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IBRONEWS

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MELBOURNE HOSTSIBRO CONGRESS

In this issue:FundingResearch FellowsAlumniNews and EventsThe RegionsNeuroscience Schools

A smart cocktail party and a prize-giving ceremony for local young BrainBee winners in the vast display rooms of the Melbourne Museum broughtto an end the non-stop whirl of events, both neuroscientific and social, forparticipants at the 7th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience held inMelbourne, Australia, July 12-17.

The Australian Neuroscience Society and the IBRO 2007 Local OrganizingCommittee together created a congress brim-full of events: plenarylectures, symposia, special interest forums and poster sessions, as well as20 satellite symposia dotted around Australia and as far afield as Taiwan.Around 2500 participants from 63 countries attended the congress, whichwas held in the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre on the banksof the Yarra River. For six days they were treated to a panoply of slickly runsessions featuring leading international neuroscientists. Evenings broughtreceptions, an elegant gala dinner (complete with opera singers and jazzband) and an alumni reunion. For those who were able to drag themselvesaway from neuroscience, daily tours included a trip to Phillip Island towatch penguins, a visit to a cattle farm, a ride along the Great Ocean Roadand a visit to Yarra Valley wineries.

At the opening ceremony on July 13, Prof. George Paxinos, President ofthe IBRO 2007 Organizing Committee, welcomed participants to thecongress. He was followed by the Hon. John Brumby, Treasurer andMinister for State and Regional Development, Prof. Fred Mendelsohn,Secretary General, IBRO 2007 World Congress, Prof. Masao Ito, HonoraryPresident, IBRO 2007 World Congress, and Prof. Albert Aguayo, Presidentof IBRO.

Each day plenary sessions were followed by concurrent symposia, withposter sessions at lunchtimes and special interest forums towards the endof the day. In all there were eight plenaries, including 'Aquaporin waterchannels: from atomic structure to clinical medicine' (Peter Agre),'Functional studies at a single excitatory or inhibitory brain synapse'(Norio Akaike), 'The neuropsychobiology of pain' (Herta Flor), 'Spiketiming-dependent plasticity: from synapse motor control' (Simon Gandevia).

Special interest forums ranged from the IBRO Alumni Symposium'Molecular and system neurobiology in development and affectivedisorders' (four IBRO alumni were the speakers), 'Animals in research'(presented by IBRO Animals in Research Committee), through'Parkinsons’s Disease', 'Current Australian research into spinal cordinjury', 'Australian pioneers of the neurosciences' to 'Neuroscience andaddiction: evidence for informed public policy' and 'Training inneuroscience research'.Bids for hosting the 8th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience in 2011 areunder way: the winner will find Melbourne’s footsteps hard to follow.

2500 participants attend

Melbourne, venue for the 2007 IBRO World Congress

IBRO says farewell to its President and Secretary-General ... page 8IBRO’s worldwide schools expand! … page 7

IBRO web sitewww.ibro.info

Science andneuroscienceunder the sun:SHAMS in the UAESHAMS, the Arabic word for ‘sun’, is alsothe acronym for the Sheikh Hamdan Awardfor Medical Sciences, and the title of theJournal of Medical Sciences published bythis Al-Maktoum Foundation.

The Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-MaktoumAward for Medical Sciences awarded the2006 winners (the fourth cycle of the Award,established eight years ago) at The FourthDubai International Conference for MedicalSciences, held in Dubai, December 19-21,2006. The topics of the Award, on which theconference usually focuses, wereNeurological diseases, Cytokines andTherapy of diseases, Pathogenesis ofhypertension and Biology of aging, thusdemonstrating special attention to topics inwhich brain sciences play a central orcontributory role.

The winner of the Grand HamdanInternational Award in the field of molecularand cellular pathology of neurologicaldisorders was Prof. Colin Masters(University of Melbourne, Australia). Thewinner of the Hamdan Award for MedicalResearch excellence in the topic ‘Biology ofAging’ was Prof. Christian Hass (Universityof Munich, Germany), whose lecture alsofocused on the molecular clock inAlzheimer’s disease. Prof. Charles AnthonyDinarello (University of Colorado, Denver,CO, USA) was awarded for his work on‘Cytokines in Pathogenesis and Therapy ofDiseases’, and Prof. Murray Esler (AlfredHospital, Melbourne, Australia) for‘Pathology of Hypertension’.

The Award also includes other categories

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IBRO WELCOMES NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL

Marina Bentivoglio, Professor of Histology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Verona, Italy, began her three-year term as IBRO President in Januarythis year. Her pledge at the beginning of her term was to prioritize support for young scientists, especially those in developing countries, as has beenIBRO’s priority in its activities over the last decade. Prof. Bentivoglio is determined to reinforce and expand IBRO’s initiatives with special emphasis on

helping young investigators from countries with limited resources to establish researchfacilities when they return home after training abroad. Prof. Bentivoglio recognizes that times are difficult and trying to promote neuroscienceworldwide is a very difficult task, but she has found great pleasure in having theopportunity to get to know young people who are interested in neuroscience; she isproud of being IBRO’s ambassador as she travels around the world introducing IBRO andits activities.Prof. Bentivoglio also realizes the importance of training investigators for research onregional health problems, such as the 'neglected' diseases of the nervous system thatafflict so many of the poor countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. This can only beachieved, Prof. Bentivoglio says, through international exchange and collaborationbetween the basic and clinical neurosciences and raising awareness of health problemsthat affect millions of people around the world. Indeed, IBRO is realizing this goal throughits programmes: it provides fellowships and travel grants; its neuroscience schools andcourses having increased sixfold over the last five years; and the number of its alumni isover 2000.IBRO acknowledges the importance of public education in many of its activities andpublications. Public education, Prof. Bentivoglio stresses, constitutes in particular asignificant accomplishment: the Brain Campaign, a joint venture between IBRO, SfN(Society for Neuroscience), DABI (Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives) and EDAB (European

Dana Alliance for the Brain), funds many neuroscience events annually around the world in its aim to promote public understanding of the brain.In the first 12 months, working with IBRO President Albert Aguayo, Prof. Bentivoglio hopes to develop and expand collaboration with both IBRO’sAffiliated Organizations (at present totalling 83) and other organizations to bring IBRO’s programmes to their full potential and at the same time to preventthe potentially disastrous effects of the ‘brain drain’ on world science. Prof. Bentivoglio was interviewed in SfN’s Neuroscience Quarterly earlier this year(http://www.ibro.info/Pub_News_Display.asp?News_Id=2023).

Marina Bentivoglio pledges support and training in poorer countries

Valsa Eapen, Abu Adem, Marina Bentivoglio, Najib Al Khala, RajKalaria at IBRO-UAE School, Al-Ain

IBRONEWS 2007

IBRO’S FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 2008-2009

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Return Home Programmegaining momentum

IBRO’s Return Home Programme (RHP) is now in its second year. Its goal is to transform a BrainDrain from less to more developed countries into a Brain Gain in the reverse direction. After

many years of IBRO’s training initiatives, the time is right to help establish more neurosciencelaboratories in developing countries. The RHP grant is intended to help postdoctoral fellowsestablish independent labs in their home countries and is aimed primarily at those scientists

who have worked abroad while receiving IBRO fellowships, travel grants or other IBRO-relatedstipends. Each awardee receives US$15,000 to spend on equipment and supplies. Only twofellowships were awarded in the first year of the RHP due to limited funds. This year IBRO

increased the funding by one and we are pleased to announce that the Society for Neuroscienceof the USA (SfN) has agreed to add an additional fellowship, bringing the total awards to four.

More details can be found in the programmes section of the IBRO web sitehttp://funding.ibro.info.

Fellowships & Travel Grants ProgrammeChair: Harry W. M. Steinbusch

All applications to be submitted on-line http://funding.ibro.info

IBRO Research Fellowships 2009Application Deadline: 1 March 2008The IBRO Fellowship Programme aims to foster quality neuroscience, especially in the less developedand less well-funded countries. It welcomes high-quality scientists (under the age of 45) from diversegeographic and scientific areas wishing to broaden the scope of their training in neuroscience byworking one month to one year abroad in good laboratories. (US/Canada Region excluded.) Thefunding for a 12-month fellowship is Euros 33,300.

An Outstanding IBRO Fellowship of an additional Euros 4,200 (total Euros 37,500) will be awardedto one of the two particularly promising candidates of the year's intake.

A John G. Nicholls IBRO Fellowship of an additional Euros 4,200 (total Euros 37,500) will be awarded toone of the two particularly promising candidates of the year's intake. The fellowship was created in honourof Dr John G. Nicholls, the founding Director of the IBRO Visiting Lecture Team Programme (VLTP).

IBRO Travel Grants 2008-9IBRO offers Travel Grants for high-quality neuroscientists, especially from countries with restrictedresources to present their findings at international neuroscience meetings. (US/Canada Regionexcluded.) Funding for travel will be up to Euros 1,250 per award.

