Summer School - Neural Circuit Development and Plasticity, 15 - 19 July 2019, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Neural Circuit Development and Plasticity

Our summerschool is aimed at advanced master students and starting PhD students with the goal to teach them on recent advances in neural circuit development and plasticity from an interdisciplinary perspective. This will be achieved in three ways: first, lectures on basic neurobiological principles by the organizers, second, a series of lectures by renowned international speakers and third, participants work on assignments that require extensive discussion between lecturers, organizers and participants. Our goal is to inspire young scientist at an early stage of their career by providing them with new insights, provocative thoughts and a networks of peers.

The goal of this course is to teach and train master students and PhD students in recent advances in neural circuit development and plasticity from an interdisciplinary perspective. This will be achieved in three ways: first a series of lectures covering the basic principles of axonal and synaptic development and plasticity, second, by a series of lectures by renowned international speakers to provide knowledge to the participants and third, participants work on assignments that require extensive discussion between the lecturers, staff and participants. The topics will range from early developmental events required for neural circuit development to aspects of synaptic plasticity. More specifically, among others the following topics will be addressed: axonal growth and guidance, synapse formation, synaptic transmission, neural plasticity, intracellular trafficking and transport, regeneration and degenerative disease. Participants of this summer school will be informed on the latest developments in the field of neural circuit development and plasticity (lectures), but will also learn how experienced experts in the field address problems, formulate research questions and design experiments (workshop). Lectures will include basic research as well as (pre)clinical examples. The topics will be addressed from different angles (molecular, cellular and systems), levels (from single neurons to the level of neuronal networks in vivo) and approaches (imaging, biochemistry, mouse genetics, electrophysiology).

Course organizers
Dr. Corette Wierenga – Utrecht University
Prof. Jeroen Pasterkamp – UMC Utrecht
Dr. Lukas Kapitein – Utrecht University
Dr. Harold MacGillavry – Utrecht University

Scholarships available

Course director

Dr. Corette Wierenga

Target audience

We would like to invite dvanced master students and starting PhD students who have some experience with doing neuroscience research

IMPORTANT: This is NOT an introductory course. 
Participants are assumed to have a basic neuroscience and cell biology knowledge, comparable to these books:
"Principles of Neural Science" by Kandel, Schwartz, Jessell
"Neuroscience" by Purves et al.
"Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain" by Bear, Connors, Paradiso
"Molecular Biology of the Cell" by Alberts et al.

Course aim

The goal of this summer school is to teach and train students in recent advances in neural circuit development and plasticity from an interdisciplinary perspective and in an informal, interactive setting. Insight will be provided in recent experimental advances, state-of-the-art techniques and significance for disease.

Study load

Tentative schedule summerschool:
Morning - 3 lectures (3 x 1 hour)
Afternoon: - workshops given by the morning speakers
Five days in total, about 8 hours a day.

Costs

Housing through Utrecht Summer School

Scholarships

FENS and IBRO-PERC provide 4 stipends of 750 EUR for master and/or PhD students interested in attending this course. This call opens at January 3 and closes at April 17.

Through these stipends FENS and IBRO-PERC aim to encourage and promote international experience of students; hence, students that are currently residing or studying in the Netherlands are not eligible for a FENS and IBRO-PERC stipend for this course.

For this course you are required to upload the following documents when applying:

•  C.V.

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.