2026/27 Neuroscience Research Colloquium Schedule

FALL 2026

SEPTEMBER 11

  • Host:  Dr. Jeff Dong
  • Speaker: Dr. John Lukens, University of Virginia
  • Title: Role of Innate Immune Dysfunction in Neurodegenerative Disease

This talk will introduce emerging roles for microglia and discrete innate immune signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, tauopathies, and brain injury.

SEPTEMBER 18

  • Host:  Dr. Manu Madhav
  • Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Pillow, Princeton University
  • Title: Disentangling the Roles of Distinct Cell Classes with Cell-Type Dynamical Systems

A large body of recent work has focused on the problem of inferring neural population dynamics from recordings of neural activity. However, these models typically ignore the fact that the brain contains multiple cell types, which limits their ability to predict the effects of cell-specific perturbations, or to capture the functional roles of distinct cell classes. To overcome these limitations, we introduce the “cell-type dynamical systems” (CTDS) model, which extends latent linear dynamical systems to contain distinct latent variables for each cell class. In this talk, I will describe the CTDS model and show that it can account for the effects of optogenetic perturbations on behavior — even when fit to unperturbed recordings of neural activity.  Specifically, I will discuss a multi-region CTDS model fit to simultaneous recordings from rat frontal orienting fields (FOF) and anterior dorsal striatum (ADS) during an auditory decision-making task. Although fit only to unperturbed neural activity, the model predicts the time-dependent effects of different optogenetic perturbations on behavior, specifically in FOF, ADS, and FOF-to-ADS axon terminals. I will close by discussing future directions and other applications for biologically-constrained dynamical models of neural activity and behavior.

SEPTEMBER 25

  • Host:  Dr. Annie Ciernia
  • Speaker: Dr. Jessica Bolton, Georgia State University
  • Title:  Programming vulnerability: The role of microglia in sculpting stress circuits after early-life adversity.

Dr. Bolton will discuss how early-life adversity impacts brain development in the context of psychiatric disorders, with a focus on the role of microglia in the synaptic rewiring of stress-sensitive neurons after early-life adversity. I will also describe our work on sex-dependent differences in microglia and synaptic development, as well as the molecular mechanisms by which early-life adversity alters microglia.

OCTOBER 2 

  • Host: Dr. Dena Shahriai
  • Speaker: Dr. Deblina Sarker, MIT
  • Title:  Circulatronics: Surgery-Free Neural Implants for Focal Brain Stimulation

Bioelectronic implants for brain stimulation provide critical tools for treating brain diseases as well as investigating fundamental biology but require invasive surgery. In this talk I will discuss a new class of implants which we named Circulatronics: wherein intravenously introduced bioelectronic devices travel through the body’s global internal roadways i.e., the circulatory system, and autonomously implant (without any external guidance) in the target brain region, circumventing the need for any surgery. I will present how this enables targeted focal neuromodulation of deep brain regions in rodents. To achieve this, we built subcellular-sized wireless energy harvesting electronics with high power conversion efficiency and integrated them with cells to create unique cell-electronics hybrids. Thus, we fused electronic functionality with the biological transport and targeting capabilities of living cells. This technology can form the foundation for autonomously implanting bioelectronics with unprecedented access to the human body without surgery, opening new avenues for healthcare and research.

OCTOBER 5 – OFF-CYCLE TALK – Please note this talk will take place in DMCBH meeting rooms 3402 A, B & C at 11:00am

  • Host: Dr. Lynn Raymond
  • Speaker: Dr. Yves de Koninck, University of Laval
  • Title:  Chloride dysregulation as a new therapeutic target: from chronic pain to neurodegenerative diseases

I will present work we have pursued to identify key mechanisms explaining aberrant pain processing by the nervous system as well as co-morbidities that develop from sustained pain hypersensitivity. This includes the discovery of impaired inhibition resulting from chloride dysregulation in neuropathic pain conditions, leading to crosstalk between sensory channels, a probable substrate of abnormal touch-evoked pain (allodynia), and ectopic activity, possibly underlying spontaneous pain. I will illustrate how such discovery opens new perspectives to understand pathological pain and how it affects our thinking for therapeutic design. Disrupted chloride homeostasis is now emerging as a common pathway to several brain disorders, including transition to addiction, and maladaptive responses to opioid treatment. I will conclude on recent evidence that chloride dysregulation can also be a key target for prevention, and perhaps reversal of neurodegenerative disorders, in particular ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.

OCTOBER 19 – PLEASE NOTE THIS NRC TALK IS TAKING PLACE ON MONDAY OCTOBER 19

  • Host: Dr. Tim Murphy
  • Speaker: Dr. Yulong Li, Peking University
  • Title:  Quantitative imaging of neuromodulator dynamics in vivo by constructing new GRAB sensors.

