a good number of bookshave been distributed. Some of the schoolchapters have elected their representatives andthe Alumni themselves have spearheaded veryinteresting scientific and friendly interactionsbetween young people from different countriesand regions.

As the programme grows, so the demands forcoordination and support from IBRO increase.Anad-hoc IBRO Alumni Committee has been set up.The Committee Chair is Dr Susan Sara,Laboratory of Neuromodulation and CognitiveProcesses, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris,France.The Committee will be represented onthe IBRO School Board by its Chair and will workin close association with the Library, Equipmentand Return Home Programmes.

Susan Sara

Nigerian AlumniDescribes Long Roadto ResearchDr James O. Olopade, Dept. of VeterinaryAnatomy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria and IBROAlumni, delivered a lecture at a YoungVeterinarians’ Research Foundation (YVRF)seminar, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universityof Ibadan in August 2005. He talked about theinfluences on his neuroscience career. He wasable to attend SONA conference,Abuja, Nigeriain 2003 where he met neuroscience‘heavyweights’, including Willie Daniels,AlbertAguayo, Roger Butterworth. Dr Olopade alsoattended a one-week intensive course, the IBROAfrican Neuroscience School at Grahamstown,South Africa (2004), where again he met withdistinguished neuroscientists.There he metSharon Juliano, who sent him books and othermaterials after the school.After Grahamstown hehad the opportunity to attend another IBRONeuroscience School combined with a SONAConference in Cape Town (2005).

Dr Olopade informed the audience that hestarted his research in neuroscience with muchdifficulty.There were no mentors in the field toguide him; he learned through trial and error andfaced serious financial strain. His current researchfocuses on levels of metals in the brain of goats inNigeria and to see if it could be a suitable modelfor assessing the impact of environmental toxicityof metals in the brain of humans. He iscollaborating with James Connor of Penn StateUniversity (whom he met at the last SONAConference and IBRO African NeuroscienceSchool that he attended), an expert on iron inthe brain.

In closing, Dr Olopade, proudly wearing his IBROAlumni cap, was full of appreciation for the helpIBRO and SONA had been to his research life. Hesaid the challenges of doing neuroscience inNigeria, as in most parts of Africa, are the result amorbid fear of the brain which he attributed tothe low quality teaching at undergraduate level.

Success Story for Egyptian NeuropharmacologistWael Mohamed Yousef works as an assistant lecturer of neuropharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Menoufiya, Egypt.He relates his experiences at IBRO Neuroscience Schools and his future plans for PhD studies in the USA.“I attended the 10th IBRO/Fogarty Neuroscience School, Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Bamako-Mali,West Africa in July2005. It was a very fruitful and valuable experience for me to meet colleagues and professors in the field of neuroscienceworldwide.There I met Professor Raj Kalaria (Chair, IBRO African Regional Committee). I discussed with Prof. Kalaria how topromote neurosciences in Egypt. I suggested organizing an IBRO school in Egypt, which of course required a specializedorganization in Egypt. Hence, as soon as I came back to Egypt from Mali, I met my neuroscience colleagues and established theEgyptian Society for Basic Neurosciences, of which I am Secretary General. I then applied for the ISN-IBRO African AdvancedNeuroscience School, Behavioral Neuroscience, Nairobi, Kenya, in December 2005.There I met Professor Byron C. Jones,Professor of Biobehavioral Health and Pharmacology, Co-Director, Interdepartment Graduate Program in Neuroscience, PennState University, USA. I asked if he would supervise my PhD at the Neuroscience Institute of the Huck Institutes of the LifeSciences at Penn State as I had been awarded a scholarship from the Egyptian government to study my PhD inneuropharmacology outside Egypt. He accepted and I received an offer from Penn State to register for the neuroscience program for my PhD.“I intend to travel to the USA in August 2006, where I shall stay for five years to complete my PhD.In March this year our Egyptian Society for Basic Neurosciences organized a successful Brain Awareness Week including three modules: 1) Secondary schoolstudents; 2. Public awareness; 3) Undergraduate medical students and nursing staff.“From the free scholarship awarded to me from the Egyptian government I hope I can learn more advanced techniques in the neuroscience field and work onthe development of new drugs needed for many patients suffering from neurological diseases. In Egypt basic neurosciences are not well developed, so I hopeafter my return I can work with my other colleagues, both basic and clinical neuroscientists, for the advancement of research in this field.”

Wael Yousef

IBRO's Brain Campaign Offers Funding for Neuroscience Eventsfor Public Understanding of the BrainIBRO's Brain Campaign offers funding to neuroscientists around the world to organize educationalevents to increase public awareness of the brain.The funding covers both Brain Awareness Weekevents and activities the year round. Public education events about the brain can take many forms:public lectures, debates or film shows on brain-related issues, or hands-on opportunities to get toknow the brain and participate in experiments. http://www.braincampaign.org

Neuroscience: Science of the Brain is a public education booklet for young students originallypublished by the British Neuroscience Association in 2004.The book is ideal for those with littleprevious knowledge of the brain and is a wonderfully neat and concise 'primer' of neuroscience,touching on everything from development to drug addiction.

IBRO’s Public Education Committee now own the copyright to the booklet and is eager to translateit into many languages. It is at present available electronically in English, Mandarin and Spanish andthe Committee has found people to translate the booklet into Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Portuguese,Romanian, Russian, Swahili and Ukrainian. It still requires translation into French, Japanese and Polish.The Committee would appreciate hearing from anyone interested.

ALUMNI ... BOOK FUND ... BRAIN CAMPAIGN ... BRAIN AWARENESS WEEKIN THE NEWS

67 COUNTRIES JOININ BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK 2006 In March this year a record number ofneuroscience labs, institutes, and individualneuroscientists took part in highly successfulBAW events around the world. Public awarenessof the brain is the main aim of BAW.This yearneuroethics was the key theme, with scientistsnot only connecting with the public in terms ofbrain research, but also focusing on the legal,ethical and philosophical questions raised byadvances in neuroscience. From Switzerland toUganda, Nigeria to Hungary, people all overthe world were captivated by the wonders ofthe brain.

