IBRO Newsletter 2019

In This Issue: Messages from leadership President • Secretary General • Treasurer • Incoming leadership 
World Congresses | Journals | Regional Committees | Young IBRO | IBRO-Kemali Foundation | Return Home Fellows | Open Grants | Community News

Message from the President

Dear IBRO community,

As my 6-year tenure as IBRO President comes to an end, I will remember this period as one of the most enriching experiences of my career. Also serving previously as IBRO Secretary General, it has been a genuine pleasure to support IBRO’s growth and see it fulfill its mission and objectives by reinforcing long-term activities and establishing new ones to fill crucial gaps in awareness, capacity building and training. Our international and regional training and education programs have experienced increased success and popularity. A neuroethics component has been implemented into all IBRO schools by our neuroethics task force. Advanced training centers in Africa and Asia now complement our partnership efforts with the Cajal Programme in Europe.

Young IBRO was formed in 2018 to give a global voice to early career researchers and to address their needs. We have revitalized our relationship with UNESCO through Science of Learning fellowships with its International Bureau of Education and the promotion of basic scientific research with its International Basic Sciences Programme. We have committed our support to the International Brain Initiative, the European Brain Council, the International Brain Bee, the ALBA Network, the Global Engagement Initiative and established new grants for Brain Awareness Week with the Dana Foundation. We have also partnered with FENS to develop the Global Brain Museum online resource to preserve brain archives, history and heritage worldwide.

In summary, IBRO has become now more then ever a global engine for neuroscience activities worldwide in collaboration with other national and international institutions. Finally, it was wonderful to support and participate in the 10th IBRO World Congress in Daegu, South Korea, this year. Thanks to the tireless commitment of the local organizing committee and our host societies, the Korea Brain Research Institute and the Korean Society for Brain and Neuroscience, it was the most successful Congress yet. I now eagerly anticipate the next one taking place in 2023 in Granada, Spain, to be hosted by the Spanish Neuroscience Society. Although much has been accomplished, there are still many more opportunities for action on the horizon and I look forward to seeing how IBRO develops them. I would like to end by expressing my deepest appreciation for IBRO’s volunteer leadership, the Editors-in-Chief of our journals Neuroscience and IBRO Reports whose work funds all of our activities, our administrative staff in Paris and the worldwide IBRO community whom I hope will continue to benefit from and promote our work far into the future.

Pierre Magistretti
IBRO President

Message from the Secretary General 

IBRO has continued to make great progress in 2019. The IBRO World Congress was held in Daegu, South Korea, in September with over 4000 attendees. The next IBRO World Congress will be held in Granada, Spain in 2023. This year we welcomed the International Regulatory Peptide Society and the Malian Society of Neuroscience, into IBRO.  We have established two new permanent training centers in Asia, one at the Institute of Neurosciences (ION), in Shanghai, China, and a second at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (RIKEN CBS) in Saitama, Japan, adding to the Cajal Program in Europe and the African Centers. IBRO also supported young scientists with return home grants, various exchange programs, and travel awards. In addition to the existing Global Engagement Grants, we initiated grants specific to Brain Awareness Week activities with support from the Dana Foundation.

Keiji Tanaka
IBRO Secretary General

Message from the Treasurer

It was a pleasure to have served as IBRO Treasurer for the last three years and to secure the many important programs in neuroscience which IBRO supports in all parts of the world. One of the guidelines for the Treasurer was to support IBRO’s Regional Committees in the best way, and also to give support to young neuroscientists with travel grants and stipends as much as is possible by IBRO’s budget. The Treasurer always had an “open ear” for well justified additional requests.

