8:00 Registration

8:45-9:00 Opening talks

 - Kobi Rosenblum (University of Haifa, Israel)- European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society

- Gal Richter-Levin (University of Haifa, Israel)- Haifa Forum for Brain and Behavior.

9:00-10:15 Session 1: Synaptic and Neuronal Plasticity-from spines to axons.

Chair: Uri Asheri (Tel-Aviv University).

- Ryohei Yasuda (Duke University, USA)- Optical analysis of signal transduction in single dendritic spines.

- Edi Barkai (University of Haifa, Israel)- Learning-induced modulation of intrinsic neuronal excitability: mechanism and functional significance.

- Craig Garner (Stanford University, USA) - Synaptic mechanisms regulating synaptic and  neuronal degeneration

 

 

10:15-10:45 Coffee break

 

10:45-12:25 Session 2: Receptor, channels and signalling molecules in synaptic plasticity and memory

Chairs: Rami Yaka (Hebrew University), Bernard Attali (Tel-Aviv University)

- Menahem Segal (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) - Calcium stores and synaptic plasticity

- Dietmar Kuhl (Hamburg Universitat, Germany)- Learning about Arc/Arg3.1 and long-term memory.

- Itamar Kahn (Technion, Israel)- Neocortical excitation-inhibition balance revealed by optogenetic fMRI                                    

 

- Roberto Malinow (UCSD, USA) - Novel role for NMDA receptors in synaptic plasticity

 

12:25-14:00 Lunch

 

14:00-15:15 Session 3: Amygdala in fear conditioning and stress            

Chairs: Inna Slutsky (Tel-Aviv University), Micah Leshem (University of Haifa)

 - Rafi Lamprecht (University of Haifa, Israel) – The roles of Eph receptors in fear memory formation in amygdala

- Mouna Maroun (University of Haifa, Israel) - Developmental differences in stress modulation of extinction and plasticity

- Wulf Haubensak (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Austria)- Inhibitory gating of fear by amygdala microcircuits

 

15:15-15:45 Coffee break

 

15:45-16:45 Postdocs/Students lectures:

Chairs: Morgan Lucas (University of Haifa), Hadile Ounalla-Saad (University of Haifa)

 

- Hanoch Kaphzan (New York University, USA)- Genetic Reduction of the α1 Subunit of Na/K-ATPase Corrects Multiple Hippocampal Phenotypes in Angelman Syndrome

- Orit David (University of Haifa, Israel)- Dopamine and tyrosine phosphorylation of NR2B (Y1472) in the hippocampus is fundamental for ERK2 activation and novel learning.

- Olivia Engmann (INSERM Fer a Moulin, France)- Schizophrenia is associated with dysregulation of the Cdk5 activator p35 resulting in deficits of synaptic protein expression and cognition.

- Amir Bahar (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, USA)- CA1 and CA3 Neuronal Ensembles Differentially Encode the Commonalities and Differences between Memories

 

 

16:45-17:15 Coffee break

 

17:15- 18:15 Plenary lecture: Tim Bliss (University College London, UK)- LTP: past, present, future.

 

19:00- Dinner

 

Day 2 - Feb 6 - Consolidation

8:00 Registration 

8:30-10:30 Session 4: Viral-mediated gene manipulation in the CNS

Chairs: Efrat Edry (University of Haifa, Israel), Alon Chen (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)

- Efrat Edry (University of Haifa, Israel) – Short presentation of the Center for Gene Manipulation in the Brain

- Valery Grinevich (Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Germany)- How do oxytocin neurons talk to the brain.

- Eithan Galun (Hebrew University, Israel) - Lentivector genotoxicity  

- Jean Michel Heard (Institut Pasteur, France) - Loss and recovery of brain plasticity in lysosomal storage diseases 

 - Alon Chen (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) - Dissecting the central stress response using site-specific genetic manipulations

 

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

 

 11:00-12:15 Session 5: System biology approach to synaptic and memory consolidation

Chairs: Orna Elroy-Stein (Tel-Aviv University)

-Douglas Armstrong (School of Informatics, Scotland) – short presentation of the ERANET SystemBiology

- T. Ian Simpson and J. Douglas Armstrong (School of Informatics, Scotland) - Modelling the synaptic proteome with augmented protein interaction networks

 