Travel Grants for six-month period:July-December 2008: Deadline March 1, 2008January-June 2009: Deadline September 1, 2008July-December 2009: Deadline March 1, 2009

SfN/IBRO International Travel Fellowship 2008Application Deadline: 1 March 2008Up to 30 SfN/IBRO Travel Fellowships of around Euros 1,500 each are offered to neuroscientistsunder 35 from the resource-restricted countries (those defined by the World Bank as low, lower-middle, or upper-middle income) of the five IBRO regions (Africa, Asian/Pacific, Central and EasternEurope, Latin America, Western Europe). The list of eligible countries can be found athttp://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/CLASS.XLS. Candidates under 35who wish to attend SfN 2008 should apply for the SfN/IBRO International Travel Fellowship. Thoseover 35 should apply for the IBRO Travel Grant. Note that this fellowship is not available tocandidates from US/Canada Region to attend the 38th SfN Annual Meeting. The applicant should bethe first author of an abstract to be presented at the annual meeting. A copy of the abstractsubmitted to SfN for a poster or a platform presentation is required.

IBRO Studentships 2009Application Deadline: 1 March 2008IBRO offers five Studentships of Euros 8,340 per award to support students from less developed andless well-funded countries to take up projects of up to six months, contributing towards their degree(PhD, MPhil, or even BSc) in good overseas laboratories with facilities and training not available intheir home countries. (US/Canada Region excluded.)

Symposia & WorkshopsChair: Hee-Sup Shin

IBRO invites requests for partial funding of Symposia and Workshops on important topics inneuroscience with the aim particularly of encouraging neuroscience research and scholarship inregions of the 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 offer trainingfor scientists from countries in which little money is available for research or teaching. Symposia should deal with topics of key interest, specialized or broad, with background talks to helpthose unfamiliar with the material, as well as accounts of current research.Workshops are more technical and practical in orientation. A major portion of the programme shouldinvolve discussion, practical teaching of techniques and the presentation of concepts and controlsnecessary for experimental work. Workshops that bring useful techniques and donate permanentequipment to less funded countries are encouraged.Deadlines for receiving proposals are February 1 and September 1 each year.

Symposia & WorkshopsProgramme: New ChairHee-Sup Shin, of the Center for Neural Science, Korea Instituteof Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea, was appointed Chairof IBRO’s Symposia & Workshops Programme January 1, 2007.Ken Muller, University of Miami School of Medicine,Miami, FL, USA, was his predecessor.

Hee-Sup Shin

IBRO Return Home FellowshipChair: F. H. Lopes da Silva

The IBRO Return Home Programme aims to enable young researchers from less developed countrieswho have studied neuroscience in advanced research centres abroad to return home to continue aninternationally valid scientific activity in brain research. As the funds currently available are limited,the programme will be aimed primarily at those scientists who have worked abroad while receivingIBRO fellowships, travel grants or other IBRO-related stipends.Information: http://funding.ibro.infoDeadline for 2008: 20 June 2008

PENS Programme for EuropeanNeuroscience Schools:an IBRO-FENS collaborationChair: Susan SaraFor details of 2008 schools visit the PENS web site http://fens.mdc-berlin.de/pens

Information on all IBRO funding: http://funding.ibro.info

The Symposia & Workshops Programmesupported many neuroscience events aroundthe world over the last year, including Kenya, SriLanka, India, China, Argentina, Chile, Portugal,Italy, Zambia, Russia, Slovenia, Mexico and USA.Some extracts: Kolkata NeuroscienceWorkshop: Organizing Secretary K. P.Mohanakumar reports: The workshop,Neurochemical Techniques for Neuroscientists,held at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology(IICB), Jadavpur, Kolkata, India, December 29,2006-January 7, 2007, was conducted underthe auspices of the Society for Neurochemistry(India) and IICB. There were 25 candidates (sixfrom abroad and 19 from India), including oneeach from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Iran and twofrom Sri Lanka. Faculty were local and fromabroad. Techniques taught at the workshopincluded: stem cell culture; primary culture ofastrocytes and neural cells; mitochondrialassays: purification of mitochondria; gene

polymorphism in neurological disorders;neurotransmitter assay; neurotransmitterreceptor; intracellularcalcium monitoring.

Neurotoxicity Society Meeting, Pucón, Chile:The III Neurotoxicity Society Meeting,Neurochemical Mechanisms forNeurodegenerative Disorders, and the course,Neurochemical and Cellular Mechanisms ofNeuronal Damage: Therapeutical Approaches,were held in Pucón, Chile, March 23-25, 2007,writes Juan Segura-Aguilar, President of the

Organizing Committee. There were 30 invitedinternational speakers from the USA, Canada,UK, France, Denmark, Germany, Poland,Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and 11national speakers (Chile), 43 graduate studentsfrom Chile, other Latin American countriesincluding, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay,

Symposia & Workshops Programmeevents 2006-7

In the lab, Kolkata Workshop

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REPORTS FROM IBRO’S FELLOWS AND ALUMNI

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Singaporean neuroscientistattends SfN meeting in AtlantaEng-Tat Ang, a research scientist in the Dept. of Hematology,Singapore General Hospital, won an SfN-IBRO InternationalTravel Fellowship to attend the SfN meeting in Atlanta, GA, USA,October 2006: “The experience of attending a meeting gracedby 25,000 participants left me feeling that there is really much todo and a need to collaborate with one another. That way, thingscan be facilitated and solutions to problems found. As a trainedphysical therapist, my research goals are clinically oriented. Ihave had considerable exposure to clinical problems in relationto neurological diseases affecting both the CNS and PNS,including stroke, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, andperipheral neuropathy. At the National University of Singapore, Igained the necessary expertise to carry out histological andbehavioral studies on relevant animal models for CNS disorder such as stroke. At the University ofFribourg, Switzerland, I worked with transgenic and knockout mice for PNS disorders such asCharcot-Marie-Tooth Disease; I also worked at the Dept. of Hematology, Singapore Hospital on thefunction of blood and how this may impact the nervous system.”

Eng-Tat Ang

IBRO Research Fellow works onSHBG in British ColumbiaThierry Charlier, after completing his doctoralthesis under the supervision of Prof. JacquesBalthazart, Center for Cellular and MolecularNeurobiology, University of Liège, Belgium, tookup his IBRO fellowship in 2006, collaboratingwith Prof. G. Hammond, Dept. of Obstetrics andGynecology and Dr K. Soma, Dept ofPsychology and Zoology, University of BritishColumbia, Canada: "The goal of this researchwas to characterize the neural sex hormonebinding globulin (SHBG) protein and gene insongbirds, which provide an excellent model tostudy the modulation of steroid action in thebrain. We first aimed to define the avian SHBGsequence based on the extensive sequencedatabase available for the chicken and thezebra finch. The sequencing of zebra finchgenome is currently being undertaken and, wehope, will give us more information about avianSHBG. A second approach involved the cloningof SHBG from the zebra finch using degenerateprimers. Part of my work was directed towardsthe study of another binding globulin, thecorticosteroid binding globulin (CBG).These two studies enabled me to explore newresearch areas and also to start collaborativework with different laboratories. Finally, abehavioral experiment was performed on thefield to learn different behavioral studies and steroid analysis. Territorial aggression is known totrigger hormonal changes in a large array of vertebrates."In the first year of my postdoctorate training I learned a large number of new techniques(mammalian cell culture, steroid binding assay with Dr Hammond, UBC; radioimmunoassay andbehavioral field studies with Dr Soma, UBC; stereotaxis on small passerine birds with Drs Brenowitzand Wingfield, University of Washington). During my fellowship year I attended various scientificevents in Canada and the United States. I also wrote a number of papers and abstracts, one of whichis published (Charlier TD, Harada N, Ball GF, Balthazart J (2006) Steroid Receptor Coactivator-1down-regulation reveals different thresholds for the hormonal regulation of male sexual behavior inrelation to aromatase activity and protein expression. Behavioural Brain Research 172:333-343); therest are in preparation."

IBRO Research Fellow Thierry Charlier with companion

IBRO Return Home Fellow reportsfrom ArgentinaReturn Home grants were awarded in September2006 to two young neuroscientists: Elaine Gavioli,Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense,Criciuma, Brazil and Valeria Della-Maggiore,Dept. of Physiology, School of Medicine,Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.After studying biology in Argentina, completingher PhD at the University of Toronto under thesupervision of Randy McIntosh on large-scaleplasticity associated with long-term visuomotorlearning (1999-2001), and carrying out post-docwork under Dr Tomáš Paus at the MontrealNeurological Institute (2002-2006), Valeria Della-Maggiore returned to Argentina in February 2006.Since September 2006, she has been a CONICETresearch scientist and a lecturer at the Dept. ofPhysiology, School of Medicine, University ofBuenos Aires, where she is currently setting upher laboratory with the assístance of a ReturnHome grant: “In September 2006 I joined theSchool of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires(Chair Dr Jorge Medina), where it is hoped theboundaries of the department, characterized mostlyby animal physiology biochemistry andpharmacology, will expand into human aspects ofphysiology and cognition. This is partly reflected in the recent initiative to create an institute ofsystems neuroscience that will gather neurophysiological and human research. I have been namedcoordinator in a departmental grant application to the Agencia de Promoción Científica yTecnológica, an institution funded partly by the Argentinian Government and partly by the WorldBank, aimed at the installation of a behavioral/psychophysics facility. The two-year work plan Ipresented to IBRO aims to examine the functional basis of online correction in the context of actionobservation. I would first like to express my gratitude to IBRO for having provided me with thepossibility to establish and build my own laboratory in my home country.”