In addition, the publishing business is undergoing profound and difficult-to-anticipate changes but, in any case, they will eventually lead to a drop in revenues and, thus, there is an increasing need for IBRO’s investment to generate some income. Therefore, a Finance Committee was established whose task is to advise IBRO on the best policy for its investment. The Treasurer was also involved in implementing some of the suggestions of the consultant firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers which evaluated IBRO’s administration and general business principles. A task to make IBRO more transparent in its decisions and business principles admittedly was only partially achieved. In any case, the Treasurer is proud to say that, in general, IBRO’s finances are solid and IBRO is “in good shape.” I wish the incoming Treasurer, Jerome Sanes, all the best for his task and I am sure that all treasurers work in the best interest of IBRO.

Hans-Joachim Pflüger
IBRO Treasurer

Message from the Incoming Leadership

We thank the IBRO Governing Council in electing us as the incoming officers. We look forward to working with the members of the Executive Committee and the Governing Council and others in our invaluable global community, including IBRO’s regional committees, other supporting committees, grant awardees, school and event organizers, alumni, professional societies, and academic and private partners in advancing IBRO’s mission to enhance neuroscience knowledge, resources, outreach and training worldwide.

We also thank the outgoing President, Pierre Magistretti, for his outstanding service to IBRO, first as Secretary General and now as President. We also thank Hans-Joachim Pflüger for his stewardship of IBRO’s financial resources in his role as Treasurer. We look forward to working with Keiji Tanaka, Secretary General, as he enters his last year of service.

In the New Year, the Leadership Team will begin engaging our Community in a conversation to develop ideas and strategies taking IBRO into the next decade, seeking your input as to IBRO’s strengths and focusing attention on areas we can improve. Our goal is to learn how we can continue to advance IBRO’s mission in the most effective, efficient and productive manner. 

Tracy L. Bale, President-elect
Sung-Jin Jeong, Secretary General-elect
Jerome N. Sanes, Treasurer-elect

The 11th IBRO World Congress will be hosted by the Spanish Neuroscience Society (SENC, Sociedad Española de Neurociencia) at the Granada Exhibition and Conference Centre (Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos de Granada) in 2023. Updates will be shared on the IBRO website and social media so stay tuned for more details.

Going forward, we want to reinforce openness in peer-review, a pillar of the system representing a strictly required quality control. For this reason, we plan to make public the referees’ comments and all the correspondence maintained during the editorial process along with all papers published, continuing to keep the referees’ names confidential, unless otherwise expressed by the reviewers. We are also changing our editorial policy of not accepting supplementary material and from 2020 will allow inclusion of supplementary figures and tables strictly needed to enrich the scientific content of the manuscript. We also have decided to remove the thematic sections in which the journal was divided, acknowledging that neuroscience research often crosses barriers between sub-disciplines.  We expect authors and readers of the IBRO journal will enjoy these changes and continue submitting their best research to Neuroscience.

Juan Lerma, Editor-in-Chief
Jerome Sanes, Associate Editor-in-Chief

Ying Shing (Y.S.) Chan
Editor-in-Chief

With seven workshops, one school, four research bursaries and the 14th Society of Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA) Biennial Conference, ARC has had another active and successful year in 2019.

We are especially pleased with the SONA Conference in Lagos, Nigeria, which set the record for the highest attendance and participation – more than 300 people came to discuss the latest developments in African neuroscience. We’ve had numerous successful partnerships, we jointly organized the Regional Teaching Course with the European Academy of Neurology and the World Federation of Neurology. We also partnered with the International League Against Epilepsy for the IBRO/ILAE Symposium on Epilepsy and Parasitic Diseases. ARC intends to encourage and maintain efforts and partnerships such as these as long as possible.

