IBRONEWS

Vo

lu

me

3

9

20

11

w w w . i b r o . i n f o

© IBRO International Brain Research Organization

In this issue:Funding 2

Career Development 3

Outreach Activities 4-5

News from the Regions 6-7

IBRO’S New Logo 8

Elsevier, The Boulevard, Langford Lane,Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK

1960IBRO Council establishedon July 10, 1960

1961IBRO officially foundedon February 16, 1961,in Montreal, Canada

1961First IBRO meetingin Pisa, Italy

1965NAS-NRC forms “Committee onBrain Sciences” to provide a U.S.liaison to IBRO, which evolvesinto the Society for NeuroscienceGeoffry W. Harris, First Secretary Senate of Canada Bill S-9

1

Meeting celebrated IBRO’s 50 years of promoting international collaborationand exchange of scientific information

IBRO WORLD CONGRESS WELCOMED4000+ PARTICIPANTS IN FLORENCE, ITALY

The 8th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience began with a warm andtraditional Tuscan welcome at the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, July 14,kicking off the five-day meeting held in Florence, Italy’s Fortezza da Basso.Not only did 2011 mark the 50th anniversary of IBRO, but it was also the 150thanniversary of the Italian Unification, making the setting and timing for thisWorld Congress even more noteworthy.

This time, the IBRO World Congress attracted 4,200 attendants, one of thehighest-ever number of participants at an IBRO meeting. Approximately 1500came from economically disadvantaged countries, underlining IBRO’seffectiveness as an organization that promotes and supports neuroscienceworldwide. The IBRO World Congress continued with four full days of scientificmeetings, poster presentations, social events and other opportunities to promote,in the words of IBRO President Carlos Belmonte, “a better scientific knowledge ofthe brain and to extend to the societies in all countries of the world the values ofrationality and a committed search for truth that govern scientific research.”

Amidst the more than 80 scientific lectures, symposia and workshops that tookplace during the 2011 IBRO World Congress, two sessions were devoted to IBRO’s50-year history of promoting neuroscience research around the world. At theOpening Ceremony, past IBRO President and Secretary-General Albert Aguayo

provided a highly insightful andenlightening retrospective on IBRO’spast 50 years, starting with the worldand scientific events leading up toIBRO’s founding in Montreal, Canada.He recounted key milestones,including the launch of the journalNeuroscience, the first IBROCongress, the establishment of sixregional IBRO Committees, and thedevelopment of the IBRO trainingprogrammes, the IBRO Schools andthe Visiting Lecture Team Programme.Following Dr. Aguayo, current IBROPresident Carlos Belmonte invited past

IBRO officers on-stage: Albert Aguayo, Marina Bentivoglio, Masao Ito, JenniferLund, Steve Redman, Piergiorgio Strata and Torsten Wiesel.

Then on Saturday, July 16, in a symposium led by Gordon Shepherd, with openingremarks by Masao Ito, five eminent neuroscientists highlighted the ways in whichIBRO has contributed to world neuroscience from within their region: TamásFreund (Europe), Omar Macadar (Latin America), Sharon Juliano (the United Statesand Canada), Hitoshi Okamoto (Asia-Pacific), Raj Kalaria (Africa).

A very worthwhile, new initiativelaunched at the IBRO meeting providedadditional training for many youngneuroscientists who traveled a long wayto Italy: the Young InvestigatorProgramme (YIP) allowed 83 youngresearchers from economicallydisadvantaged countries to spend onemonth in European laboratories beforeparticipating at the IBRO meeting. (Seepage 3 for more information on thisprogramme).

The site of the Congress, in the center of Florence – with its Renaissance palaces,churches and monuments – provided an added value to the quality of symposiaand plenary lectures, as well as the excellent on-site organization. Hosting thesuccessful 8th IBRO Congress was the Local Organizing Team from the SocietaItaliana di Neuroscienze (SINS, or the Italian Society of Neuroscience), which heldits joint meeting with the Société des Neurosciences (the French Society ofNeuroscience) during the IBRO Congress.

A sense of openness and respect permeated the meeting and was commentedupon by many participants: “The level of science was very good, which isnecessary for a successful meeting,” said IBRO Secretary-General PierreMagistretti, “but what stood out at this Congress, for me, was the trulyinternational atmosphere and the fact that there were so many young peoplecoming from countries outside of North America and Europe, whose scientistsnormally dominate neuroscience meetings.”