Brain Awareness Week is an international effortorganized by the Dana Alliance for BrainInitiatives to advance public awareness about theprogress and benefits of brain research.

http://www.dana.org/brainweek/

BAW 2006 Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Prof. Polycarp Nwoha(left; Institute of Neuroscience and BiomedicalResearch, Owerri, Nigeria) shares a joke over aquestion asked by a high-school student: “If I eatthe brain of a pig, would it make my brain growbigger and I become more intelligent?”

BOOK FUND DELIVERS BOOKS TOTHOSE IN NEED

Since its creation in 2003 IBRO’s Book Fund, via the Regional Committees, has delivered manybooks to IBRO schools and individual institutes and libraries around the world: 30 copies of

Zigmond’s Fundamental Neuroscience to Uruguay; 176 copies of Nicholls’ From Neuron to Brainto Russia and China.The Human Frontier Science Program donated 1000 books to IBRO

neuroscience schools (Coincidence Detection in the Nervous System,Vision and MovementMechanisms in the Cerebral Cortex, Central Synapses, Brain and Mind, Cell Surface

Proteoglycans in Signalling & Development, Regulation of Sleep,Axis Formation in VertebrateEmbryos, and Neuroenergetics).

Under the direction in 2005 of Kathleen Whitlock (USA) and John Ewer (USA) the Book Fundwas offered Sinauer Press’s 2nd editions of Purves’ Neuroscience and Nelson’s Behavioral

Endocrinology;Taylor & Francis donated 2nd and 1st editions of Bruce Alberts’ Molecular Biologyof the Cell and Essential Cell Biology. By the end of 2005 Chairs of IBRO Regional Committees

and IBRO course organizers requested 198 copies of Neuroscience, 73 copies of An Introductionto Behavioral Endocrinology, 134 copies of Molecular Biology of the Cell, and 180 copies of

Essential Cell Biology.These books were destined for 20 recipients in Africa, South and CentralAmerica, India, Europe, and Russia, including IBRO schools and individual institutes and libraries.

The Grass Foundation provided the cost of shipping.All books have now reachedtheir destinations.

For information about requesting scientific books, please contact John Ewer (je24@cornell.edu)or Kathleen Whitlock (kew13@cornell.edu).

LIBRARIES COMMITTEE ALLOCATES FREEELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTIONS

The Neuroscience Libraries Committee (Chair Marina Bentivoglio) works closely with theHINARI Project (see p. 8) to allocate free electronic institutional subscriptions. Essential

requirements for the electronic subscriptions - direct contact with the institution through alibrarian, fast internet connection, identification of the IP number of the institution

computer/server - are difficult to meet in some countries. Over the last year messages were sentto 92 IBRO alumni from 23 countries requesting the e-mail address of the librarian responsiblefor books and journals in their respective institutions. From this five institutions were identified

as eligible for electronic subscriptions; their data have been forwarded to HINARI. Incollaboration with the Book Fund, books were donated to 10 institutions.The Committee

remain confident that they will be able to contact many more institutions in the future.

Contact Marina Bentivoglio (marina.bentivoglio@univr.it) for information.

6

AFRICAN REGIONAL COMMITTEE: IBROschools supported by the ARC continue to be our ‘tourde force.’ Since July 2005,ARC has organized fourschools and plans one more in December 2006: 10thIBRO Africa and Fogarty International Centre (NIH)-sponsored Neuroscience School held 22-27 July, 2005 inBamako, Mali for the first time; 11th IBRO Africa School,Behavioural Neuroscience, held in Nairobi, 10–18December, 2005; 12th IBRO Africa and IACSN-NACSchool, Neural Basis of Behaviour, 1-9 July, 2006, CapeTown, South Africa; 13th IBRO Africa School, InfectiousDiseases of the Brain, 1-6 September, 2006 in Kinshasa(DRC) jointly organized by the ARC and theClinical/Basic Neuroscience Links Committee (chair G.Maestre).The 14th IBRO Africa School,Neurodegeneration and Regeneration, co-sponsored bythe ISN will take place 8-13 December, 2006 in Rabat(Morocco).

Other highlights in 2005 ARC: 1st InternationalNeuroscience Conference in United Arab Emirates(UAE), 25-29 November, 2005.ARC Chair representedIBRO with Y. S. Chan (APRC) at this first ever conferencein the Middle East. SONA members were also present inAl Ain and Dubai among the 100 delegates and alsoparticipated in pre-conference teaching sessions onneurodegeneration and dementia. IBRO schools alumniDrs Albert Akpalu (Ghana) and Angelina Kakooza-Mwesige (Uganda) were guests of the American EpilepsySociety Fellows to visit the USA in December 2005.TheARC facilitated election of two Rita Levi MontalciniFoundation Fellows, who are IBRO alumni EsperanceKashala (DRC) and Deepa Maharaj (South Africa; SA).Dr Kashala will work with Prof. Russell at the Universityof Cape Town and Dr Maharaj will work with . Glass atJames Cook University,Australia.

We boast two regional activities: 1st InternationalNeuroscience Conference, 26-29 May, 2006,Algiers,Algeria, organized by Ghazi Ayad and Latifa Mamine-Dorbani; and INBR 2006 Congress in Owerri, Nigeria,10-13 July, 2006 on Environment and the Brain.This wasorganized by Dr Polycarp Nwoha and colleagues. InDecember,ARC and SONA members will support andparticipate in the 2nd Mediterranean Conference ofNeurosciences in Marrakech, Morocco.This ‘crossroads’conference will be held 13-15 December, 2006.

Major ARC future activities include SONA 2007; ourbiennial international conference of AfricanNeuroscience, 26-29 April, 2007 in Kinshasa, DRC, whichwill be convened by T. Kayembe Kalula (DRC; Presidentof SONA) and P. Luabeya (DRC, Belgium).We also planto send a strong African contingent to the IBRO WorldCongress 2007 in Melbourne,Australia.