Valeria Della-Maggiore

Peru and the USA with poster presentations andsix oral presentations. The meeting consisted of(i) 36 25-min. presentations followed by 5-min.discussions; (ii) 45 poster presentations; (iii) oneplenary lecture; (iv) six oral presentations bygraduate students; (v) four guided postersessions; (vi) two clinical round tables(Alzheimer’s and Parkinson´s disease),comprising the presentation of differentialdiagnosis and treatment, followed by generaldiscussions; (vii) a PhD course, Neurochemical& Cellular Mechanisms of Neuronal Damage:

Therapeutical Approaches, organized by theFaculty of Medicine, University of Chile with 38participants; (viii) the biennial meeting of theNeurotoxicity Society.4th Conference on Epileptogenesis,Pisa, Italy: The aim of the conference, May 23-26, 2007, was to present a comprehensive andupdated overview on ‘epileptogenesis’, thephenomenon by which a normal tissue becomesepileptic. The conference, with 26 speakers and36 students, was introduced by a plenarylecture on CNS synaptic plasticity by Prof. L.Maffei (Pisa, Italy), who illustrated the molecularmechanism underlying the plasticity of the visualcortex in rodents. The five sessions focused on:1) channelopathies leading to epilepsy; 2)developmental alterations leading to epilepsy; 3)new therapeutic approaches, alternatives to theuse of classical antiepileptic drugs; (4) seizure-induced brain damage and repair strategies; (5)the contribution of glial cell in circuitreorganization and seizure generation. The IBROfunding enabled the organizers to allocate sevenfellowships to PhD students and post-docs fromless-favoured countries.Participants, Neurotoxicity Society Meeting, Pucón

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Alumni speak at Alumni Symposium,IBRO Congress, Melbourne

An IBRO Alumni Symposium ‘Molecular andsystem neurobiology in development andaffective disorders’ was held on the second dayof the IBRO Congress, held in Melbourne,Australia, July 12-17, 2007. Four alumni spokeabout their research, some of which had beencarried out while on IBRO fellowships abroad.

Chaired by Secretary-General MarinaBentivoglio and Alumni Committee Chair SusanJ. Sara, the symposium began with VeronicaPalma (Center for Genomics of the Cell, Facultyof Science, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile)talking about the ‘Role of sonic hedgehog(SHH)/GLI signalling during midbraindevelopment’. Azaz Omrani (Iran; SISSA, Italy)spoke on ‘Tonic GABA A-mediatedconductance selectively enhances theglutamatergic drive of principal cells in thedeveloping rat hippocampus’. Ewelina Knapska(Poland; Dept. of Psychology, University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA) gave a synopsisof her research on ‘Towards understandingsocial aspects of fear: an animal model’. Finally,Ben A. Chindo (Nigeria; University of Otago,New Zealand) spoke on ‘Potential values ofFicus platyphylla in the treatment ofneuropsychiatric disorders’.

The session was followed by a social evening that was co-sponsored by the Post-doctoralAssociation of the Howard Florey Institute.

Ben Chindo

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NEUROSCIENCE NEWS FROM IBRO

International League AgainstEpilepsy brings IBRO’s AffiliatedOrganizations to 83The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) was incorporated this year into IBRO in thecategory of Regional and International Societies and became 83rd Affiliated Organization on IBRO’sGoverning Council. The ILAE president is Dr Peter Wolf.The ILAE is a pre-eminent international association of physicians and other health professionalsworking towards a world where people’s lives are no longer restricted by epilepsy. Its mission is toprovide the highest quality of care and well-being for those afflicted with the condition and otherrelated seizure disorders.

Marina Bentivoglio with ILAE President Peter Wolf (2nd from right), local organizer Esper A. Cavalheiro (l),Nicolas Gomez (Cuban student) (r), First Latin American Summer School on Epilepsy (LASSE), February 4-14, 2007

IBROalumni update

The Alumni Committee (Chair SusanSara) has been working in close

association with IBRO’s RegionalCommittees to promote alumni

activities. All former students of theIBRO schools and VTLPs are urged to

register and become active members ofthe regional alumni association with theultimate goal of having the IBRO alumniorganize and direct their own activities.The total number of IBRO alumni is now

over 2000.Events over the last year have includedan alumni reunion at FENS Forum 2006,

Vienna, Austria, July 11, 2006, wherespeakers were Susan Sara, Albert

Aguayo, President of IBRO and FENSPresident Richard Morris. In all 220

people were at the reception, of whom170 were alumni. There was a reunion

at the SfN meeting, Atlanta, GA, USA, 6October, 2006, which was also

attended by alumni of the HumanFrontier Science Program. A regionalalumni programme was organized by

Prof. Elaine del Bel at the IBRO schoolheld in Brazil, University of

São Paulo-Ribeirão Preto in February2007. Activities included a reception, adinner, a series of cultural lectures and

a special alumni workshop.To highlight the scientific achievements

of our alumni, special symposia arebeing organized at regional meetings.

The first took place at the FAONSmeeting in Hong Kong in December

2006, where four alumni of the APRCregional schools programme gave talks.

The symposium was organized byWing-Ho Yung, regional representativeto the Alumni Committee, and chaired

by Susan Sara and Y-S Chan,APRC Chair.

An Alumni Symposium was held at theIBRO Congress, Melbourne, July 2007.

The speakers were all alumni ofregional schools. The event was a high

point in the Congress and served tohighlight the achievements of IBRO

alumni around the world.It was chaired by the

Secretary-General Marina Bentivoglioand Susan Sara. The symposium wasfollowed by a social, co-sponsored by

the Post-doctoral Association,Howard Florey Institute.

Alumni Symposium, Hong Kong, Dec. 2006

Be sure to read The IBRO Reporter for the latest neuroscience news and events.Sent to IBRO’s members by e-mail every month.

New RegionalCommitteeMembers 2007Asia-Pacific RegionalCommitteeHitoshi Okamoto (Japan)*Fereshteh Motamedi (Iran)*Chung Hsu (Taiwan)Jun Chen (China)

African Regional CommitteeWillie Daniels (South Africa)*Latifa Dorbabi Mamine-Dorbani(Algeria)H. M. Cooper (Bron, France)Alfred Kongnyu Njamnshi(Cameroon)

Latin America RegionalCommitteeFernando Torrealba (Chile)Horacio Vanegas (Venezuela)*

*Denotes re-election for a2nd term

New web sitefor LARCIBRO’s Latin America Regional Committee(LARC) has a dedicated web site in Spanish andPortuguese at http://larc.ibro.info. The siteconveys funding opportunities, news, eventsand is generally intended to facilitate intra-LARCcommunication. Publishing on the site will bemanaged by LARC via Carlos Mas, with the helpof IBRO Webmaster Ante Padjen. All IBROAffiliated Organizations from the region as wellas those from Spain and Portugal are invited tosubmit their news and contributions of localinterest. A site for the Africa RegionalCommittee (ARC)/Society of Neuroscientists ofAfrica (SONA) is planned soon.

PENS enjoyssuccessfulsecond yearThe Programme of European NeuroscienceSchools (PENS), launched with four schools in2006, is a FENS-IBRO collaboration with theobjective of enriching the neuroscienceeducation of students and young investigatorsthroughout Europe. It integrates educationalactivities previously sponsored by FENS throughits Schools Committee and by IBRO's RegionalCommittees for Europe: Western EuropeRegional Committee (WERC) and Central andEastern Europe Regional Committee (CEERC).Distinguished faculty from all over the worldparticipate at the schools, where the emphasisis on interaction among students and faculty.Students present their work in the form ofposters and participate in work groupsco-ordinated by individual faculty members.Meals and other activities are enjoyed as agroup. It makes for an intense week of dynamicinteraction often laying the groundwork forfuture collaborations. In 2007 seven schools,covering a wide range of topics in neuroscience,were held throughout Europe. Students fromless developed countries received travel grants.All information atmars.glia.mdc-berlin.de/pens/

IBRONEWS 2007

Brain Campaignfunds eventsaround the worldThe Brain Campaign, through IBRO’s PublicEducation Committee, continues to financeevents around the world that aim to furtherpublic awareness of the brain. A selection ofenterprises that received Brain Campaign fundsin 2007: International Brain Awareness Symposium2007, Little Flower Medical Research Centre,Kerala, India: This is the third year in whichIBRO has provided funds for this event whoseobjective is increased awareness of the brain,neuroscience, brain-related disorders and theimportance of neuroscience in people’s lives.