“Neuroscience research is very competitive,” said Micaela Morelli, the Chair of theYoung Investigators Programme. “This meeting, by offering the opportunity ofexchanging scientific information to researchers from 86 different countries in theworld, paved the path for a more efficient exchange of information, growth ofscientific knowledge and eventually a more inclusive world.”

Current IBRO President Carlos Belmontewelcomed past IBRO officers

to the stage at the start of the 8th IBROWorld Congress.

Past IBRO President and Secretary-GeneralAlbert Aguayo opened the Congress witha look back upon 50 years of IBROhistory and key milestones.

Rio de Janeirochosen as thesite of the nextIBRO WorldCongress, in 2015Prior to the start of the 2011Congress, the IBRO GoverningCouncil met to consider threeoutstanding proposals for hostingthe 2015 IBRO World Congress.After listening to the threepresentations, the Councilmembers held a vote, ultimatelyselecting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, asthe site for the next IBRO WorldCongress.

“The 9th IBRO World Congress, tobe held for the first time in LatinAmerica, will be an excellentopportunity for fosteringneuroscience in the region andalso for attracting neuroscientistsfrom around the world to interactwith the local neurosciencecommunity, which amountsalmost 4,000 members,” saidProfessor Roberto Lent,Universidade Federal do Rio de

The 8th IBRO World Congress opened with traditional Florentine fanfare, celebratingboth Italian heritage and IBRO history.

Continued on page 8

Fifty Years of

IBRO

Sten Grillner elected as IBRO’snext Secretary-GeneralThe IBRO Governing Council has just elected itsnext Secretary-General: Sten Grillner, Professorand Director of the Nobel Institute forNeurophysiology, Department of Neuroscience, atthe Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.Professor Grillner will serve as IBRO’s Secretary-General Elect in 2012, and will begin histhree-year term as IBRO Secretary-General in 2013.

Currently, Professor Grillner is the Chair of IBRO’sMemberships & Partnerships Committee, as wellas IBRO’s Governing Council member for theRoyal Swedish Academy of Science. In addition,he currently serves as the President of FENS (theFederation of European Neuroscience Societies),until mid-2012, and is the Chair of the Governing Board of INCF (theInternational Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility), of which he is afounding member.

“I feel very honored to have been elected as Secretary-General, and I verymuch look forward to furthering IBRO’s role in promoting neuroscience on aglobal scale in interaction with the regional and national neurosciencesocieties,” said Professor Grillner. ”This should include not only cutting-edge neuroscience but also, as importantly, different aspects of training inall parts of the world.”

Sten Grillner, IBRO’snext Secretary-General

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:09 Page 1

IBRO’S FUNDING2011 - 2012

Secretary-GeneralPierre Magistretti (Switzerland)

PresidentCarlos Belmonte (Spain)

TreasurerQuentin Pittman (Canada)

Regional Committee ChairsTadaharu Tsumoto (Asia-Pacific)Abdul Mohammed (Africa)Ryszard Przewlocki (Central &Eastern Europe)Osvaldo Uchitel (Latin America)Gregory Quirk (U.S. & Canada)Juan Lerma (Western Europe)

Chair of the IBRO Fellowships,Travel Grants & Return-HomeFunding ProgrammeMarta Hallak (Argentina)

Chair of the IBRO Inter-RegionalInitiatives CommitteeMonica Di Luca (Italy)

IBRO Secretariat255 rue Saint-Honoré75001 Paris, FrancePhone: + 33 1 46 47 92 92Fax: +33 1 46 47 42 50

Executive DirectorStephanie de La Rochefoucauldstephanie@ibro.info

Director of Programmes &CommunicationsRobynn Rockstad-Rexrobynn@ibro.info

IBRO Webmaster & Head of ITAnte Padjenante.padjen@mcgill.ca

IBRO News Editor in ChiefRobynn Rockstad-Rexrobynn@ibro.info

IBRO Web site:www.ibro.info

International BrainResearch Organization

IBROannouncesits 2012ResearchFellowsIBRO has awarded threepromising young neuroscientistswith one-year researchfellowships in order to broadenthe scope of their training byworking abroad in high-qualitylaboratories:

Dekel Taliaz (Israel): 2012Outstanding Research FellowDuring hisfellowship at theHospital for SickChildren (Canada),Dekel Taliaz willstudy the effect ofnoradrenaline onactivation of cAMP/Ca2+response element bindingprotein, and its implications onlearning and memory.

