At the conference "Translational Neuroscience Autumn School 2019", senior experts and young researchers from various fields of neuroscience presented their latest research results. Students of the Elite Graduate Program “Translational Neuroscience” and of other study programs as well as doctoral students were invited to expand their knowledge and familiarize themselves with the challenges in neurosciences.
The focus of the two-day conference „Translational Neuroscientific Autumn School 2019" was on novel molecular approaches that contribute to the understanding of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. Senior experts and young researchers, and alumni students of the Elite Graduate Program „Translational Neuroscience" presented and discussed their research findings. The necessity of a timely translation of basic research into clinical practice has been emphasized.
As the first speaker, Prof. Dr. Rudolf Martini, Department of Neurology of the University Hospital in Würzburg and lecturer of the Elite Graduate Program Translational Neuroscience, opened the Autumn School with his talk. The research results of his group offer prospects for new pharmacological approaches that influence the course of the neurological Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease by reducing inflammation.
During the Autumn School, around sixty young researchers, students and doctoral students interested in neuroscience followed the talks of thirteen speakers targeting neuroinflammation, signalling in cognition, social neurobiology, and neurobiology of mental disorders. After each lecture and during the breaks, the participants actively took the opportunity to exchange their thoughts with the lecturers and to discuss their questions.
The invited speaker Dr. Olga Babaev reported in her scientific talk on "Synaptic Mechanisms of Fear". During the lunch session “Career Paths in Neuroscience”, she additionally spoke with participants who wanted to find out more about career opportunities outside of university in industry. The neuroscientist Babaev knows both options well: her career path started at the Department of Molecular Neurobiology at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, and now continues in the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim in Ulm.
During and after the event, a lot of positive feedback on the wide range of topics of this scientific event reached the organizers and also multiple requests to repeat this lively scientific conference in 2020. The committed students of the Elite Graduate Program Translational Neuroscience working together in the organizational team largely contributed to the success of the Autumn School. The students defined the topics in advance, invited speakers and ensured a smooth run of the event.