- Clive Bramham (University of Bergen, Norway) - The Arc of synaptic memory

- Chris Proud (University of Southampton, UK) - Development and application of novel approaches for studying protein synthesis

 

12:15-14:00 Lunch

 

14:00-15:40 Session 6: DIP project on the role of protein availability and stability in memory and synaptic consolidation

Chairs: Aron Weller (Bar-Ilan University)

- Noam Ziv (Technion, Israel) – Short presentation of DIP, Exchange dynamics and metabolic turnover of synaptic proteins 

- Daniela Dieterich (Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Germany) - Chemistry in living systems - profiling neuronal and astroglial proteome dynamics with a 'click'

 - Michael Kreutz (Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Germany) Synapse-to-nucleus signaling in cell death and plasticity

- Eckart Gundelfinger (Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Germany)- Mechanisms of presynaptic plasticity.

 

15:40-16:10 Coffee break

 

16:10-17:50 Session 7: Protein synthesis and memory consolidation in health and disease

 Chairs: Masha Niv (Hebrew University), David Manor (University of Haifa)

- Nahum Sonnenberg (McGill University, Canada) - Translational control of learning and memory

- Kobi Rosenblum (University of Haifa, Israel) - Enhancing Memory Consolidation Via the Translation Machinery - Eric Klann (NYU, USA) - Dysregulated Translational Control in Brain Disorders

- Avi Karni (University of Haifa, Israel)- Cellular events reflected in human behavior – the case of procedural memory consolidation in the adult motor cortex

 

17:50-18:30 Coffee Break

 

18:30-19:30 Plenary lecture: Alcino Silva (UCLA, USA) - Molecular and cellular mechanisms of memory allocation.

 

19:30-22:00 Posters, wine and cheese

 

Day 3 - Feb 7– CNS in health and disease

 

8:00 - Registration

9:00-10:40 Session 8:  Affective neuroscience  

Chair:   Mathias Schmidt (Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Germany)                          

- Gal Richter-Levin (University of Haifa, Israel)- Emotional controllability and stress resilience.

- Oliver Stork (Otto-von-Guericke Universität, Germany)- Molecular changes of GABA systems in mouse models of traumatic stress induced disorder

- Jaanus Harro (University of Tartu, Estonia)- How do vulnerability and adverse life events interact to bring about depression.

- Mathias Schmidt (Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Germany)- Unraveling the Molecular and Genetic Mechanisms of Individual Stress Vulnerability

 

10:40-11:10 Coffee break

 

11:10-12:25 Session 9: Mechanisms of memory in health and disease

Chair: Roni Paz (Weizmann Institute of Science)

- Riccardo Brambilla (San Raffaele Foundation and University, Italy) - Mechanisms of mental retardation associated to abnormal Ras-ERK signaling

- Simone Shamay Tsoory (University of Haifa, Israel)- Projecting memories: the role of the hippocampus in emotional mentalizing

- Genela Morris (University of Haifa, Israel )- Reward-dependent shifts in representation in the hippocampus

 

12:25-14:00 Lunch

 

14:00-15:15 Session 10: Memory enhancement and erasure

Chair: Gal Yadid (Bar-Ilan University)

- Cristina Alberini (NYU, USA) - Mechanisms for memory enhancement.     

- Angel Barco (Instituto de Neurociencias (UMH-CSIC), Spain)- Epigenetic regulation of neuronal plasticity: The CREB binding protein.                                                            

- Yadin Dudai (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) - Tinkering with the storage and expression of long-term memory in cortex

 

15:15-15:45 Coffee break

 

Session 11: 15:45-17:25 Memory modulation and metaplasticity

Chair: Noam Meiri (Hebrew Univesity)

- Shlomo Wagner (University of Haifa, Israel) - Synchronized rhythmic neuronal activity in the olfactory bulb and medial amygdala encodes the novelty value of a stimulus during social recognition                 

- Inna Gaisler-Salomon (University of Haifa, Israel)- Synaptic Underpinnings of Altered Hippocampal Function in Glutaminase Deficient Mice: Relevance to schizophrenia

- Irit Akirav (University of Haifa, Israel)- Cannabinoids modulation of traumatic memory 

- Cliff Abraham (University of Otago, New Zealand)- BCM-like metaplasticity in the hippocampus.

 

17:25-18:00 Coffee break

 

18:00-19:00 What is molecular and cellular cognition and what is not?