Sunday Bisong(Nigeria): 2012John G NichollsResearch FellowSunday Bisongwill go toDalhousie University (Canada),where he will explore the future ofrauwolfia vomitoria (a smallAfrican tree) in the managementof neurodegenerative disorders.

Oluwole Akinola (Nigeria): 2012IBRO Research FellowThe fellowship will allow OluwoleAkinola to perform research atthe Uniformed ServicesUniversity of theHealth Sciences(USA), with an aimto studying thequestion: “Does alink exist betweenchronic exposure topetrochemical pollutants andneurobehavioral aberrations?”

IBRO provides return-homefunding to scientists afterfellowships abroadTo help counteract “brain drain” and promote the growth of quality neuroscienceresearch in developing countries, IBRO established the Return Home Programmein 2006. This Programme has already aided 17 young researchers – who weretrained overseas at high-quality laboratories – in returning to their home countriesand establishing laboratories there. This year, IBRO granted four more ReturnHome awards of $20,000 each:

Maria-Elena Avale, who completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Pasteur Institute inParis (France) and at King's College-MRCCentre for Neurodegeneration (UK), will returnto Buenos Aires, Argentina, to study genetherapy approaches for neurodegenerativediseases, at the Instituto de Investigaciones enIngeniería Genética y Biologia Molecular.

José Donato, a post-doctoral fellow at theUniversity of Texas Southwestern MedicalCenter (USA), will return to Brazil as anassistant professor at the University of SãoPaulo, furthering his research in the field ofobesity/neuroendocrinology.

Juan Ferrario, who completed post-doctoralfellowships at INSERM (France) and at King'sCollege-MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiololgy (UK), will return to BuenosAires, Argentina, to perform research in the area of plasticity of the injured adultbrain, at the Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacologicas.

Francisco Sotres-Bayon, who completed his doctorate at New York University(USA) and was a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Puerto Rico,will return to Coyoacan, Mexico, as a professor at the Instituto de Fisiología Celularof the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, continuing his research into howthe prefrontal cortex integrates hippocampal and amygdala input to signal fear.

2

IBRO Research Fellow RufusAkinyemi reports on his workin Newcastle, UK

Stroke is a leading non-communicable disease all over the world, and current reportssuggest that it is assuming epidemic proportions in middle- and low-incomecountries. About 30% of stroke survivors ultimately develop vascular dementia eventhough the exact mechanisms are yet poorly understood. Moreover, much of whatis known about the epidemiology, natural history and neurobiology of post-strokecognitive dysfunction have had little contribution from sub-Saharan Africa.

With this background and my training in clinical neurology as well as being a witnessof the evolving epidemiology of stroke and its short- and long-term consequencesin sub-Saharan Africa, I took up the prestigious IBRO Research Fellowship under thetutelage of Professor Raj Kalaria, Professor of Cerebrovascular Neuropathology andDeputy Director of the MRC Newcastle Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality at theInstitute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,United Kingdom.

“I look forward to making significant contributionsto neuroscience research, education and capacity building in Africa and beyond in the years ahead.”

My work, in the course of the fellowship, centered on investigating the cellular andmolecular mechanisms of cerebral injury and cognitive impairment after stroke.The results suggest that hippocampal neurodegenerative and vascular pathologiesinteract with synaptic densities, neuronal volumes (and possibly other yet to beidentified variables) to determine the cognitive trajectory after stroke, and thathigher hippocampal synaptic density and neuronal volumes (possibly signaturesof higher cognitive reserve) may protect against or delay the onset of dementiaafter stroke.

With the research fellowship, I also spearheaded the setting up of a longitudinalstudy to investigate the profile, determinants and outcome of cognitive dysfunctionin a cohort of Nigerian stroke survivors in collaboration with the establishedNewcastle COGFAST Project. The pilot study revealed cognitive dysfunction in28% of 42 stroke survivors, while the main study is currently in progress.