Brain and behaviour: Ngaoundere,Cameroon: This event was held at theUniversity in Ngaoundere and at a localsecondary school. The aim was to improve

knowledge of the brain through discussion andthe exhibition of posters and pictures. The eventwas organized by Ngo Bum Elisabeth andcolleagues, Dept. of Biological Sciences,Faculty of Science, University of Ngaoundere,Cameroon Brain Awareness Week 2007 ‘Brainand Society’, Venezuela: Prof. Gladys Maestrede Homes, University of Zulia School ofMedicine, Maracaibo, Venezuela, and amultidisciplinary team held events with children,their parents and guardians and other membersof the local community. In total there were about3000 participants. The teaching focused onmental health issues. This is the third time IBROhas supported the project, which has beenrunning for eight years.‘Neuroscience: Science of the Brain: AnIntroduction for Young Students’: IBRO holdsthe copyright for this booklet (published by theBNA), which is ideal for those with littleknowledge of the brain, touching on everythingfrom development to drug addiction. Leadingneuroscientists in the UK contributed chaptersdescribing their field of expertise in a simple yetimaginative way. IBRO has commissionedaround 20 different language versions of thebooklet, also available in English, Mandarin andSpanish from the BNA.

Little Flower BAW event, Kerala, India

TREM2 cells win Neuroscience covercompetition 2006The winning image of IBRO annual Neuroscience cover competitionfor 2006 is an image from an article by I. Prada, G. Naum Ongania, C.Buonsanti, P. Panina-Bordignon and J. Meldolesi: ‘Triggering receptorexpressed in myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) trafficking in microglial cells:Continuous shuttling to and from the plasma membrane regulatedby cell stimulation’ (Neuroscience Vol. 140, Issue 4 (2006)). IlariaPrada, a PhD student working in Prof. Jacopo Meldolesi’s lab at theMolecular and Cellular Neurobiology Unit, Vita-Salute San RaffaeleUniversity, Milan, Italy, describes the research and the techniqueinvolved in creating the cover image: “Our study, supported by theTelethon Foundation, concerns TREM2 (Triggering ReceptorExpressed in Myeloid cells 2), a receptor identified first outsidethe brain (in macrophages and dendritic cells), which, whenmutated, induces the so-called Nasu-Hakola disease, a severe neurodegenerative syndrome withdementia. The most interesting finding of our paper was the demonstration that the state of thereceptor at the cell surface is dynamic as a result of continuous circulation to and from the cellsurface that also exists independent of any stimulation. The cover image was assembled by mixingtogether immunofluorescent images of N9 cells (TREM2 stained in red) and arranging them in apuzzle grid, taking advantage of Adobe Photoshop 6.”The cover competition winners may choose USD1000 of books from Elsevier Science, publisherof Neuroscience.

The winning cover

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NEUROSCIENCE NEWS FROM IBRO

Former ARC Chair architect of IBROschools in Africa

As IBRO’s Africa Regional Committee Chair for the last six years, Raj Kalaria, of the Institute forAgeing and Health, Newcastle University, UK, relentlessly and indefatigably supported IBRO’s aimsto develop and consolidate neuroscience education in Africa. He helped organize schools andworkshops throughout the continent, beginning in 2000 with a neuroscience school in Pieterburg,South Africa, followed by schools in Cape Town and Nairobi (2003), Grahamstown and Nairobi(2004), Kinshasa, Stellenbosch, Rabat, Bamako and Nairobi (2005), Kinshasa and Nairobi (2006),Nairobi, Kampala and Pretoria (2007). Prof. Kalaria also helped organize other neuroscience events inAfrica, including over the past two years a WHO-WFN brain ageing and dementia symposium inKenya, and, further afield, a specialized stroke and dementia meeting in Newcastle, and scienticprogrammes for two dementia conferences, VasCog 2005 in Florence, Italy and VasCog 2007 in SanAntonio, USA. Raj wishes his successor luck: “I am indebted to the ARC and the international facultyand advisors who have given unstinting support to make progress in Africa. I am confident the ARCwill readily agree, together with the students, to lend strong support to Abdul Mohammed (Kenya) ashe prepares for what has been a delightful privilege in looking after IBRO interests in Africa withnumerous IBRO colleagues, including Stephanie and Andree, and among whom were fourSecretary-Generals, David Ottoson (Sweden), Carlos Belmonte (Spain), Albert Aguayo (Canada) andJenny Lund (USA). I say Asante Sana!”

Abdul H. Mohammed, Senior Research Scientist,Karolinska Institutet and Professor of Psychologyat Växjö University, Sweden, is the new Chair ofIBRO’s Africa Regional Committee. His three-yearterm of office began at the beginning of this year.He succeeds Raj Kalaria (UK), who as former ARCChair devoted a major part of his time to theorganization of schools and events in Africa forIBRO. Prof. Mohammed’s research is predominantlyon behavioural and neural plasticity, focusingespecially on the impact of environmental complexityon brain neurotrophins and cognition. His work inexperimental geriatrics involves the use of normaland genetically modified rodents for developmentof animal models of ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Abdul Mohammed

Secretary-General and Raj Kalaria, SONA 2007, Kinshasa, DR Congo, May 2007

New Chair for Africa Regional Committee

Call for CVs of African women inscience and technology: The AfricanUnion Commission (http://www.africa-union.org) requests support toencourage women scientists in Africaand from the Diaspora to send theirdetailed CVs to the Commission sothat it can establish a database ofAfrican women scientists. TheCommission and developmentpartners will use this databasewhenever it has events that require theparticipation of women scientists.Enquiries: mashelenih@africa-union.org.

Sleeping sickness parasite can't livewith stress: The parasite responsiblefor African sleeping sickness causesits victims plenty of sleepless nights,but the parasite itself does not copewell with stress. New research showsthat the parasite's natural response tostress is enough to kill it, a weaknessthat researchers may be able toexploit. Shulamit Michaeli, PhD,Howard Hughes Medical Instituteinternational scholar, and colleagues

at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan,Israel, published their work in theMarch 9, 2007 issue of EMBOReports.

Nearly 1 in 6 of world’s populationsuffer from neurological disorders:According to a new UN report ofFebruary 27, 2007, up to one billionpeople, nearly one in six of the world’spopulation, suffer from neurologicaldisorders, from Alzheimer’s andParkinson’s disease, strokes, multiplesclerosis and epilepsy to migraine,brain injuries and neuroinfections, withsome 6.8 million dying of the maladieseach year.

SfN sponsor applicants fromunderrepresented countries: TheSociety for Neuroscience will sponsorapplicants from underrepresentedcountries who request membershipassistance. A list of eligible countriescan be accessed atwww.sfn.org/worldaid or contactmembership@sfn.org.

NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE IBRO’s IT expands IBRO’s information technology has over the past few years expanded its activities beyond thedevelopment and maintenance of IBRO web sites, which have already grown to five subsections ofthe IBRO web. The purpose of the new development is to provide interactive support for IBROmembers and its programmes. As some 700 applicants already experienced, the management ofIBRO’s Funding programme relies entirely on the use of on-line tools for each of its six types ofaward processed on the IBRO Funding web site (http://funding.ibro.info). Similarly, IBRONeuroscience Schools and the Visiting Lecture Team Programme (VLTP) use on-line services(http://schools.ibro.info) for the whole cycle of collection and review of applications. Otherprogrammes are due to be developed in this way. On-line collection and review of applications notonly facilitates significantly the distributed nature of review for the committee members locatedaround the world, but it also allows continuous monitoring and provides statistics of IBRO activities,of particular importance the database of alumni (over 2000 members; http://alumni.ibro.info ),essential for planning, expansion and allocation of funds.

Members at large use extensively open access to our help line (Feedback/Contact Us) to enquireabout membership and applications, with over 1000 enquiries processed per year by IBRO IT staff.The Internet and its web interface are particularly suitable for IBRO’s model: the creation of acommunity. Some 50 intranets (protected sites on the web) now serve IBRO committees, schoolsand alumni groups where members can share ideas, documents, tasks and images.

ICSU concern over visa problemsfor scientistsIn March 2007 the International Council for Science Unions (ICSU) Committee on Freedom andResponsibility in the conduct of Science (CFRS) identified an issue of particular concern: visaproblems for scientists. ICSU consulted its Members and Interdisciplinary Bodies (including IBRO)about the problem. An initial consultation of members in January 2007 indicated that the majority ofMembers and IBs do not have a formal process in place for monitoring visa problems. At the sametime, several members are aware of various ad hoc cases where visa problems have beenencountered. Even in the absence of formal monitoring mechanisms, it is important to gather thisinformation more systematically so that CFRS can establish a more accurate picture of the countriesand nationalities involved and challenges to be addressed. For example, it was reported thatextensive delays in issuing visas, as opposed to outright visa denials, had a major impact on at leastone international meeting. Without more data, it is difficult to assess whether this is ‘the tip of theiceberg’ or simply a one-off incident. Later in the year CFRS made a second request of Members andIBs to monitor visa issues and report problems.