Nilesh Patel (Kenya; Sec-General SONA) continues to beinvaluable by leading the IBRO Africa Schools programmeand managing the Secretariat in Nairobi. MarinaBentivoglio (Italy), Roger Butterworth (Canada) andHoward Cooper (France) still travel with us and help asinternational advisors. Several members of the ARC andSONA have responsibilities on other IBRO committees:Wail Benjelloun (Morocco; Membership); Pierre Luabeya(DRC; Clinical-Basic Neuroscience Links and Neuro-grants Committees); Santy Daya (SA; Schools andAlumni); Nouria Lakhdar-Ghazal (Morocco; Symposia andWorkshops Committee); Mohammed Erammi (Morocco;Nominations);Vivienne Russell (SA, IRNTP).

In April this year APRONES (Association pour laPromotion des Neurosciences of Congo) became anIBRO member. Six African organizations are nowrepresented on IBRO’s Governing Council: Society ofNeuroscientists of Africa (SONA), Moroccan Associationof Neuroscience (MAN) Southern African NeuroscienceSociety (SANS), Kenyan Society for Neuroscience (KSN),Nigerian Society for Neuroscience (NSN) andAPRONES. ARC encourages groups in Cameroon,Senegal and Egypt to seek IBRO membership.

We are ever grateful to our generous sponsors andpartners including several learned societies, universities,charities and commercial organizations. Once again I takethis opportunity to say asante sana, merci and shukran tothe ARC rafikis including co-opted members, valuableInternational Advisors, who have volunteered their timeand resources.

Prof R. N. KalariaChair, ARC

ASIAN PACIFIC REGIONAL COMMITTEE:The APRC is divided into two groups: Group A: China,Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Philippines,Taiwan,Thailand,Vietnam. Group B:Australia, Bahrain, India, Indonesia,Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore,Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates.Associate Schools: Each five-day Associate Schoolaccommodates 32–40 students. Each consists oflectures, group discussion (with computer search forrelevant articles). Students are MBBS, MSc and year-1PhD students.Group A: i) 4th Associate School (Xi’an, China):April 5-9, 2006 (Organizer: Prof. Liang-Wei Chen, Fourth MilitaryMedical University).

Group B: i) 5th Associate School (Singapore):June 26-30, 2006. Co-sponsored by International Societyfor Neurochemistry (c/o Prof. Kazuhiro Ikenaka,President,Asian-Pacific Society ofNeurochemistry)(Organizer: Prof. Peter T. H.Wong,National University of Singapore). ii) 6th AssociateSchool (Tehran, Iran):August 26-30, 2006 (Organizer:Prof. Fereshteh Motamedi, Shaheed Besheti University ofMedical Sciences).Schools: Each two-week School accommodates 25students for lectures, tutorials and well-definedlaboratory projects. Students are senior PhD studentsand postdocs, with adequate exposure in at least oneresearch technique.They are expected to acquireknowledge of both theoretical and technologicaladvances in key areas of neuroscience research.Group A: i) 7th IBRO School of Neuroscience (HongKong): Nov. 28–Dec. 10, 2005). (Organizers: Prof.Wing-Ho Yung, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Prof,Ying-Shing, Univ of Hong Kong; Prof. Ken KL Yung, Hong KongBaptist University).

ii) 9th IBRO School of Neuroscience (Hong Kong): Nov.30–Dec. 13, 2006) (Organizers: Prof.Wing-Ho Yung,Chinese University of Hong Kong; Prof. Ken KL Yung,Hong Kong Baptist University).Group B: i) 6th IBRO School of Neuroscience(Bangalore, India):Aug. 8-20, 2005 (Organizer: Dr ShonaChattarji, National Centre for Biological Sciences). ii) 8thIBRO School of Neuroscience (Mumbai, India): Sept1–15, 2006 (Organizer: Dr Shubha Tole,Tata Institute ofFundamental Research).Advanced School: Lectures, seminars and problem-based learning on design of research projects. Smallstudent-teacher ratio caters for in-depth interaction.Provides additional intellectual exposure to seniorpostdoc and junior faculties with good research trainingand publication records. Preference given to IBRO alumniof previous two-week Schools.To be held in Wako, Japan,mid-Jan 2007. (Organizer: Prof Hitoshi Okamoto, RIKENBrain Research Institute).RIKEN Summer Program 2006: Uponrecommendation of the Program Coordinator in RIKEN,travel support will be offered to three participants fromour region.Exchange Fellowship Scheme: Sponsors youngneuroscientists (less than 40 years old from the APRC)to spend six months in a host laboratory within ourregion.All awardees to provide strong justification thatthey would return to home country after the exchange.APRC Travel Grants: Regular aims: 1) Individual basis.2) Support Workshop/Symposium in disadvantaged areas.Additional Plans in 2006: For students and youngscientists to attend the 4th FAONS Congress (Nov30–Dec 2, 2006; Hong Kong).

Ying-Shing ChanChair, APRC

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPEREGIONAL COMMITTEE: In 2005 four schoolswere supported by CEERC: the annual Summer School(lectures and practicals) in July in Debrecen, Hungary,Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity: Presynaptic andPostsynaptic Mechanisms, organized by Miklos Antal; aschool on Behavioral Neurogenetics in Moscow, Russia(September), organized by Pierre Mormede; a practicalschool on Confocal Microscopy in Belgrade (September)by Pavle Andjus; and a School on Development andPlasticity of the Human Cerebral Cortex (October)held in Zadar and Zagreb, Croatia, organized byIvica Kostovic.

In 2006 CEERC also provided 19 stipends for the FENSForum to representatives of 12 countries of the Region.Research awards within the region were given to R.Averkin (Ukraine) for work in Russia (Moscow) in 2006and to M. Balcerzyk (Poland) for a short-term visit toUkraine (Kiev).A new CEERC initiative, IBRO Lecturers’Visits to the Region, resulted in one award for a visit byProf. H.Atwood (Canada) to Kazan (Russia).