In addition, the fellowship period afforded me the opportunity of effectivenetworking and contribution to the growth of African Neuroscience. The IBROAlumni-Nigeria group was inaugurated to network and coordinate young Nigerianneuroscientists who have participated in IBRO programmes. I also served aseditor, and contributed two review articles to an IBRO-sponsored specialNeuroscience Edition of a growing African journal – Archives of Ibadan Medicine.

In all, the fellowship period has been a great leap in my development and progressas a neurophysician-scientist, and I look forward to making significantcontributions to neuroscience research, education and research capacity buildingin Africa and beyond in the years ahead.

Nigerian Rufus Akinyemi, recent recipient of an IBRO Research Fellowship,reports on his year-long project at the Institute for Ageing and Health,Newcastle University, UK: "Bedside to Bench: Post-stroke cognitivedysfunction – mechanisms, profile and determinants":

Important Funding Deadlines

• IBRO International Travel Grants(July – December 2012): Feb. 1, 2012

• SfN-IBRO Travel Grants: Feb. 1, 2012• IBRO Fellowships, 2013: Feb. 1, 2012• IBRO International Travel Grants

(January – June 2013): September 1, 2012• IBRO Return Home Programme, 2013:

September 1, 2012

Check online at http://funding.ibro.infofor the deadlines of IBRO’s RegionalFunding Programmes:

• IBRO-Asian/Pacific Exchange Fellowship

• InEurope Short Stay Grants• Latin America Region: Short Stay

Fellowships and Travel Grants• International Fellowships to Marine

Biological/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, USA

IBRO (the International Brain Research Organization) is theglobal neuroscience federation dedicated to the promotion ofneuroscience and communication between brain researchersaround the world, with special emphasis on assisting young

investigators in the developing world. Incorporated in1961, IBRO now counts 84 member societies in 61 countries

around the world, with a membership of more than75,000 neuroscientists.

1970sThe IBRO Visiting Lecture Teambegins courses in parts of theworld where no establishedneuroscience programmes exist

1985 1987

≤≤

Maria-Elena Avale returns to herhome country of Argentina

´

1976Neurosciencejournal launched

1982First IBRO World Congressin Lausanne, Switzerland

IBRO forms six regions,with representation onthe IBRO ExecutiveCommitee

IBRO membershipreaches 5000

≤ ≤

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:09 Page 2

IBRO’s WORLD CONGRESSHELPED BOOST CAREERS OFYOUNG NEUROSCIENTISTS

Young Investigators benefited frommonth-long stays at European laboratoriesOn the occasion of the 8th IBRO World Congress in Florence, Italy, the meeting’s organizers launched the IBRO YoungInvestigators Programme (YIP) that allowed 83 young researchers from countries with limited resources to spend onemonth at a European laboratory before participating in the IBRO meeting. Selected participants came from LatinAmerica (29), Africa (19), Asia (31) and Eastern Europe (4). According to the chair of the YIP Committee, Micaela Morelli,the Programme “provided PhD students and post-docs an excellent opportunity toestablish collaborations and learn new techniques, and offered a wonderfulopportunity to western European researchers to expand their view on neuroscienceresearch in the world.”

Sharing their YIP Experience:Joan David spent four weeks in the laboratory of Pierre Magistretti at the EcolePolytechnique Federal in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Research Focus: Neurons and their various circuits, especially in relation to vision.

How was your host laboratory suited to your immediate research goals? “My host lab (Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics - LNDC) taughtme quite some things about brain energy metabolism using a variety of technicalapproaches ranging from cell cultures to in vivo experiments. During my stay in thelab, I had the opportunity to follow the work of different members of the lab andbecame familiar with different techniques and assays such as neuronal cell culture,biochemical assays, quantitative PCR and collection of brain tissue extracts. Theseskills are invaluable in my young scientific experience and my research is definitelybenefiting from my time at the EPFL, Switzerland.”

What will you remember the most from your Young Investigators Programme experience?“The day I was able to independently carry out a series of experiments to determine the effect of insulin on glycogenstorage in cultured astrocytes without any assistance…that felt good. Another memory was the day a member of thelab got his research work published in the Journal of Neuroscience and the entire lab, including Prof. Magistretti, allcame out to attend a party at the lab to celebrate the success. Such team spirit is commendable, and I could see theunity of purpose that exists within the lab members.”