Pierre Luabeya
ARC Chair

2019 was a busy year for APRC, especially since the IBRO World Congress (IBRO 2019) was being held in the region. Activities included the regular annual grant programs and three special grants. We’ve held two APRC Schools in India, one Advanced School in Malaysia and seven Associate Schools in the APRC Region. We supported six young PI’s with the Lecturer Exchange Program and supported four researchers with Exchange Fellowships. Seven young researcher were awarded Travel and Short Stay Grants and the Diversity Promotion Program provided funding for on-site childcare for the Annual Meetings of the Japanese Neuroscience Society (Neuro 2019) and the Australasian Neuroscience Society (ANS 2019). And last but not least, there were three special grants this year. We enabled 45 students to spend 5 days in South Korean labs before attending IBRO2019 with the Young Investigator Training Program (YITP). We supported seven Federation of Asian-Oceanian Neuroscience Societies (FAONS), 1 mini-symposium and 12 China/Japan/Korea Consortium (CJK) symposia at IBRO2019, and funded a plenary lecturer at the biennial meeting of the Chinese Neuroscience Society.

Bong-Kiun Kaang
APRC Chair

LARC members have been very active this year. In 2019, LARC activities covered regular annual grant programs and a few new items: Two Special grants for Neuroscience Societies; 3 LARC/FALAN Symposia; 7 LARC Schools; 5 exchanges supported by the Interregional Laboratory Exchange Program (PROLAB); the Latin American Training Program, a jointly funded activity with SfN and the Grass Foundation, supported the annual Fellows Course (for 15 select students); 13 short courses, workshops and symposia; 12 short stays within the region; 15 travel grants within the region; 3 short stays outside the region; regional diversity was supported by a new project between LARC and ECLAC (the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) to gather information about gender balance among Latin American neuroscientists; and another new program called Seeding Neuroscience was established to help underrepresented countries of the region to promote research in the field of Neuroscience and integrate them into the various actions promoted by IBRO-LARC. The first course under this program will be held in January 2020 at the Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT-AIP), Panama City.

Lastly, the 3rd FALAN Congress will take place from 14-17 September 2020 in Belém, Brazil. Invited speakers include Peter Hegemann (Humboldt University of Berlin), Carmen Sandi (FENS President) and Edvard Moser (2014 Medicine and Physiology Nobel Prize winner). Everyone is encouraged to attend!

Cecilia Bouzat
LARC Chair

The IBRO-MENA Sub-regional Committee further developed its activities in 2019 with a newly elected leadership of Dr. Firas Kobeissy (IBRO-MENA Chair), Drs. Mohammad Salamah and Samia BenSassi (Co-Chairs) and Dr. Karem Al Zoubi (member). The annual International IBRO-MENA Conference took place at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, between 4-8 October 2019. IBRO President Pierre Magistretti participated in giving a keynote lecture. The other keynote lecturer was Huda Akil from the University of Michigan and Samia Khoury from Lebanon. Alongside the conference, there was an Advanced Neuroscience School on Trauma, Stress, and Neurodegeneration: Molecular, Cellular & Behavioral Perspectives. It included 20-25 graduate students representing the MENA region. There have also been IBRO-MENA Exchange Fellowships awarded this year to three young researchers: Hajar Benhammed (Morocco), Fatima Kacimi (Morocco) and Mai Anwar (Egypt). In 2020, the annual conference will take place at the American University of Cairo, Egypt, in March, a mini symposium on Trauma and Neurophysiological Changes will be held at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, in June, and a school on Neurogenetics will be held in Tunisia in October. The Exchange Fellowships will also be awarded to support young scientists who want to spend 2-3 months in a host laboratory in the MENA region and Europe in order to conduct specific experiments or learn and transfer technical expertise to their home countries.

Firas Kobeissy
MENA Sub-regional Committee Chair

It was a very productive year for the Pan-European Regional Committee (PERC) members. Regular programs were funded and close collaborative work with FENS also continued, including the allocation of 32,500 Euros for travel grants to young scientists to attend the FENS Regional Meeting (FRM) in Belgrade, Serbia, this year. Other activities included the following: 8 InEurope Short Stay Grants; Support for 17 workshops, meetings and symposia; 3 diversity stipends; FENS/PERC slots in national schools/courses (5 schools/4 slots); 10 FENS/PERC Brain Conference stipends; and support for the Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENNS) and the European Brain Council.