Africa Regional Committee: Raj Kalaria(Chair 2000-6). The IBRO Africa schoolsprogramme can boast of training over 300alumni and having a repertoire of over 70national and international faculty. The 13thFogarty/IBRO-Africa-sponsoredneuroscience school on InfectiousDiseases of the Nervous System was held1-5 September, Kinshasa, DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC). Our 14th IBROAfrica School was co-sponsored by theISN in Rabat, Morocco, December 8-13,2006. The First UAE-IBRO School,Fundamentals of Basic and ClinicalNeurosciences, Al Ain, UAE, January 22-31, 2007, was the first joint venture of theARC and APRC led by Profs Valsa Eapen(UAE), Abdu Adem (UAE) and Raj Kalaria(UK-Kenya). Another milestone was theschool Behavioural Brain Research at

Makerere University and Mulago Hospital,Kampala, Uganda, April 7-14, 2007. Wethen returned to Nairobi for anothersuccessful Fogarty/IBRO course,Neuroimmunology and Infectious Diseasesof the Brain, May 22-25, 2007 at ICIPE, ourfavourite training site. We look forward tothe 15th IBRO Africa School, South Africa,December 7-14, 2007. The Associationpour la Promotion des Neurosciences duCongo (APRONES) hosted this 8th BiennialMeeting organized by Profs T. Kayembe(SONA President; DRC) and P. Luabeya(DRC-Belgium) and attended by more than300 delegates. A key feature of SONA 2007was the 1st James K. Kimani memoriallecture in recognition of James’s (Universityof Nairobi, Kenya) contributions to thefounding of SONA and promotion of theneurosciences. ARC and SONA membersnominated Dr Desire Tshala-Katumbay(DRC-USA), IBRO alumnus 2000, to be thefirst recipient. The 2nd MediterraneanConference of Neurosciences, December13-15, 2006 was convened by Prof.Mohamed Bennis in Marrakech, Morocco.An International Symposium on BrainAgeing was held in Nairobi, April 10-13,2007, supported by the IBRO Symposia &Workshops Programme and endorsed byWHO and WFN (World Federation ofNeurology). Delegates numbered 100,including several IBRO alumni, SONA,SANS and APRONES members. Theorganizers (Raj Kalaria, Kenya and PieroAntuono, USA) also took part in a strategymeeting with the WFN ExecutiveCommittee to formulate the WFN AfricaProject Committee (co-chaired by A. GalloDiop, Senegal), which will facilitate strongerco-operation between WFN and IBROactivities in Africa.Members of SONA and SANS participatedin the IBRO 2007 World Congress, 12-17July in Melbourne, Australia. The ARCsupported a Satellite Symposium on theNeurobiology of Neglected AfricanDisorders organized by Nilesh Patel andcolleagues. The IBRO Africa alumni wererepresented by Dr Ben Chindo (Nigeria) atthe IBRO Alumni ‘Stars’ Symposium

chaired by Prof. Susan Sara.ARC is proud to have guided six Africanorganizations to be represented on theIBRO Governing Council: the Society ofNeuroscientists of Africa (SONA),Moroccan Neuroscience Association(MNA), Southern African NeuroscienceSociety (SANS), Kenyan Society forNeuroscience (KSN), Nigerian Society forNeuroscience (NSN) and APRONES. ARCcontinues to encourage groups inCameroon, Senegal and Egypt to seekIBRO membership. Members of ARCand the six African neurosciencesocieties also share responsibilities onother IBRO committees and continue tocontribute to the activities of PAANS (PanAfrican Association of NeurologicalSciences) and to the African Journal ofNeurological Sciences.

Asia Pacific Regional Committee: ChairYing-Shing Chan. 1. Associate Schools:Each five-day associate school has around36 students (MBBS, MSc and 1st year PhDstudents), with lectures, group discussions,demonstrations of selected techniques. a)5th Associate School, Singapore, June 26-30, 2006. Co-sponsored by InternationalSociety for Neurochemistry. Organizer:Prof. Peter T. H. Wong, National Universityof Singapore. b) 6th Associate School,Tehran, Iran, August 26-30, 2006. Co-sponsored by Iranian Neuroscience Societyand Iranian Society for Physiology andPharmacology, Organizer: Prof. FereshtehMotamedi, Shaheed Besheti University ofMedical Sciences. Students from China,India, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia and Pakistan. c)Associate School, Al Ain, United ArabEmirates, January 24-31, 2007. Jointlyorganized by IBRO ARC and APRC.Organizer: Prof. Valsa Eapen, United ArabEmirates University, Al Ain. d) AssociateSchool, Karachi, Pakistan, March 26-30,2007. Organizer: Dr S Ather Enam, AgaKhan University, Karachi. Students fromChina, India, Iran, and Pakistan. ThePakistan Neuroscience Society was formedduring the Associate School. 2. Schools: Each two-week school takes25 students (PhD and postdocs) forlectures, tutorials and laboratory projects.a) 8th IBRO School of Neuroscience,Mumbai, India, Sept. 1-15, 2006.Organizer: Dr Shubha Tole, Tata Institute ofFundamental Research; 24 students fromChina, India, Iran and Taiwan. b) 9th IBROSchool of Neuroscience, Hong Kong,China, Nov. 30-Dec. 13, 2006. Organizers:Profs Wing-Ho Yung, Chinese University ofHong Kong and Ken KL Yung, Hong KongBaptist University, held after the 4thFAONS Congress; 25 students fromAustralia, China, India, Iran, Malaysia,Taiwan and Thailand. An IBRO AlumniSymposium took place Nov. 30-Dec. 2during the FAONS Congress.3. Advanced Schools: Advanced schoolsemphasize problem-based learning on thedesign of research projects using state-of-the-art technology of the host institute. Thesmall student-teacher ratio caters for in-depth interaction. Preference is given toIBRO alumni of previous two-weekschools. a) 1st IBRO Advanced School ofNeuroscience, Wako, Japan, Feb. 26-March 9, 2007. Organizer: Prof. HitoshiOkamote, RIKEN Brain Research Institute.Ten students from Australia, India, Korea,and Taiwan. b) 2nd IBRO Advanced Schoolof Neuroscience, Melbourne, Australia, July2–6, 2007. Organizer: Dr Andrew Gundlach,Howard Florey Institute, University ofMelbourne. The school was held justbefore the IBRO Congress in Melbourne.RIKEN Summer Program 2006: Travelsupport was awarded so that participantsfrom APRC could attend.Exchange Fellowship Scheme: Thescheme sponsors young APRCneuroscientists (under 40 years old) tospend six months in a host laboratorywithin our region. Applicants must provide

strong evidence of intention to return to thehome country after the exchange.APRC Travel Grants: Grants a) providesubsidy for individuals to attendinternational conferences; b) supportworkshops/symposia in disadvantagedareas (by providing travel grants for youngneuroscientists).Additional efforts in 2006: 50 youngneuroscientists received travel scholarshipsto attend the 4th FAONS Congress, HongKong, 2006. APRC also offered support tofour IBRO alumni (from China, India, Iran,Japan) to present their work at theIBRO Alumni Symposium during theFAONS Congress.

Central and Eastern Europe RegionalCommittee: Chair Pavel Balaban. In 2006the CEERC provided representatives of 12CEERC countries with 19 stipends toattend FENS Forum 2006. Researchawards within the region were given to R.Averkin (Ukraine) for work in Russia(Moscow) in 2006, and to M. Balcerzyk(Poland) for a short-term visit to Ukraine(Kiev). A new CEERC initiative, IBROLecturers Visits to the Region, resulted inone award for the visit of Prof. D. Leopold(USA) to Russia. Eight internationalconferences in Hungary, Russia, Poland,Georgia, Slovakia and Romania weresupported, the support being mainly foryoung scientists.In 2007 conferences in Poland, Slovenia,Romania, Hungary and Russia wereplanned for CEERC support. There wasgreat interest this year in interregionalvisits, which are very effective for initiatingcollaboration, with the first research visit ofyoung scientists abroad. Five such visitswere supported in 2007. Such visits takeup only a relatively small of our budget.Two prominent scientists Drs L. Kaczmarekand T. Freund were invited as IBRO CEERClecturers to Russia (June 2007) to a jubileeXX Physiological Congress They gaveplenary lectures on the hottest topics inneuroscience: molecular mechanisms ofsynaptic plasticity and cannabinoidsignaling in the brain.Many other applications for support werediscussed, as well as a new initiative of theIBRO Alumni Committee to help fundrepresentatives of IBRO Regions to attendthe Alumni Symposium in Melbourne, July2007.The Committee evaluates most of itsproposals electronically, thus collectingapplications all year around and providingapplicants with fast decisions. In addition,once a year the CEERC meets in variouscountries throughout the region (Budapest,Hungary, 2004; Sofia, Bulgaria, 2004; Kiev,Ukraine, 2005; Vienna, Austria, 2006;Moscow, Russia, 2007) to discuss strategicissues and submitted applications.