After your short-stay visit, how was your experience at the IBRO World Congress in Florence? “The IBRO World Congress was superb, the biggest congress I have ever had the privilege of attending, with so manygreat and senior researchers in attendance and diverse scientific sessions and symposia of the most outstandingresearch I had ever seen. The World Congress was the icing on the cake of the YIP experience.”

Jitendra Sinha spent a month at MarinaBentivoglio’s laboratory at the University ofVerona, Italy, and since then – with YIPparticipant Shampa Ghosh – has created aFacebook page for all the IBRO YoungInvestigators to stay connected.

Research Focus: DNA oxidation lesions,oxidative stress, magnetic resonancespectroscopic studies, neuronal and glialprofiling and IGF1 and BDNF signalingpathways involved in ageing

What were your first impressions of yourhost lab and the research team, when youfirst arrived?“I was very excited to visit a foreign lab relatedto my research focus. On the first day, Prof.Marina introduced me to all the lab membersand spent a lot of time with me discussing in

details regarding the research work to be done. She even arranged a brain-storming session for my research work onthe WNIN obese mutant rats that have reduced longevity, which helped me in designing future experiments.”

What did you learn at your host lab that will be helpful to your current or future research?“I learned preparation of brain tissues for immunohistochemical examination under compound and confocalmicroscopy. I also learned to create LPS-induced inflammatory mice model and basics of MRI, and got the opportunityto learn how to write scientific abstracts and papers.”

What impact do you think you may have made upon the staff at your host lab?“The staff at my host lab was very cooperative and well-trained in the techniques. They taught me each technique indetail and helped me a lot in troubleshooting, also. They showed a lot of interest in the unique animal model that I amworking on. Through interactive scientific discussions, we all benefitted in one way or the other. They became like anextended family to me.”

Jitendra Sinha, from the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad,India, with his host, Marina Bentivoglio.

IBRO Alumni celebratedduring the 2011 IBRO WorldCongress in FlorenceDuring the 8th IBRO World Congress, alumni of IBROs training and fundingprogrammes enjoyed several opportunities to share their research and connect

with others from all over the world, at all career levels and within all areas ofneuroscience. On July 15, 2011, a special symposium featuring IBRO Alumni tookplace, titled "Molecular and systems neurobiology in development and disease:contributions from IBRO Alumni worldwide," which was chaired by IBRO AlumniCommittee Chair Susan Sara and IBRO Secretary-General Pierre Magistretti.

Four IBRO Alumni presented their research and highlighted how their trainingand support received from IBRO has made a difference so far in their career:

• Bence Racz, St. Istvan University, Budapest, Hungary (CEERC)“Molecular architecture of the hippocampal dendritic spine”

• Elisabeth Ngo Bum, University of Ngaoundere, Cameroon (ARC)“Herbal compounds in the treatment of psychiatric disorders: The aqueous extract of leaves of Piliostigma reticulatum possesses anxiolytic and antipyreticactivity in mice”

• Abbas Haghparast, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (APRC) “Herbal compounds in the treatment of drug abuse: Fruitessential oil of Cuminum cyminum attenuates morphine-induced conditioned place preference”

• Cristina Guatimosim Fonseca, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil (LARC) “In search of organizing principles during synapse elimination: Correlation between motoneuron size and position at spinal cord and motorunit innervation patterns.”

Later in the evening, more than 350 IBRO Alumni and Friends gathered at TheLoft, a stylish indoor/outdoor venue in Florence’s Piazza del Carmine, for avery pleasant evening of socializing and enjoying regional Tuscan cuisine, wineand prosecco. Each year, IBRO organizes an Alumni Party to provide a casualand fun way for IBRO Alumni – who perhaps met through an IBRO School –to reconnect and to meet others with whom they could potentially collaboratein doing future research, as well as for IBRO volunteers and friends to seefamilar faces and to meet many of the inspirational young researchers whosecareers IBRO has touched through its funding and educational programmes.In addition, an IBRO Alumni Poster contest took place during the IBRO WorldCongress to acknowledge and reward the first-authors of the best posters andresearch projects coming from IBRO Alumni, across all of the IBRO regions.Out of 96 entries, the four finalists were Shaimaa Amin (Egypt), Aline Campos(Brazil), Narges Hosseinmardi (Iran) and Giulio Pergola (Germany).