In 2006 the following events were sponsored by theCEERC: (1) International IBRO Workshop, RegulatoryMechanisms of Synaptic Transmission in the CentralNervous System, Budapest, Hungary, January 26-28, 2006.Organized by the Hungarian IBRO Committee,Neuroscience Laboratories, Hungarian Academy ofSciences and Semmelweis University PostgraduateSchool. Neuroscience Program Organizing Committee:M. Palkovits (President). (2) Workshop: Neurophysiologyof Primary Visual Cortex and Perception, St. Petersburg,

Russia,August 16-20, 2006. (3) International Workshop:Hippocampus and Memory, Puschino, Russia, June 25-29,2006. (4) Second Near-East Workshop-Symposium:Animal Issues in Scientific Research,Tbilisi, Georgia, June19-20, 2006. (5) 2nd Second International Conference ofthe National Neuroscience Society of Romania,Neuronal Excitability: From Molecular Level to System.Bucharest, Romania, September 1-3, 2006.Organizer:Prof. Leon Zagrean, Dept. of Physiology, University ofMedicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. (6)European Behavioural Pharmacology Society Workshop:Neurodegeneration: Basic Mechanisms of Motor andCognitive Dysfunctions, Kraków, Poland, September 2-4,2006. (7) International Congress: Molecular Basis ofNeurological and Psychiatric Disorders, Martin, SlovakRepublic, September 6-10, 2006. (6) VIII East EuropeanRegional International Conference of the InternationalSociety for Invertebrate Neurobiology, Kazan, Russia,September 13-17, 2006.

The Committee evaluates most of the proposalselectronically, thus collecting the applications all yeararound and providing the applicants with fast decisions.In addition, once a year CEERC meets in variouscountries throughout the region (Budapest, Hungary,2004; Sofia, Bulgaria 2004; Kiev, Ukraine 2005;Vienna,Austria; 2006) to discuss strategic issues and applicationsthat are submitted at that time.

Pavel BalabanChair, CEERC

Latin America Regional Committee: The EducationCommittee of LARC supported several trainingneuroscience programmes:

1. Neuroscience Schools: Funded by IBRO-LARC andfrom the Canadian Government through the Institute ofNeurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA).INMHA has guaranteed additional support for LARC’sIBRO schools for the years 2006 and 2007. In additionIBRO obtained support from the Fogarty InternationalCentre (NIH, USA).Also all academic activities promotedand supported by LARC were co-financed by localinstitutions and foundations (universities, researchinstitutes, national research councils, and millenniumprojects), as well as by international agencies (UNESCO,IPICS, Committee for Aid and Education inNeurochemistry (CAEN of ISN),The Royal Society,CONICET).In 2006, LARC-IBRO sponsored four NeuroscienceSchools: 1) I Latin American School on ComputationalNeuroscience (LASCON 2006), Ribeirão Preto, SãoPaulo, Brazil, January 15-28, 2006. Director: Dr AntonioCarlos Roque. 2) XI Latin American NeuroscienceSchool, Santiago and Valparaiso, May 1-20, 2006, Chile.Financed by LARC and the Canadian Institute ofNeurosciences, Mental Health and Drug Addition(INMHA). Director: Dr. Fernando Torrealba. 3) 2nd IBRO

School of Neuroscience in Maracaibo (4th CaribbeanNeurobiology Course), Maracaibo,Venezuela, June 30-July9, 2006. Directors: Gladys Maestre MD, PhD andGregory Quirk PhD. 4) III Neuroscience School:Neurons and Glial Cells: Life, Death and Resurrection,Buenos Aires,Argentina, September 18-October 6, 2006.Fogarty International financed the school withLARC/IBRO. Director: Dr Juana M. Pasquini.2. Regional Graduate Courses: LARC offered up toU$5000 for each of 12 specialized training courses in theregion, one call for each semester. During the last call,we supported the approved proposals with smalleramounts to support a large number of candidates.Wesponsored eight courses in the region during the firstsemester (evaluated during the second semester of theprevious year) and seven in the second semester, due totake place in the latter part of 2006.3. Regional Exchange: Twelve Latin American youngneuroscientists were supported for short lab visits in thefirst semester of 2006.A stipulation of the funding wasthat the graduate students travel to another countrywithin the LARC to do experiments or learn techniquesnot available in their country of origin.Theseexperimental procedures were important for thecompletion of their dissertations. For this year weadvertised for 24 new fellowships: 12 were approved inthe first call and 12 more for the second semester of2006.This exchange has been very important for intra-regional cooperation among neuroscientists.4. Special Programme: LARC proposes to establishlinks with Latin American neuroscience societies tofacilitate scientific communication and researcherexchange in the region. Latin America is the only one ofthe IBRO regions that lacks such an organization. DrOmar Macadar (Uruguay) was designated to contact thedifferent scientific organizations and societies from LatinAmerica, Spain and Portugal.At least 10 countriesaccepted the invitation to meet in Brazil,August 23-27,2006, during the FESBE (Federacao de Sociedades deBiologia Experimental) annual congress.5. LARC Partially Supported Events: (1) IV NationalMeeting/International Neuroscience Symposium(Encuentro Nacional/V Seminario Internacional deNeurociencias), Medellin, Colombia, November 16-19,2005. (2) National Cellular and Molecular NeurobiologyCourse, Medellin, Colombia, October 31-November 16,2005. (3) Neurobiology: From Molecules to HigherFunctions and Disease, Cusco, Peru, November 11-15,2005.An intensive lecture and discussion course forstudents from universities and medical schools in Peru.(4) The first Brain Awareness (BAW) celebration in theDominican Republic.