Latin America Regional Committee:Chair Marta Hallak. 1. Schools: Since2004 the Canadian Government via theInstitute of Neurosciences, Mental Healthand Addiction (INMHA) has granted asubstantial contribution each year toLARC-IBRO schools. All academicactivities promoted and supported byLARC were co-financed by localinstitutions and international organizations.In 2007 LARC chose three schools to fund:XII Advanced Neuroscience School,Montevideo, Uruguay, March 12-30, 2007,Organizer: Dr Omar Macadar; IBRO

Advanced School of Neuroscience inArgentina: Neuroethology, Buenos Aires,Argentina, Nov. 12-29, 2007, Organizers:Drs Lidia Szczupak and Daniel Tomsic; IIISchool of Neuroscience in Brazil, SaoPaulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, Nov. 25-Dec.9, 2007, Organizers: Drs Elaine Del Bel andDr Janete Anselmo-Franci.2. Courses: 16 regional courses weresupported in 2007, with LARC offeringcertain funding for each of up to eightspecialized training courses in the region.3. Intra-Regional Exchange Awards:Established in 2000, this successfulprogram enables students to acquiretechnical experience in areas not availablein their home country. To date, more than120 students have spent from 10 to 60days in several labs across the region. In2007, of 58 applications, 29 regionalexchange awards were granted.4. Additional expenses: LARC called forproposals to support the attendance of anIBRO alumnus/a to the IBRO WorldCongress in Melbourne. Funds weregranted for travel from the LARC budget.5. Supranational organizations: Since2006 LARC has sought to establish a linkwith Ibero American societies forneuroscience to facilitate communication inboth the region and Spain and Portugal. Asteering committee was appointed in 2006with the aim of organizing an IberoAmerican Neuroscience Congress.6. Emergent Neuroscience Groups:LARC is requesting a special budget in thiscategory owing to the lack of neuroscienceresearchers in several Latin Americancountries. There is an initiative fromneuroscience research groups in Spain tostrengthen ties with Latin American groups.We are planning to combine the need topromote emergent groups in Latin Americawith the support offered by Spanishcolleagues in this new LARC program.7. LARC/ARC interaction: Africancontributions to Latin American cultureform one important element of thefoundations of IBRO. It would seem naturalto start a collaboration between LARC andARC neuroscience groups to strengthentranscontinental activities and we plan toexplore ways of assisting Portuguese-speaking colleagues in Africa, e.g.Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau,Cabo Verde and São Tomé e Príncipe. TheNational Research Council of Brazil (CNPq)has recently launched a program of jointprojects with Portuguese-speaking Africanresearch groups8. Return Home Programme: The difficultconditions faced by young scientistsreturning home often force them to remainabroad. IBRO’s Return Home Programmetargets former LARC awardees who haveobtained advanced training abroad. LARCproposes to help fund these awardees toget established in their home countries.

IAC-USNC (US/Canada RegionalCommittee): Chair Edward Jones. TheSociety for Neuroscience, NationalAcademy of Sciences, National Institutesof Health, IBRO and representatives of theCanadian Association for Neuroscience(CAN) and the Canadian Institute ofNeuroscience, Mental Health andAddiction (INMHA) have worked throughthe IAC-USNC over the past two years toprovide support for a number of activitiesto further IBRO’s objectives.Travel Fellowships: This year SfN awardedtravel fellowships to nine students toattend and present their work at the IBROCongress, Melbourne, July 2007. SfNsupported 30 students from resource-restricted countries to present an abstractat the 2007 SfN Annual Meeting in SanDiego, CA. Melbourne Satellite Symposium: A three-day workshop, NeurodegenerativeDiseases: Different Phenotypes, SharedMechanism of Pathogenesis, organized by

John Trojanowski (Univ. of Pennsylvania,USA), took place in Melbourne, July 10-12,2007 in conjunction with the IBRO WorldCongress. Hosted by the University ofMelbourne, the workshop was modelled ona highly successful neurobiology of diseaseworkshop held at the SfN 2004 annualmeeting. It focused on shared underlyingmechanisms common to Alzheimer’sdisease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementiaand other dementias, andneurodegenerative disorders characterizedby intracellular and/or extracellularaggregates of proteinacious fibrils.Financial support was provided by SfN,NIH National Institute of Mental Health, NIHNational Institute of Neurological DisordersStroke, NIH National Institute on DrugAbuse, Neurochem, Inc. and the NationalAlzheimer’s Association. The course facultycomprised local and international lecturers.As in past years, the Grass Foundation andSfN supported the Ricardo Miledi Program.The four-week course, NeuronalDifferentiation during EmbryonicDevelopment & from Stem Cells in vitroand in vivo, was held at UNAM/Juriquilla,Queretaro, Mexico, Nov. 6-Dec. 2, 2006.The course directors were Alfredo VarelaEchavarria and Magda Giordano Noyola.The 15 students came from eight LatinAmerican and Caribbean countries andwere exposed to topics on neuronaldifferentiation and stem cell biologythrough a series of basic and specializedlectures; they received intensive hands-ontraining on four broad methodologiesrelevant to the subjects. The 15 studentswill receive a travel stipend to attend the2007 SfN annual meeting, San Diego, CA. Web-based neuroscience lectures: Viawww.iac-usnc.org the committee continuesto work on a seminar and neurosciencemethods series to bring up-to-dateneuroscience information to researchers inresource-restricted countries. Web-basedneuroscience lectures are accessible byscientists worldwide and feature narrateddata slides by prominent neuroscientistsfrom the National Academy of Sciences(NAS) and SfN. IBRO North American schools: Onceagain in 2007, the committee workeddirectly with IBRO’s Board of Schools andMBL to identify and encourage highly qualified and motivated research trainees from less developed countries to register

for MBL neuroscience summer courses atMBL, Woods Hole, MA and Cold SpringHarbor Laboratory (CSHL), Cold SpringHarbor, NY. Three MBL and five CSHLfellowships were awarded. Of the eightselected, two were from Brazil and twofrom India; one from Uganda, Argentina,Nigeria and Romania. The 2006 IBROfellows who submitted an abstract for the2007 SfN meeting in San Diego received travel funds plus one complementary workshop registration for a Friday course oftheir choice.

Raj Kalaria with students, 1st UAE-IBROschool, Al Ain, UAE, January 2007

six

IBRONEWS 2007

9th IBRO School, Hong Kong

IBRO’S REGIONAL ACTIVITIES, 2006-2007

Reports from the Regions

Albert Chiang, Cold Spring Harbor Lab.Course 2007

Continued on page 7

EDUCATION & TRAINING 2006-2007

seven

IBRO Neuroscience School numbers continue to riseThe rate of IBRO’s neuroscience schools has risen rapidly since 1999, when there were just three schools. With theincrease in the number of schools has come a rise in the number of IBRO alumni to over 2000. In 2007 there were22 schools.

Schools reports fromaround the world

APRONES Symposium and FIC/IBRONeuroscience School, Kinshasa, DRCongo: The 3rd Symposium of APRONES(Association Promoting Neurosciences),Neuroscience and Tropical Diseases andthe 13th Fogarty/IBRO NeuroscienceSchool, Infectious and Toxic Disorders ofthe Nervous System were held on August31 and September 1-5, 2006 respectively,under the auspices of the Conseil d’Administration des Universités, Kinshasa,DRC. This was the first IBRO School to beorganized by IBRO’s Clinical/Basic ScienceLinks Programme. The school receivedmajor support from the FogartyInternational Center (FIC) and from IBROAfrica Regional Committee. Around 200participants attended the APRONESSymposium, while the school was attendedby 21 students (10 from the DRC and 11from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon,Nigeria, Zimbabwe) and 10 faculty. Didacticcourses and three workshops included theanatomy of the brain, pathogens in malariaand trypanosomiasis, and HIV. Topics atthe APRONES Symposium includedneuroscience and tropical diseases,infectious disorders of the CNS, toxic andmetabolic disorders, child neurology andinfections, and psychiatric disorders.

Fogarty/IBRO Latin American School ofNeuroscience, Buenos Aires, Argentina:The III Latin American School ofNeuroscience was held in and aroundBuenos Aires between September 18-30,2006 and October 2-6 2006. The topicscovered by the school includedembryology of the central nervous system,early genes and phospholipid synthesis,learning and memory, microglia andinflammation, biology of the Node ofRanvier, myelination, demyelination andremyelination, and neuronal cell death.The faculty comprised distinguishedneuroscientists from abroad and fromArgentina. Of the 72 applications, 40

students were selected from Uruguay,Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Cuba. Students’research projects were presented asposters and discussed in detail during anumber of poster presentations. Labprojects included: a) in situ hybridizationtechniques; b) models of ischemia/hypoxiain the CNS and the retina and theirconsequences, studied by

immunohystochemical andelectrophysiological techniquesrespectively; c) isolation of lipid rafts; d)studies of Schwann cell development andWallerian degeneration in the sciatic nerve;e) studies of stress granules byconfocal microscopy.