Alumni lecturers at the IBRO World Congress Alumni Symposium, Florence, Italy

Chilean neuroscientist Pedro Maldonado (second from right) catches up with youngresearchers from Latin America at the IBRO Alumini Party in Florence, Italy.

3

w w w . i b r o . i n f o

19931990

≤

Join IBRO onFor the latest information on Funding, Schools, Alumni Events and other up-to-the-minute IBROnews, follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalBrainResearchOrg

19872nd IBRO WorldCongress in Budapest,Hungary

Neuroscience journalacquired by ElsevierPublishing

19913rd IBRO World Congressin Montreal, Canada

IBRO expands to 25,000members worldwide

19954th IBRO WorldCongress in Kyoto,Japan

≤

Joan David, from the Universityof Ilorin, Nigeria

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:09 Page 3

IBRO REACHES OUT THROUGHITS COMMITTEES ANDACTIVITIES

IBRO’s Ethics in Neuroscience ResearchCommittee educates, motivatesCommittee Chair Sharon Juliano reports: This year the Ethics in Neuroscience Committee (formerly the Animals in ResearchCommittee) changed its mandate to include all aspects of ethics related to neuroscience research. The committee nowaddresses features of ethics related to animals, human research, research guidelines, publishing, etc. To help us reach needsof the IBRO audience our committee created a survey, which is available on the IBRO website. We hope that the results ofthis survey will assist in developing programs that are of use to the IBRO community.

On other fronts, we continued our involvement withthe Ricardo Miledi Neuroscience Training Program byproviding lectures and workshops on the ethics ofanimals in research; this year the Program was heldin Montevideo, Uruguay, and provides Neuroscienceeducation to students in Latin America. Ourcommittee was involved with several sessionsoccurring during the IBRO World Congress inFlorence. We organized a symposium entitled “Howto properly use animals in research: Consideration oflevels of pain, genetic background, transgenics, andbehavior.” The symposium covered a number oftopics that researchers have difficulty with, or havelittle knowledge of, related to working with animals –but are extremely important in the current researchenvironment. These include managing pain,understanding the effect of the strain of an animal onexperiments, distinguishing types of transgenic animals,

and using behavior to assess function. Our committee also participated in a special event during the IBRO World Congress thathighlighted worldwide concerns about animals in research.

We are organizing a workshop in Bangalore, India, that will focus on the ethical use of animals in research; this will help thecommunity learn how to organize an animal care and use committee, run an animal vivarium, as well as learning strategiesabout how to write appropriate protocols. Finally, we will participate in an IBRO school in Nigeria (“Basic and ClinicalNeurosciences in West Africa: Focus on toxicological, traumatic, degenerative and vascular disorders of the Brain”) byincluding discussions about ethics in research with the participants.

IBRO Women in WorldNeuroscience (WWN) Committeeinitiates educational andmentoring opportunitiesThe IBRO Committee on Women in World Neuroscience (WWN) has been activein its mission to improve career development, mentoring and networkingopportunities for women neuroscientists around the world, with special attentionto women in disadvantaged regions. TheCommittee experienced a change inleadership in early 2011 and bid farewellto Dr. Judy Illes, founding member andfirst Chair of the committee. Dr. Illespassed the torch to Dr. EmmelineEdwards, Director of Division ofExtramural Research, National Centerfor Complementary and AlternativeMedicine (NCCAM), a component of theNational Institutes of Health, USA.

The following faculty and traineesreceived WWN funding over the pastyear: Professor Nouria Lakhdal-Ghazalfor conducting the African NeuroscienceSchool titled “Brain Function andDysfunction”; Professor Elaine A. Del Belfor organizing a “Satellite WWN meeting of the Brazilian Neuroscience Society”;Professor Fatima Shad Kaneez for sponsoring a symposium titled “Role of FemaleNeuroscientist in Telemedicine in Brunei”; Professor Liliana Francis Turner fordeveloping the course titled “Experimental Neuroscience course of Tolima”; Drs.Rae Silver, Kathie Olsen & Emmeline Edwards for organizing a WWN Forum titled“Roadmap for Addressing Sex Differences in Pain Management”; Professor ZalinaIsmail for support of a workshop for female neuroscientists in Malaysia titled“Transdisciplinary Workshop in Neurosciences : The Impact of WomenNeuroscientists within the Community”; Professor Illana Gozes & Professor OrlyWeinreb for holding a WWN “Mini-symposium in Israel at the International VIP-PACAP Symposium”; Dr. Jean King & Professor Orly Weinreb for organizing aworkshop at the IBRO 8th World Congress titled “Funding Opportunities forinternational Collaborations and Fellowships.”