On a personal note, I am ending my 2-term tenure as PERC member and Committee Chair at the end of the year, and would like to thank all of the other members for their commitment and belief in our regional efforts. It was a great pleasure working with you, as well as IBRO leadership and staff. Lastly, I am happy to inform everyone that I leave PERC in good hands, under the chairmanship of current PERC member, Fabio Blandini, starting in January.

Robert Gabriel
PERC Chair

Among several new programs started last year, USCRC initiated a program at the University of British Columbia (Canada) to promote neuroscience education to students from indigenous communities. These include summer internships for indigenous undergraduates to participate in research programs. By exposing students to hands-on research, these internships provide basic lab skills, training in critical thinking, discussions of career opportunities in science and more. We also targeted younger students through community outreach, including a workshop on brain science for 8-12-year-old indigenous students conducted by indigenous undergraduates in the internship program. This initiative has been received enthusiastically.

Samuel David, USCRC Chair
Anne Etgen, USCRC Co-Chair

In 2019, the recently established Young IBRO committee (top left photo) supported the following new initiatives: Young IBRO Regions Connecting Awards, Young IBRO Hackathon and Open Neuroscience Initiative and the Young IBRO–ALBA Network Partnership. The aim of the Young IBRO Regions Connecting Award is to foster international scientific collaboration and development of human resources across IBRO regions and between emerging research groups. The Young IBRO Hackathon and Open Neuroscience initiative was established to provide an open resource repository on the IBRO website and support operating expenses to run an equipment assembly workshop.

An IBRO lab course and an IBRO Maker’s School were organized as part of the CAN/ACN-IBRO Neuroscience School which was organized by Young IBRO member, Arjun Krishnaswamy. Finally, the recently established ALBA Network (bottom left photo) shares objectives that correspond with Young IBRO’s interest in supporting diversity and equality in brain research. Therefore, Young IBRO’s partnership with the ALBA Network supported several initiatives, mainly for the development of mentoring and career development training for young PIs, including networking at major neuroscience meetings. One of them was a panel entitled “Diversity: Region-specific challenges and solutions” that took place at the 10th IBRO World Congress and was organized by Young IBRO Committee Chair and ALBA Network Steering Committee member, Zeljka Krsnik. Speakers represented 5 different IBRO regions.

Zeljka Krsnik
Young IBRO Chair

One other feature overseen by the Foundation is the IBRO-Kemali apartment in Naples. It is a perfect location for scholars who would like to spend time (up to 4 weeks) writing reviews, monographs or other publications, and for small groups (up to 25 people) who would like to organize workshops, receptions, networking/mentoring events, brainstorming sessions or other committee/board meetings. Even neuro/brain artists-in-residence could be considered as well. It will be advertised as a kind of neurothought incubator, or a free multi-use out-of-the-lab space dedicated to supporting the generation of creative ideas, work and activities for researchers interested in the brain and central nervous system.

IBRO Annual Grants Calendar: https://ibro.org/ibro-grants-calendar/

Application Deadlines approaching: http://ibro.org/open-grants/

General Information about all grants: https://ibro.org/grants/ 

Community News from Members & Partners 

The 14th Annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting | May 31 – June 3, 2020 |Montreal, Canada.

Organised yearly by the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, the meeting features cutting edge research in all areas of neuroscience. It is an excellent networking opportunity that includes social events and sessions about career development, funding and science advocacy that allow attendees to share the issues that matter to them, and to build relationships with the Canadian neuroscience community.

https://can-acn.org/meeting-2020/

The BNA’s high-profile programme, ‘Credibility in Neuroscience’ has just officially launched its Manifesto, at London’s Palace of Westminster, outlining our vision and commitments to creating an exciting and sustainable future for 21st century neuroscience.