Marta Hallak,Chair, LARC

IAC-USNC (US/CANADA REGIONALCOMMITTEE): The Society for Neuroscience,National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes ofHealth, IBRO and representatives of the CanadianAssociation for Neuroscience (CAN) and the CanadianInstitute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction(INMHA) worked through the IAC-USNC over the pastyear to provide support for a number of activities tofurther IBRO’s objectives.Travel Fellowships: For 15 students from less-developed countries to present an abstract at the 2006SfN Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA, 2006. SfN awardedtravel fellowships to 15 students nominated by SfNregional North American chapters to attend and presenttheir work FENS 2006,Vienna,Austria, July.International On-Site Teaching Activity: IAC-USNCsponsored a course, Neural Systems: From Channels toCircuits, in Cape Town, South Africa, July 1-9, 2006,modeled on the Neural Systems and Behavior MBLsummer course,Woods Hole, MA, USA. Support for thecourse is also provided by IBRO’s African RegionalCommittee, NIH (National Institute of Mental Health,National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,National Institute on Drug Abuse), Grass Foundation,Corte Instruments, Carl Zeiss Inc. and John H. Haines, MD.Web-Based Neuroscience Lectures:Via www.iac-usnc.org the committee continues to workon a seminar and neuroscience methods series to bringup-to-date neuroscience information to researchers inless-developed countries.Web-based neurosciencelectures are accessible by scientists worldwide andfeature narrated data slides by prominent neuroscientistsfrom the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and theSfN. Latest feature on the site: Neurobiology of DiseaseWorkshop: Protein Misfolding as a Common Pathway inthe Dementias and Other Neurodegenerative Diseasesfeatured at the 2004 SfN Meeting, San Diego, CA. Incollaboration with the SfN Education Committee, theIAC-USNC is preparing the two Short Courses and theNeurobiology of Disease Workshop from the 2005 SfNMeeting,Washington, DC.IBRO North American Schools: Once again in 2006,the committee worked directly with IBRO’s Board ofSchools and MBL to identify and encourage highlyqualified and motivated research trainees from lessdeveloped countries to register for MBL neurosciencesummer courses at the MBL in Woods Hole, MA. Lastyear the program was expanded to the Cold Spring

Cont. page 7

NEUROSCIENCE ACTIVITIES 2005-2006CONTINUED EXPANSION IN IBRO’S REGIONS

7th IBRO School of Neuroscience, Hong Kong

IBRO Workshop,Tbilisi, Georgia:Animal Issuesin Scientific ResearchThe second near-east internationalsymposium/workshop on Animal Issues in ScientificResearch was held in Tbilisi, Georgia (June 19-20,2006), It was organized by the Animals in ResearchCommittee of IBRO (Chair Prof. Sharon Juliano), theGeorgian Neuroscience Association and theBeritashvili Institute of Physiology. Fifteen participantsfrom Armenia,Azerbaijan and Turkey, and 40 hostfellows attended.Three faculty gave lectures, principalcoordinator of this workshop Prof. Kris Turlejsky(Nencky Institute of Experimental Biology, Poland),Dr Anne-D. Degryse (Association for Assessment &Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care - AAALAC,Centre de Recherche Pierre Fabre, Castres, France),and Prof. Sarah L. Pallas (Georgia State University,Atlanta, USA). Lectures were devoted to manyaspects of animal care and use in experimentationcovering, particularly, housing standards forlaboratory animals, how to prepare an animalprotocol, quality systems for animal care and use

programmes, relations between biomedicalinvestigators and the public, and others.The importance of this topic was emphasized to thecountries of the region. On the last eveningparticipants visited the old capital of Georgia,Mtskheta, and enjoyed a farewell party.

Merab TsagareliPresident, Georgian Neuroscience Association

Participants at the Tbilisi Workshop

7

IBRO will have supported more than 28 neuroscience schools between mid-2005 and the end of 2006.The schools are organizedby IBRO's Regional Committees and PENS (Programmes for European Neuroscience Schools).The Visiting Lecture Team Programme(VLTP) (Director U. J. McMahan) runs experiment-based lecture courses covering topics in basic neuroscience.The lecture team is

made up of members internationally recognized for their excellence as experimentalists and teachers.

LARC-US/Canada RC Joint School:Brain-Environment Interactions,Maracaibo,Venezuela, July 1-11, 2005:The Latin American Regional Committee and thejoint International Affairs Committee of theSociety for Neuroscience/US National AcademiesUS National Committee of IBRO (IAC-USNC)organized a two-week neuroscience school in

Venezuela for students in South and CentralAmerica.The course used environmental impactas a way of presenting development, plasticity,molecular biology, and clinical themes. 25 studentscame from Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala,Peru,Venezuela and Puerto Rico.The first week ofthe course was held at the University of Zulia,Maracaibo, and focused on neuroanatomy,neurophysiology, and cell-cell signaling.The secondweek was held at the University of Merida,located in the Venezuelan Andes, and focused onplasticity, behaviour and neurodegenerativediseases.A lab component had students doing rt-PCR and in-vivo microdialysis in rats. Scientificethics as well as basic survival skills for youngneuroscientists were also discussed.The courseconcluded with oral presentations by eachstudent and a written essay.

10th Fogarty-IBRO Africa RegionNeuroscience School, University ofBamako, Mali, 23-28 July, 2005: 40 studentsfrom 16 African countries attended the school,organized by Prof. Moussa Traoré and members ofthe IBRO African Regional Committee (ARC) atthe Mandé resort in the Cité du Niger, west Bamako.

The majority of the students were less than 40,had a medical science background involving someneuroscience work, and were highlyrecommended by their heads of departments.Theinternational teaching faculty was recruited from

Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Kenya, Mali, Senegal,Sweden, USA and UK. The curriculum focused ondisease-orientated updates in neurological lesionlocalization, neurodegeneration, dementia,epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, neurotoxicity,visual neurology, selected infectious diseases ofthe CNS and malnutrition and the brain. Studentspresented short communications on: epilepsy,stroke, epidemiology of neurology, fronto-temporal dementia and anticonvulsant therapy ofplant extracts.Two afternoon were held onworkshops on basic histopathology andimmunocytochemistry, and neuropsychometrictesting method. Evenings were occupied bysessions including the history and fundingprogrammes of IBRO and Fogarty and ethics andconduct in neuroscience research.The outstandingsuccess of the school was made possible by thecooperation of the Fogarty International Centre(Drs Sharon Hrynkow and Kathleen Michels) andIBRO (Prof. Jenny Lund). Support also came fromthe French Embassy in Mali and Universityof Bamako.