1st UAE-IBRO School, Al Ain, UnitedArab Emirates: The school, held January24-31, 2007, was a joint effort of two IBRORegional Committees, the Asian-PacificRegional Committee and the AfricaRegional Committee and was hosted bythe Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences(FMHS), United Arab Emirates University, AlAin. Thirty-two students from Bahrain,Egypt, India, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco,Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia andthe UAE attended. Students weregraduates in biological sciences, pharmacyand medicine with research interest in

basic or clinical neuroscience. A total of 18instructors, including five internationalfaculty and 12 faculty from FMHS,instructed an intensive course in basic andclinical neurosciences. Topics includedneurotransmission, neurodegeneration,neural plasticity and neurodevelopmentaldisorders. Lab work included grossmorphology, basic neuropathology,immunohistochemistry, behavioural testingand clinical aspects of epilepsy. The fourbest oral presentations were delivered byJitendra Sinha (India), Maha Al Riyami(Oman), Neza Bouhaddou (Morocco) andAisha Al Dhufair (UAE), who were eachawarded a special prize. At the closingceremony students were awardeddiplomas by the Dean of FMHS and, in theIBRO schools tradition, the alumni electedFatima Ismail (UAE) as President andAhmad Obeidat (Jordan) as Secretary.

1st IBRO Associate School ofNeuroscience, Karachi, Pakistan:The school was held at the PanjwaniCenter for Molecular Medicine and DrugResearch (PCMD), University of Karachi,Pakistan, March 25-30, 2007. ParticipantFatima Shad (PCMD) reports: “The schoolwas organized by PCMD, KarachiUniversity and the Aga Khan University,Karachi under the umbrella of IBRO. Of the150 applicants, 37 national andinternational were selected. There werelectures by national and internationalfaculty, followed by a workshop comprisinga lecture session each morning, then

hands-on experiments each afternoon onthe topic of the day. Huge IBRO schoolbanners hung from the gates of theUniversities of Karachi and Agha Khan andof PCMD. Major outcomes of the IBROSchool were the creation of theNeuroscience Society of Pakistan, IBROStudents Alumni and the proposal for thefirst Brain Bank in Pakistan for mentaldisorder research.”

IBRO African Neuroscience Workshop,Kampala, Uganda: The Workshop,Behavioural Neuroscience, held on thecampus of Makerere University, April 7-14,2007, was organized by Profs AbdulMohammed (Sweden) and Peter Baguma(Uganda) and brought together aninternational team of instructors and 22students from the Eastern African region(Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania).The workshopcourses were held in the Depts ofPsychology and Zoology and organized inmodules with associated workshops. Thestudents learned about practicalapproaches to neuroethology andcomputer assisted methods of behaviouralobservation, basic brain organization,memory circuits and behaviouralneuroscience, how to construct mazes anddesign experiments, how to use video-tracking equipment. They set up their ownmaze experiments and collected data.Charles Gross (USA) lectured on the historyof neuroscience and up-to-date techniqueson neural correlates of face recognition andauditory communication in primates. Othercoursework included lectures onchronobiology, sleep, the influence of theenvironment, of African plant alkaloids andof microbial invasion, communication inprimates, and brain and behaviour. PeterBaguma of the Psychology Institute tracedthe history of the teaching of psychology atMakerere University, and G. I-Basuta(Uganda) lectured about ongoing researchon primate behaviour in the Ugandannational forest reserves.

Fogarty-IBRO School, Nairobi, Kenya:The Fogarty-sponsored course onNeuroimmunology and Infectious Diseasesof the Brain was held at the InternationalCentre for Insect Physiology and Ecology(ICIPE) in Duduville, on the outskirts ofNairobi, Kenya, April 21-25, 2007, justbefore the SONA 2007 InternationalConference in Kinshasa, Congo. The 30students and local trainees came fromCameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal, Sudan,Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The 11teaching faculty included IBRO Secretary-General Marina Bentivoglio (Italy), AhmedEl-Gohary (Egypt), Sharon Juliano (USA),Raj Kalaria (UK-Kenya), Tom Kariuki(Institute of Primate Research, IPR, Kenya),Leon Kazumba (DR Congo), KristerKristensson (Sweden), Hastings Ozwara(IPR, Kenya), Nilesh Patel (Kenya), MariaChiara Stefanini (Italy) and Désiré Tshala-Katumbay (DRC-USA). Dr Peter Wanzala(Kenya) updated the assembled group onactivities of the Kenya Medical Research

Institute (KEMRI). Nchafatso Obonyo(medical student) gave a report on ‘Ubongo2007’, Brain Awareness activities held atthe University of Nairobi earlier in the year.Interactive lectures covered discussions onclinical neuroanatomy, principles ofimmunology, and modes of infection,quality management, sleep mechanisms,epilepsy, spastic paraparesis, retroviralinfections, human African trypanosomiasis,cerebral malaria, HIV/AIDS,neurocystercercosis and schistosomiasis.During the short workshops students wereinstructed in practical neuroanatomy usingplasticised brains (SJ), EEG in infectedchildren (MCS) and cognitive testingmethods (RK). Kevin Ongeti (Kenya) waselected Class President and Birke Hurrisa(Ethiopia) Secretary.

1st Canadian IBRO School, Toronto,Canada: The school, Fundamentals ofEpilepsy, was held at the University ofToronto, May 27–June 1, 2007. It wasdesigned for young, promising trainees,both neuroscientists and clinical, from twodeveloping areas with the history of previous IBRO/INMHA-sponsored schoolsof neuroscience. This was the first IBROschool held in North America/Canadawhere students from Africa and LatinAmerica were brought to Canada. From 70candidates, 16 students were selected bymembers of IBRO’s ARC and LARC andincluded graduate students, clinicaltrainees and junior staff from Ethiopia,Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil,Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. Tutorswere mainly from Canadian League againstEpilepsy/Canadian Epilepsy ResearchInstitute (CLAE-CERI); others were from theAmerican Epilepsy Society, the NIH FogartyInternational Center and NINDS. Thecourse covered topics in epilepsy, with anemphasis on the interactive sessions: Eachmorning interactive lectures included basicclinical and experimental neuroscience ofepilepsy, animal models of epilepsy,development and plasticity, clinical issues,molecular genetics of epilepsy, therapeuticapproaches. In the afternoons labdemonstrations and clinical units followedon the topic of the day. Daily 30–60-min.discussion periods summarized theexperience of the day. Evenings werereserved for presentations of general interest and included a topical presentationof epilepsy management in Ghana (A.Akpalu), Kathy Michels’ well-received

review of the Fogarty International Center(NIH) and a look into the future at thepromises of the postgenomic era (A.L.Padjen). All students had an opportunity togive 10-min. oral presentations of theirresearch followed by lively discussions bythe whole class. On the last day thestudents elected Class President MichaelKihara (Kenya) and Vice-President ClaudiaFunchal (Brazil).

1st Latin-American PostgraduateProgram on Neuroscience andBehavioral Biology, Seville, Spain: 25students from Spanish and Latin-Americanuniversities and research centers(Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia,Peru and Venezuela) attended the coursesat University Pablo de Olavide. Theprogram, April 2-June 29, 2007, wasdirected by Dr J. M. Delgado-García(University Pablo de Olavide) andcomprised nine courses (60 credits)covering the main aspects of modernneurosciences. Training included regularlectures, lab work, demonstrations andinvited lectures. The courses werepresented by 36 scientists from Europeanand American countries devoted tocomparative and multidisciplinary studieson neurosciences. All students obtained anofficial certificate allowing them to follow aDoctorate Program (in order to achieve aPhD degree), starting on October 2007.IBRO/FENS awarded fellowships coveringliving and/or registration expenses of mostof the Latin-American students. In addition,students were supported by their own labsor by fellowships from the University Pablode Olavide. The Spanish Ministry ofEducation covered the travel and livingexpenses of invited teachers and speakersfrom European and Latin-Americancountries. The University Pablo de Olavidemade a generous effort to allow the use oftheir teaching and research facilities.

Visiting Lecture Team Programme 2007:The VLTP runs experimental-based lecturecourses covering topics in basicneuroscience. The team is made up ofneuroscientists recognized for theirexcellence as experimentalists andteachers. In 2007 the following courseswere held: VLTP Neurobiology Course,Asuncion, Paraguay, April 25-27;Neuroscience Course, Xi’an, China, June20-28; Neuroscience Course, Lagos,Nigeria, July 18-26; Neuroscience Course,Manaus, Brazil, September 19-26.

1st Canadian IBRO School, Toronto,Canada: The school, Fundamentals ofEpilepsy, held at the University of Toronto inMay 2007, was the first IBRO school held inNorth America/Canada where students fromAfrica and Latin America were brought toCanada. See report in the Schools section ofthis page.

Western Europe Regional Committee:Chair Monica Di Luca. This year the WERCCommittee worked hard to fulfil its main

objective: to improve mobility of youngneuroscientists and strengthen educationalprogrammes. We continued to collaboratewith FENS on the WERC/FENS PhDprogramme launched in 2003 to support PhDfellowships in Europe. Three students are stillworking successfully on their researchprojects: F. Trigo, G. Barretto and Ghato. Inaddition, M. Mellado (University of Havana) iscompleting her fellowship under thesupervision of Prof. Ian Russell (University of

Sussex, UK). Continuing a fruitful tradition,we supported the Seville School in

Neuroscience, organized by Jose-M.Delgado-Garcia. This year the school heldApril 2-June 29, 2007, was officiallyincluded in the Universidad Pablo deOlavide’s University Master Programme,which also welcomes Latin Americanstudents (at least one-third come from LatinAmerica), representing a good platform ofexchanges between European and Non-European students.The Committee decided in 2006 to supportinitiatives of national European societies for neuroscience. We supported the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) at a joint

Polish-UK symposium at the 2007 BNAmeeting, offering stipends to East Europeanstudents. IBRO-WERC funded(supplemented by the French NeuroscienceSociety) the registration for 12 students fromNorth Africa and Egypt to attend the 8thMeeting of the French Neuroscience Society,Montpelier, May 22-25, 2007. WERCcontinued its cooperation with CEERC andFENS on the PENS Committee, whoseprimary goal under the actual guidance ofSusan Sara is to organize the Programme ofEuropean Neuroscience Schools.