This is a manifesto built for action, to ensure the credibility of research – that it is reproducible, replicable, and reliable. Our aim is to support everyone to make changes, embrace new practices, and be InCredible. Find out more at: bnacredibility.org.uk

The Danish Society for Neuroscience – Spring meeting 2020

Brain states: transformation of neural circuit dynamics and functions

March 19 – 20, 2020

The Ceremonial Hall (Festsalen), University of Copenhagen

Including the Announcement of The Brain Winners 2020

Thursday 19. March 15:00

Registration is free, but required

Speakers

Organizers:
Professor Hajime Hirase
Associate Professor Nicolas Caesar Petersen

√ Mini conference FENS Forum of Neuroscience Glasgow 2020–“Behavioural neuroscience for the next decade: Why behaviour matters to brain science”
The European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS), European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS), European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (EMCCS) and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) invite you to our jointly organised mini conference. A variety of topics will be covered, focusing on the role of behaviour in Neuroscience and the translatability of animal models to human traits and psychiatric disorders.

Registration is open!
Click here to visit the website.

√ Early calendar marking! The next EBBS meeting in 2021 will take place in Lausanne on September 6th to 9th, 2021. Hope to see you there!

The first AD Detect and Prevent newsletter will soon go out. Subscribe now through the following form: https://www.addp.eu/newsletter/

AD Detect and Prevent is pursuing the ambitious aim of developing a digital tool to improve the early detection of subtle cognitive signs associated with AD prior to the possible onset of AD dementia. The involved partners are Brain+, University of Oxford, Aarhus University, University of Nottingham, Alzheimer Europe and the European Brain Council.

We are delighted to inform you that the Sociedade Brasileira de Neurociências e Comportamento (SBNeC) will host FALAN2020 in the city of Belém do Pará, in the Amazon. The aim of the Congress is to promote neuroscience in the region and at the same time provide the Latin-American neuroscience community with an environment where the search and sharing of ideas and techniques will pave the way for more interaction between Latin-American scientists.

The meetings of the Sociedad Chilena de Neurociencias, the Sociedad de Neurociencias del Uruguay and the Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias will be held in conjunction with FALAN2020.

We are also very proud of our new video showing why INCF is so important and why you should be a part of our neuroinformagical community: youtube.com/INCForg

The conference entitled “New Perspectives of Neuroscience” will gather PhD students to allow them to present their research on Neuroscience as oral communications or posters. The conference, 13 March 2020, held at the University of Naples, is organized by the Division of Pharmacology of the Department of Neuroscience of the Federico II University under the auspices of the Italian Society of Neuroscience. The official language will be English.

In 2020, the Serbian Neuroscience Society will make early preparations for the National Meeting in 2021, while the Student Section continues with the organization of the Brain Awareness Week. The next years’ BAW topic is: emotions. For neuroscience enthusiasts, we are preparing an interactive exhibition, workshops and popular lectures.

Propose a Session or Event for SfN’s 50th Annual Meeting

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is starting to plan for Neuroscience 2020, and we want your ideas for the program!

Submit a proposal for Symposia, Professional Development Workshops, Socials and more by Tuesday, January 7.

The Society for Neuroscience of Peru (SONEP) is a non-profit society founded in 2003 as interdisciplinary support in the initiation, development and advancement of neuroscience in Peru.
SONEP is made up of professionals from various disciplines who study the nervous system and behavior from molecular terms to its external manifestation through behavior. It covers basic and clinical researchers from various research and teaching centers in Peru.

Latin American Societies and Institutions come together to unravel the mysteries of the Brain

The Uruguayan Society for Neuroscience organized a meeting in Montevideo, which was attended by neuroscientist members and representatives of several Latin American societies and institutions studying the brain. The participants prepared a Declaration of Intent to create the Latin American Brain Initiative and accelerate progress in the understanding of the mysteries of the brain. The Montevideo Declaration can be read at: https://sociedadneurocienciasuy.com

Image courtesy of Greg Dunn