IBRO/INMHA Advanced School ofNeuroscience, Buenos Aires,Argentina,Nov. 19-Dec. 6, 2005: Receptors, Channelsand Synapses: With the support of the IBROLatin American Regional Committee, theCanadian Institute of Neuroscience, MentalHealth and Addiction (INMHA) and theUniversity of Buenos Aires, the school wasorganized by Osvaldo D. Uchitel (Coordinator),Lu-Yang Wang,Ana Belen Elgoyhen, Eleonora Katzand Marcelo Rubinstein.

24 students from seven Latin American countries(Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, Mexico,Venezuela,Argentina) participated.The focus: the biophysicsand molecular biology of ion channels and onsynaptic transmission, modulation and plasticity.Lectures were based on: diversity in the structureand function of ion channels, theirpharmacological and biophysical characteristicsand channelopathies; the mechanism of neuronalcommunication using the auditory pathway as amodel system; the role of calcium signaling insynaptic transmission; secretion and vesiclerecycling; receptors and transduction mechanisms;ligand gated channels, both ionotropic andmetabotropic. Students’ research projects werepresented orally and then discussed in detailduring poster presentations.A mentoring eveningwas organized to discuss issues related on howto build a scientific career and organize apostdoctoral training period.The second part ofthe school comprised lectures in the morning andlabs in the afternoon.Topics: modulation of

synaptic activity and plasticity; physiology ofcorticostriatal circuits; Parkinson andschizophrenia; stem cells and neuronaldevelopment in the mammalian brain.Electrophysiological methods focused on patchclamp technique and sharp electrode recordingswere used on nerve muscle preparations,Xenopus oocytes expressing heterologousreceptors, rat cochlear hair cells, neurons intissue culture, brain slices and living animals.Molecular, biological and electrophysiologicaltechniques were used to characterizerecombinant ligand-gated ion channels expressedin heterologous systems as well as nativereceptors present in mammalian tissues.

11th ISN-IBRO ARC Neuroscience School,Nairobi, Kenya, December 10-17, 2005:The school on Behavioural Neuroscience wasattended by 25 students from Cameroon, Congo,Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, SouthAfrica, Sudan,Tanzania and Zimbabwe and 13international instructors from nine countries andtook place for the fourth time at theInternational Centre for Insect Physiology andEcology (ICIPE) in Duduville, in the outskirtsNairobi. Students were graduates withqualifications in the biological sciences, pharmacy,veterinary science and medicine and all engagedin some aspect of basic or clinical neuroscienceresearch.Topics were up-to-date methods onquantification of behaviour in laboratory and fieldanimals. Faculty also demonstrated how tomonitor circadian rhythms and build upon simplemaze learning paradigms to measure subtlebehaviours. Students had presented short oralcommunications on their research which were ona range of topics from cerebral malariamechanisms to plant toxicity.The six bestpresentations were awarded a book prize (giftsfrom the Grass Foundation). Evenings wereoccupied by journal clubs, special lectures onhistory of neuroscience (RB on Don Hebb) andbird navigation (HPL) and discussion about IBROand funding mechanisms (RK).At the closingceremony Krister Kristensson (Professor ofNeuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Sweden) wasrecognized for his long-standing service of over10 years to African neuroscience.

THE VISITING LECTURE TEAMPROGRAMME

The VLTP lecture tours are organized incollaboration with the local and regionalneuroscience association.The VLTP has benefitedfrom considerable support from the GrassFoundation. Following reports from Peruand Vietnam:

VLTP Course, Cusco, Peru,November 11-15, 2005: Medical students ofCusco organized the course attended by 80students from universities in Lima and other partsof Peru, and Colombia. Faculty: John Nicholls(VLTP team, Italy), Elaine del Bel (Brazil), FernandoMarengo (Argentina), Juan Fernandez (Chile) andLuis Angel Aguilar (Peru).Topics ranged frommolecular biology to higher behavioural functionsand diseases of the nervous system, with a strongemphasis on discussing the types of experimentsthat can be done in a country that has very littlemoney to spend on research.The course was

LARC-US/Canada School, Venuela

Alumni President Marième Soda Diop andSecretary Rufus Akinyemi

Participants at the Buenos Aires School

PROGRAMMES 2005-2006EDUCATION & TRAINING

Chair, IAC-USNCWESTERN EUROPE REGIONAL COMMITTEE:Four new members were elected to the Western EuropeRegional Committee in 2006: Susan Sara (France),ArneSchousboe (Denmark), Monica Di Luca (Italy; Chair),Christos Goridis (France). Four other serving members,Richard Frackowiak (UK),Ann Kato (Switzerland), Erikde Schutter (Belgium) and Wolfram Schultz (UK)remained on the Committee.

The main purpose of the WERC Committee is tocooperate with other European organizations to improvemobility of young neuroscientists and strengtheneducational programmes. For this reason we have beencollaborating with FENS on the WERC/FENS PhDfellowship programme, which was launched in 2003 in

order to support PhD Fellowships in Neuroscience.In 2006,Aditee Vyas-Ghate went from India to work atthe Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire etCellulaire (Strasbourg) and successfully concluded herPhD thesis within the time of her fellowship. She workedunder the supervision of Prof. Brigitte Kieffer; theCommittee congratulates her and wishes her success forher future career as a young neuroscience investigator.More students are at present successfully progressingwith their programmes: Ghato, F.Trigo, M. Mellado andG. Barretto.

In addition, continuing a successful tradition, wesupported the Sevilla (Spain) 5th Latin-AmericanDoctoral Programme on Neuroscience and BehaviouralBiology,April 3-June 15, 2006.This programme is led by

Jose M. Delgado-Garcia. In 2006 WERC started itscooperation with CEERC and FENS on the PENSCommittee, where the primary goal, under the directionof Sigsmund Huck, is to organize the programme ofEuropean Neuroscience Schools. Finally,WERC fundedstudent travel grants for the FENS Forum in Vienna, 8-12July 2006.