The human brain comprises billions of neurons that communicate primarily through chemical synapses by releasing diverse neuromodulators, which regulate perception, movement, learning, and memory. Dissecting the neural mechanisms in both physiology and disease requires precise in vivo monitoring of neuromodulator dynamics. In the past few years, we and others have developed a series of GPCR-activation‒based (GRAB) sensors that enable high-resolution monitoring of extracellular neuromodulator dynamics in behaving animals. Here, I will present our latest GRAB sensors featuring large fluorescence lifetime changes, which allow precise quantification of both phasic and tonic neuromodulator release. With these GRAB sensors, we have monitored the dynamics of neuromodulators in mice in a wide range of physiological processes (reward, motion, etc.) and pathological conditions (Parkinson’s disease, etc.).

OCTOBER 23

  • Host: Jacqueline Palik
  • Speaker: Dr. Michael Strong, Western University
  • Title: TBD

 

OCTOBER 30

  • Host: Daniel Ramandi
  • Speaker: Dr. Adrien Peyrache, McGill University
  • Title: Orienting memory during wake and sleep

The head-direction (HD) circuit, an upstream provider of orientation signals for navigation, maintains coherent internal orientation memory that stays stable within each environment for weeks. During non-REM sleep, when hippocampal trajectories are replayed for memory formation, HD cells remain coordinated and directly influence this hippocampal replay. This suggests the HD system conveys a “virtual” orientation signal to support memory replay, with the thalamus appearing to play a crucial role in generating it. Overall, the HD system supplies the hippocampus and associated structures with a coherent, possibly lifelong-stable signal maintained across brain states to support spatial navigation and memory formation.

NOVEMBER 6

  • Host: Dr. Kota Mizumoto
  • Speaker: Dr. Emily Bayer, New York University
  • Title: TBD

 

NOVEMBER 27

  • Host: Dr. Shernaz Bamji
  • Speaker: Dr. Cagla Eroglu, Duke University
  • Title: TBD

 

DECEMBER 4

  • Host: Dr. Adele Diamond
  • Speaker: Dr. Yi-Yuan Tang, Arizona State University
  • Title: TBD

TERM 2

(WINTER 2027)

JANUARY 15

  • Host: Dr. Christian Schuetz
  • Speaker:  Dr. James MacKillop, McMaster University
  • Title:  TBD

JANUARY 22

  • Host:  Dr. Jason Snyder
  • Speaker: Dr. Shannon Kolind, UBC
  • Title:  MRI Field Trips: Exploring Myelin and the Brain from 3T to 0.064T

JANUARY 29

  • Host: Dr. Mark Cembrowski
  • Speaker: Dr. Ed Lein, Allen Institute, Seattle
  • Title:  TBD

FEBRUARY 5

  • Host: TBD
  • Speaker: TBD
  • Title: TBD

FEBRUARY 12

  • Host: Lily Aleksandrova
  • Speaker: Dr. David E. Olson, University of California, Davis
  • Title:  TBD

FEBRUARY 19

  • Host: Dr. Doug Altshuler
  • Speaker:  Dr. Todd Roberts, UT Southwestern
  • Title:  TBD

FEBRUARY 26

  • Host: Louis-Philippe Bernier
  • Speaker:  Dr. Ravi Rungta, University of Montreal
  • Title:  TBD

MARCH 5

  • Host: Dr. Shernaz Bamji
  • Speaker: Dr. Tuan Trang, University of Calgary
  • Title:  TBD

MARCH 12

  • Host: TBD
  • Speaker: TBD
  • Title:  TBD

MARCH 19

  • Host: Dr. Sweta Agrawal
  • Speaker: Dr. Craig Montell, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Title:  TBD

APRIL 2

  • Host: Dr. Erik Pioro
  • Speaker: Dr. Claudio Cuello, McGill University
  • Title:  TBD

APRIL 9

  • Host: Dr. Dan Goldowitz
  • Speaker: Dr. Tomasz Nowakowski, University of California, San Francisco
  • Title:  TBD

APRIL 16 

  • Host: Andrew Thompson
  • Speaker: Dr. Ethan Hughes, University of Colorado
  • Title:  TBD

APRIL 23 

  • Host: Dr. Milan Valyear
  • Speaker: Dr. Vijay Namboodiri, University of California, San Francisco
  • Title:  TBD

APRIL 30

  • Host: Dr. Annie Ciernia
  • Speaker: Dr. Shelly Buffington, Baylor College of Medicine
  • Title:  TBD

MAY 7

  • Host: Dr. Khaled Abdelrahman
  • Speaker: Dr. Michael Salter, SickKids Research Institute
  • Title:  TBD

MAY 14

  • Host: Isabella DiBerardino
  • Speaker: Dr. Nicolas Rouleau, Wilfred Laurier University
  • Title:  TBD

MAY 28

  • Host: Dr. Callista Yee
  • Speaker: Dr. Liqun Luo, Stanford University
  • Title:  TBD

JUNE 4

  • Host: Dr. Brett Hilton
  • Speaker: Dr. Greg Duncan, University of Minnesota
  • Title:  TBD