Fogarty/IBRO School, Buenos Aires

Class President Fatima Ismail and SecretaryAhmad Obeidat, UAE-IBRO School

Sharon Juliano discusses the brain,Fogarty-IBRO School, Nairobi

Students of the PostgraduateProgram, Seville

1st Canadian IBRO School, Toronto

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eight

IBRO: PROMOTER OF SCIENTIFICEXCHANGE AND TRAINING AROUND THE WORLD

IBRONEWS 2007

InternationalBrain ResearchOrganizationExecutive Committee

PresidentAlbert Aguayo (Canada)Secretary-GeneralMarina Bentivoglio (Italy)TreasurerSteve Redman (Australia)

Chairs of Regional Committees

Abdul Mohammed (Africa)Ying Shing Chan (Asia/Pacific)Pavel Balaban (Central and Eastern Europe)Marta Hallak (Latin America) Edward Jones (US/Canada)Monica Di Luca (Western Europe)

IBRO Secretariat

255 Rue Saint-Honoré75001 Paris, FrancePhone:+33-1-46-47-92-92Fax: +33-1-46-47-42-50Executive DirectorStephanie de La Rochefoucauldibro3@wanadoo.frDirector of ProgrammesRobynn Rockstad-Rex ibro4@wanadoo.frAccountantKathryn Berryibro@wanadoo.fr

IBRO Web Site: www.ibro.info

Webmaster & Head ofInformation TechnologyAnte Padjenante.padjen@mcgill.caSenior EditorAndrée Blakemoreandree.blakemore@dpag.ox.ac.uk

'IBRO News'

Editor in ChiefAndree Blakemoreandree.blakemore@dpag.ox.ac.uk

President Albert Aguayo leaves aftersix prolific years in office

IBRO an invaluableorganization inworld neuroscience,says outgoingSecretary-GeneralJennifer Lund served as Secretary-General toIBRO from 2004 to 2006. In an interview for theIBRO web site in the last week of her three-yearterm, she reflects: “I have been particularlypleased to see the marked increase in thenumber of IBRO schools and in new membersocieties of the Governing Council (now 83).This reflects the value of IBRO as an educationalenterprise and the perceived value of theorganization to professional societies withinterest in neuroscience around the world. Ouralumni now number over 2000 and it is throughthese young people that neuroscience will makeits mark in the coming years.“It is to be hoped that the schools programmecan generate permanent neuroscience schoolsin regions of the world currently lackingneuroscience educational opportunities. Ideallysuch permanent neuroscience programmesshould accompany clinical entities such asmedical schools where direct links to the clinicas well as biology can be made. Cruciallyimportant, our Return Home Programme awardsgrants to support young faculty to return homeafter training abroad.“Given the wide scope of IBRO’s programmesand the chronic need worldwide for expertise inneuroscience practice and clinical applications,it is essential that IBRO continue to build itsfinancial support in the future. I would like tothank all the many organizations that haveworked with IBRO and offered support over thethree years that I have been Secretary-General.”

Jennifer Lund

IBRO President Albert Aguayo presents award to BrainBee winner (Australia-New Zealand) Quinn McGennisken:at the IBRO Congress, Melbourne

When Albert Aguayo was elected President ofIBRO in January 2004, he had, as Secretary-General from 2000 to 2003, already left anindisputably remarkable legacy for IBRO. Withhis well-known zeal and enthusiasm hereinforced existing programmes, initiated newones, encouraged many neuroscience societiesand organizations to become AffiliatedOrganizations of IBRO: all in the name ofenhancing global neuroscience trainingand education.As President of IBRO, Prof. Aguayo hascontinued to promote its activities, visiting andlecturing at IBRO schools and workshopsaround the world. He can be proud of the 2000-strong Alumni Programme which he initiated.The alumni, former students of IBRO'seducational programmes, now represent aflourishing community of young internationalneuroscientists who communicate via theAlumni web site (http://alumni.ibro.info).

New FRSQ-INMHA Aguayo FellowshipAt the 9th Annual Meeting of the Institute ofNeurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction(INMHA) in Toronto, Canada, May 2007, AlainBaudet, Director of le Fonds de la Recherche enSante de Quebec (FRSQ) and INMHA DirectorRemi Quirion announced the establishment of anew FRSQ-INMHA fellowship named after Prof.Aguayo to mark his outstanding contribution toneuroscience in Quebec, Canada and the world.The purpose of this special award is to enable

students from developing countries to spendthree months in a Quebec lab. One award is tobe awarded annually and will be open tostudents from developing countries in one of thefollowing IBRO Regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific,Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

Neuroscience: IBRO’s journal cutsfirst decision date to 30 daysChief Editor Ole Petter Ottersen reports:The physical appearance and quality of publishing services of a journal are intrinsic to its success;even more critical is the speed by which manuscripts are handled. By the end of 2006 the time tofirst decision was 30 days. Neuroscience will strive to decrease that time even further. Neurosciencelaunched in summer 2007 a new category of papers, Neuroscience Forefront Reviews. They are byinvitation only and will be written by leading scientists who have introduced new concepts, models ormethods in neurobiology. We hope that the Forefront Reviews will emerge as reference papers in therespective fields. Neuroscience will maintain its focus on Special Issues as a forum for disseminationof authoritative reviews within specific topics in neurobiology. In spring 2007 the Special Issue was Genome Dynamics and DNA Repair in the CNS (ed. VilhelmBohr; Vol. 145, Issue 4, April 14, 2007), which focuses on research on DNA damage and repair inneurons and glial cells. It highlights an exciting new and multidisciplinary field that aims to elucidatethe mechanism and etiology of neurodegenerative diseases. The papers in this issue provide newinsight in how genome instability and DNA repair may contribute to or prevent neurodegenerativeand other ageing-related dysfunction. Progress in this area will improve our understanding ofneuronal biology and neural dysfunction in healthy and diseased brains. Ultimately, this research mayhelp identify novel approaches to diagnose, treat, and prevent neurological disease.A Special Issue on the auditory system is scheduled for publication in early 2008. Our vision remainsthat Neuroscience should be the first choice for submission of high-quality papers within alldisciplines of brain research.

(Hamdan Arab World Award for a MedicalCentre Education, Hamdan Award for Volunteersin Humanitarian Medical Service, and severalUAE awards for achievements in science), thusrepresenting altogether a remarkable initiative topromote excellence in science, with a focus onthe development and nurturing of science inthe UAE.

The topic for the next Grand HamdanInternational Award 2008 is ‘Stem CellResearch’, of obvious high interest in theneurosciences.

In his vision, HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid AlMaktoum, Founder and Patron of the Award,Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Financeand Industry, wanted the Award to support andenrich biomedical sciences in the UAE, in linewith the directives by HH the President of theUAE, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, andSheikh Hamdan’s brother, HH Sheikh Mohamed

Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice-President of theUAE, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

On the occasion of the Sheikh Hamdan Awardfor Medical Sciences Conference in December2006 and again in January 2007, IBROSecretary-General Marina Bentivoglio met theHamdan Award Secretary-General, Prof. Najib AlKhaja. The occasion of the second meeting wasthe 1st IBRO-UAE School held in Al-Ain(January 24-31, 2007) on Fundamentals on Basic and Clinical Neuroscience in the MiddleEast. Prof. Al Khaja, who is committed todisseminating and publicizing the principles,mission and objectives of the Hamdan Award,has very cordial and close relationships withneuroscientists of the UAE University in Al-Ain.Possible future developments of neuroscience inthe UAE have been discussed with Prof. AlKhaja during these meetings.

Through her conversations with Prof. Al Khaja

and with other colleagues in the UAE, Prof.Bentivoglio was also fully informed about theimportant current strategies regarding theSheikh Hamdan Award for Medical Sciences and in particular the Centre for Arab GenomicStudies (CAGS). Inaugurated in 2003, CAGS is a remarkable initiative with the mission to alleviatehuman suffering caused by genetic diseases inthe Arab World. CAGS has broadened itsdatabase on genetic diseases around the world,becoming the largest of its kind in the Arab World.Through the publication of the SHAMS Journalof Medical Sciences, the Sheikh Hamdan Awardfor Medical Sciences has now engaged in ademanding editorial venture, in which brainsciences will certainly have adequate emphasis.

Marina BentivoglioIBRO Secretary-General

Continued from page 1

NeuroscienceTOCs e-mailed

regularly toIBRO members