Monica Di LucaChair,WERC

Cont from page 6Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cold Spring Harbor, NY.In 2006, a total of four MBL and one CSHL fellowshipwere awarded.In addition to funding their participation in the MBL andCSHL courses, the 2005 IBRO Fellows who submitted anabstract for the 2006 SfN Meeting in Atlanta, GAreceived travel grants plus one complementaryworkshop registration for a Friday course of their choiceSfN 2006.The Friday courses included the ProfessionalSkills Workshop, organized by Beth Fisher and MichaelZigmond (University of Pittsburgh), Short Course #1,Short Course #2 and the Neurobiology of DiseaseWorkshop.

Edward Jones

initiated and organized by Eyvee Arturo CuellarLloclla, School of Medicine, Universidad de SanAntonio Abad, Cusco, Peru, a medical student inhis fifth year, together with some of his

colleagues.There were three lectures eachmorning and two lectures each afternoon,followed by an informal discussion. Small groupconferences were held each day by all teachers sothat students could get to know them and askquestions about human issues, careers, lecturematerial and prospects for their careers inmedicine or science.

VLTP EEG Workshop and Symposium, HoChi Minh City,Vietnam, June 7-13, 2006:The VLTP held a workshop and symposium onEEG and electrophysiological recordingtechniques at the University of Medicine andPharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam.

Organizers: Nguyen Xuan Cam Huyen, Universityof Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam and John Nicholls, SISSA,Trieste, Italy.Faculty: Enrico Cherubini (Italy), Maria Rita de Feo(Italy), John Nicholls (Italy).The workshop aimedto teach students how to do electroencephalog-raphy and interpret the waves seen in normal anddiseased subjects; to discuss applications of EEGand basic mechanisms that give rise to it; to pre-pare a practical class for medical students to takeduring their training. Morning lectures dealt withthe mechanisms by which electrical signals arise,neuronal circuitry, channelopathies, sleep andepilepsy, artefacts affecting the EEG, interpretationof recordings, normal and abnormal. Neurologistsin Ho Chi Minh City have no access to expertEEG recording or analysis.

VLTP Courses were also held in Tallinn, Estonia(June 2005); Bangalore, India (August 2005);Bogota, Colombia (March 2006; Irbid, Jordan (June2006); Quito, Ecuador (July 2006);Taiwan, China(August 2006).

VLTP Ho Chi Minh City

VLTP Cusco

8

BRINGING NEUROSCIENCE TO THE WORLD

INTERNATIONALBRAIN RESEARCHORGANIZATIONEXECUTIVE COMMITTEEPresidentAlbert Aguayo (Canada)Secretary-General Jennifer Lund (USA)TreasurerSteve Redman (Australia)Secretary-General ElectMarina Bentivoglio (Italy)

Chairs of Regional Committees R. N. Kalaria (Africa)Y. S. Chan (Asian/Pacific)P. Balaban (Central and Eastern Europe)M. Hallak (Latin America) E. G. Jones (US/Canada)M. Di Luca (Western Europe)

IBRO SECRETARIATExecutive DirectorStephanie de La Rochefoucauldstephanie.delarochefoucauld@ibro.infoDirector of ProgrammesStephanie Wubbenstephanie.wubben@ibro.infoReimbursement and Budget ManagerKathryn Berryibro@wanadoo.fr255 Rue Saint-Honoré75001 Paris, FrancePhone:+33-1-46-47-92-92Fax: +33-1-46-47-42-50

IBRO web site: www.ibro.infoWebmaster & Head of Information TechnologyAnte PadjenSenior EditorAndrée Blakemore

'IBRO News'Editor in ChiefAndree Blakemoreandree.blakemore@physiol.ox.ac.uk

IBRO'S COMMITTEES AND CHAIRSAlumniSusan Sarasjsara@ccr.jussieu.fr

Animals in ResearchSharon Julianosjuliano@usuhs.mil

Brain CampaignEsther Binns estherlennon@ntlworld.com

By-laws & ProceduresEduardo Roberto Macagnodean@biology.ucsd.edu

Fellowships & Travel GrantsKwok-Fai Sohrmaskf@hkucc.hku.hk

FinanceSteve J. Redmanredman@jcsmr.anu.edu.au

IBRO-EduAnte L. Padjenante.padjen@mcgill.ca

International Registry of NeuroscienceTraining ProgrammesLaurence Gareyl.garey@freesurf.ch

IBRO Science Advisory ProgrammeWalter Stuehmerwstuehm@gwdg.de

Membership and PartnershipsSten Grillnersten.grillner@neuro.ki.se

Neuro-GrantsConnie Atwellatwellc@ninds.nih.gov

Neuroscience HistoryJavier de Felipedefelipe@cajal.csic.es

Neuroscience LibrariesMarina Bentivogliomarina.bentivolgio@univr.it

Neuroscience SchoolsJohn G. Hildebrandjgh@neurobio.arizona.edu

NominatingAnnica Dahlströmannica.dahlstrom@anatcell.gu.se

PublicationsPiergiorgio Stratapiergiorgio.strata@unito.it

Return HomeFernando Lopes da Silvasilva@science.uva.nl

Symposia & WorkshopsKenneth J. Mullerkmuller@miami.edu

Web SiteAndree Blakemoreandree.blakemore@physiol.ox.ac.uk

World CongressJosef Sykasyka@biomed.cas.cz

INTERNATIONAL BRAIN RESEARCH ORGANIZATION

FREE/LOW-COSTACCESS TO JOURNALS ARE YOU ELIGIBLE?HINARI provides institutions indeveloping countries with free or low costonline access to major journals inbiomedical and related social sciences.Over 3300 journal titles are now availableto health institutions in 113 countries,benefiting many thousands of healthworkers and researchers, and contributingto improved world health.http://www.who.int/library/reference/temp/eligible_countries.pdf.AGORA: AGORA provides access toover 500 journals from major scientificpublishers in the fields of food, agriculture,environmental science and related socialsciences.AGORA is available to studentsand researchers of qualifying institutions ineligible developing countries.http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/PERI provides on-line access to full textarticles from medical journals, free or atreduced fees based on GNP.http://www.inasp.info/peri/countries.html.eJournals Delivery Service: eJournalsdelivers free scientific articles via e-mail toscientists in developing country institutionswho lack sufficient Internet access.Focus on journals publishing mathematics,physics and computing, but broad journalsare included.http://www.ictp.trieste.it/ejournals/index-i.html

