Speakers

Jérôme Badaut CNRS UMR 5287, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

        Dr Badaut performed is PhD training in the cerebrovascular research (Dr J. Seylaz’s Lab, Paris, CNRS) and pursued with a post-doctorate on astrocytes (Dr PJ Magistretti’s lab). Areas of active research include investigations on the roles of the astrocyte-endothelium-neuron interactions within the neurovascular unit in pathological processes after stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Dr Badaut set an expertise on the role of the astrocytic aquaporin in edema processes and also in other functions such as brain energy metabolism. His group is now studying longterm phenotypic transformation of the endothelial cells, astrocytes and their interactions after TBI. These changes are evaluated on the functional consequences on the blood-brain barrier properties, blood flow and consequently the behavioral outcomes in relation with neuronal survival and recovery.
        Main project developed from 2010-2014 with new source of funding from NIH:
- Development of juvenile traumatic brain injury (TBI) model with following of the outcome at longterm (up to 6 months)
- Phenotypic transformation in neurovascular unit after juvenile TBI associated with behavior dysfunctions
- siRNA treatment targeting AQP4 to prevent the edema formation and study of the role of the astrocytic network in edema formation and resolution
- Development of new drugs to contribute in neurovascular repair by targeting the JNK and Caveolin molecular pathways.

Marijke De Bock Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

        Marijke De Bock received her Master of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from Ghent University in 2005. In 2006, she received a grant of the “Institute for the promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders” and joined the doctoral program in the Ghent University under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Luc Leybaert. In 2011, she earned the degree of Doctor of Biomedical Sciences with her dissertation entitled “Connexin channels provide a target to manipulate Ca²⁺ dynamics and blood-brain barrier permeability”.
        While pursuing this degree, Dr. De Bock has published her research in international peer-reviewed journals and has presented her work at international conference meetings and workshops. She is currently continuing her research at the department of Basic Medical Sciences-Physiology at the Ghent University. Her major focus lies on the blood-brain barrier and cellular interactions in the neurogliovascular unit. Ongoing projects focus on the contribution of astroglial hemichannels and Ca²⁺ signaling to blood-brain barrier failure and on transcellular transport as a route of blood-brain barrier leakage in inflammatory conditions.

Oliver Langer AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

        Oliver Langer studied pharmacy at the University of Vienna, where he graduated with a Master’s degree in 1995. He then obtained a PhD degree at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden in 2000, where he specialized in the development of radiotracers for the imaging of neurotransmitter systems with positron emission tomography (PET). He spent part of his PhD studies at the CEA, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, in Orsay, France.
        Since 2002 he has been employed at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Medical University of Vienna, where he became Associate Professor (“Privatdozent”) in Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry in 2006. In 2006, he became Senior Scientist at Austrian Institute of Technology in Seibersdorf, which is Austria’s largest non-university research organization.
        In his research, he uses preclinical and clinical PET to address different questions related to drug disposition and pharmacodynamics with a special emphasis on drug transporters.

Irena Loryan Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Translational PKPD, Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, Sweden

        Irena Loryan is a researcher in the Translational PKPD Group at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University (Prof. Margareta Hammarlund-Udenaes) since 2013. She received her M.D. from Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) in 2001. She then obtained her Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology and Biochemistry from YSMU in 2007. In the period from 2005 to 2008 she was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology (YSMU). The period from 2008 to 2010 she worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Division of Pharmacogenetics at the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Karolinska Institutet (Prof. Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg). From 2010 to 2013 she worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the Translational PKPD Group.
        Her current research interest focuses on mechanistic understanding of CNS drug disposition in health and disease with specific focus on pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationship in discrete brain regions.

Vincent Prévot Inserm U837, Jean-Pierre Aubert Research Center, University of Lille, Lille, France

        His postdoctoral work in the laboratory of S. Ojeda at the Oregon National Primate Research Center/Oregon Health & Science University, USA, continued the study of neuronal and glial plasticity in the GnRH system, crucial for the onset of puberty and adult fertility, that he initiated for his doctorate under J.-C. Beauvillain at the University of Lille, France. These studies have led and continue to lead to many seminal contributions and groundbreaking concepts in understanding of the central control of mammalian reproduction.
        Following his postdoctoral training, he returned to France to take up a tenured Associate Researcher position at the Inserm in 2002, establishing an independent research group at Lille. In 2004, he became head of the “Development and Plasticity of the Postnatal Brain” Inserm laboratory at Lille, which currently comprises 22 researchers, clinicians, postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students and technicians. He was officially promoted to the rank of Research Director in 2009.
        His current research focuses on Systems Neuroscience and Neuroendocrinology, in particular the brain circuits that control reproduction and metabolism and the neural pathways through which they respond to peripheral information.

Michal Schwartz Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israël   

        Michal Schwartz is a Professor of Neuroimmunology, holding The Maurice and Ilse Katz Professorial chair in Neuroimmunology, at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot Israel.
        Pr. Schwartz’s work focuses on the role of innate and adaptive immunity in central nervous system (CNS) plasticity in health and disease. She is the world pioneer in demonstrating that circulating immune cells, including blood macrophages and autoimmune T cell network are needed for CNS maintenance and repair. Her new view of the cross-talk between the immune and the nervous system, attributing to the immune system key role in life-long brain plasticity, led her to discover the brain’s choroid plexus as the nexus between the brain and the immune system and to identify it as a new target in aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
        Her publications are highly cited (H factor 85), and include numerous peer-reviewed articles and invited reviews, many of which appear in the most highly ranked journals (Science, Nature medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Rev. Neurology, Nature Rev. Neuroscience, Nature Rev. Immunology, Immunity, EMBO J., Plos Medicine, PNAS). Pr. Schwartz has received a number of prestigious awards for her research. She has been invited as a keynote lecturer at numerous international meetings, and is the elected president of the International Society of Neuroimmunology.

Website: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/neurobiology/labs/schwartz/