FOGARTYUPDATESINTERNATIONALPROGRAMSDetails of Fogarty International Center’s(NIH) Neuroscience Research and TrainingPrograms as of June 2006 are athttp://www.fic.nih.gov/programs/index.htm

NEURODENERATIVEDISEASES LECTURESON THE WEBThe IAC-USNC/IBRO Committee haslaunched a series of lectures, ‘ProteinMisfolding as a Common Pathway in theDementias and Other NeurodegenerativeDiseases’, given as part of the‘Neurobiology of Disease’ workshop atthe 2004 SfN meeting.Those living incountries with poor internet access can besent a CD version of the lectures (contactRachel Locke webmaster@iac-usnc.org).http://www.iac-usnc.org/ndw2004/index.html

Cont from page 1

Prof. Clive Ballard (UK) and Prof. Raj Kalaria (UK).Autism: Profs Valsa Eapen (UAE) and NobertNowotny (UAE) were able to forge a newinitiative with Prof. David Pauls (Harvard, USA)for the analysis of their mitochondrial DNA dataon autism.

ADHD and Tics: Prof.Valsa Eapen (UAE) withProf. Mary Robertson (UK) and Dr Ahmed AlAnsari (Bahrain) set a new initiative for amulticentre comparative study of the prevalenceof ADHD and tics in the GCC vs UK.Motor Control: Dr Milos Ljubisavljevic (UAE)with Prof. John Rothwell (UK), Prof.WimLammers (UAE) with Prof. David Thompson (UK).Neuropeptides: Prof. J Michael Conlon (UAE) withProf. Dan Larhammar (Sweden).Serotonin Receptors: Dr Fatima Kaneez Shad(UAE) with Profs Erica Potter & RichardFitzpatrick (Australia).Neurotoxicity: Dr Mohammed Hasan (UAE) withDr Nasser Zawia (Rhode Island, USA)

“IBRO funding was used to provide 15 travelgrants for young scientists to attend.The conference was also endorsed by theInternational Neuropsychiatry Association (INA)

and the Collegium InternationaleNeuro-Pharmacologicum (CINP).

“Young Scientist: Best Oral and Best PosterAwards: Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al MaktoumAwards for Medical Sciences sponsored the BestOral & Best Poster Awards.Best Oral Presentation Award: Ms. Lola Kola,Department of Psychiatry, University CollegeHospital, Ibadan, Nigeria won the award in thiscategory for her presentation entitled‘Dementia in a Developing Country: Profile andRisk Factors’. Best Poster Presentation Award:This award was jointly won by Ms. FlorentinaPena, Department of Animal Physiology andBiophysics, University of Bucharest, Romania forher poster entitled ‘Thermodynamic Properties ofHyperpolarization-Activated Current (Ih) in aSubgroup of Primary Sensory Neurons’ and byMr Belal Rahhal, Department of Neuroanatomy,Faculty of Medicine, University of Goettingen,Germany for his poster entitled ‘TGF-‚/GDNFSynergism in Brain Development in vivo andin vitro’.

“We hope that this conference will serve as thestarting point for future collaborative activitieswith IBRO.We also hope that UAE will be able totake a lead role for future activities in the region.We have already started discussions are ongoingbetween Profs. Raj Kalaria (Chair, IBRO AfricaRegion) and Ying Shing Chan (Chair, IBRO Asia-Pacific Region) about setting up IBRONeuroscience Schools & Workshops in the UAE.”

Pre-Conference Workshop with IBRO Regional Chairs

Prof. Valsa Eapen, Conference Chair

CAJAL CLUB AWARDSFOR TWO YOUNGNEUROSCIENTISTSIBRO’s Symposia & Workshops Programmeprovided funding for the International Meeting ofthe Cajal Club held in the Nobel Forum of theKarolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden,June 11-13, 2006. Catherine Levine (USA) andArnab Chakrabarty (India) were awarded travelgrants to attend the meeting through the fundingprovided by IBRO.

Arnab Chakrabarty and Catherine Levine withCajal Club Secretary Dr Charles Ribak in front of

Catherine’s poster

FIRST PENS SCHOOLS HELD IN 2006The Programme of European Neuroscience Schools (PENS) is a joint collaboration between FENS andIBRO and was launched in 2005. PENS got off to a successful start with its first four schools in 2006:The Brain as a Target for Inflammatory Processes, Berlin, Germany (May);Advanced Course inComputational Neuroscience,Arcachon, France (August); Imaging Brain Function: From Molecules toMind, Lausanne/Geneva Switzerland (Sept); Basic Mechanisms of Synaptic Function, Bordeaux, France(Sept).A fifth school, Brain Basis of Social Interaction: From Concepts to Imaging, will be held inKitzbuehel,Austria in December.

Through these schools PENS aims to increase the quality of neuroscience education in Europe, create aEuropean network of alumni and teachers, and assist the development of Neuroscience outside Europeby providing opportunities in Europe for the training of promising students. Most students are fromWestern, Central and Eastern Europe, but applications are also received from the US and Canada, andfrom Asia,Africa and Latin America. PENS is now seeking additional funding partnerships for a newround of applications for schools in 2007.

Sigismund Huck (Chair, PENS Committee)

Information: http://mars.glia.mdc-berlin.de/pens/