Additionally, the IBRO WWN Committee will be hosting its second “MentoringCircle” during the 2011 Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington, USA,which provides a networking and mentoring venue to the IBRO travel grantawardees. Also during SFN 2011, WWN will co-sponsor some events on careeradvancement with the Society for Neuroscience Professional DevelopmentCommittee. The Committee has continued to stay connected to the expandingnetwork of IBRO Women in World Neuroscience on Facebook and by frequentupdates on the WWN webpage.

The following people contributed to an animal ethics symposiumduring the IBRO World Congress (left to right): Hans Peter Lipp(standing), Fernando Benevides, Sharon Juliano, Silvina Diaz, WilliamFlecknell and Amy Starociak.

Emmeline Edwards, chair of theIBRO WWN Committee

4

Neuroscience booklet nowavailable in 22 languagesNeuroscience: Science of the Brain, an Introduction for Young Students is apublic education booklet designed to inform the general public and includesshort, explanatory chapters on different subjects – from development to drugaddiction – written by experts in each topic. The original booklet was publishedin 2004 by the British Neuroscience Association and the European Dana Alliancefor the Brain. IBRO has commissioned members of our organization to translatethe booklet into many languages, which are available online: Arabic, Armenian,Chinese, Croatian, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian,Japanese, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish,Swahili, Thai and Turkish.

The purpose of this booklet is to improve public understanding and awareness of the brain and the importance of brainresearch. Via the IBRO Website, chapters may be downloaded for all 22 translations, and full versions of the translations arealso available online. For free access, go to www.ibro.info, and click on “Brain Campaign” in the left column.

This public education booklet may bedownloaded, free-of-cost, on the IBROWeb site.

At the 2011 SONA meeting, IBRO AlumnaFleur Howells (South Africa) presented onthe topic "Neural patterns of childhoodtrauma: An electroencephalographicstudy of healthy controls.”

Committee Chair Susan Sara reports:The major initiative of the Alumni

Committee in the past year has been

to organize a series of alumni

symposia within regional and

international meetings. At the 2010

Society for Neuroscience meeting in

San Diego, USA, the IBRO

community heard how their Cold

Spring Harbor and Woods Hole

School experience boosted the

careers of three scholars who

attended, through the generosity of

the SfN International Affairs

Committee/ US-Canada Regional

Committee. Contributors were Jing-

Ling Zhu (China), Valeria della Maggiore

(Argentina) and Musa Mabandla (South

Africa). The symposium was followed by

a reception for Alumni and IBRO

volunteers.

IBRO Alumni from the ARC regioncontributed a symposium at theSociety of Neuroscientists of Africa(SONA) meeting in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia: Fleur Howells (South Africa),Samson Gwer (Kenya), Musa Mabandla(South Africa) and Rufus Akinyemi(Nigeria). Alumni of IBRO Schools in theAPRC region competed for posterprizes at the Federation of Asian-Oceanian Neuroscience Societies(FAONS) meeting in Lucknow, India.Prizes were awarded to Preethi Hegde

(India), Hossein Azizi (Iran), MohammadJavan (Iran), Pretty Garg (India) andProshanto Saha (India).

At the 8th IBRO World Congress ofNeuroscience in Florence, Italy, asymposium consisting of fourspeakers, one each from the ARC,LARC, APRC and CEERC, waspresented to an audience of about onehundred. (See “IBRO Alumni celebratedduring the 2011 IBRO World Congressin Florence,” on page 3.)

At the NEURONUS 2011 Conference inKrakow, Poland, the IBRO AlumniCommittee contributed financialsupport to invite two outstandingAlumni from FENS-IBRO Schools as

plenary lectures: Johannes Letzkus(Switzerland) and AlexandraConstantinescu (Romania). The IBROAlumni Committee also fundedAdriadna Cubo, from Cuba, to attendthe FENS-IBRO “Development andplasticity of cortical representation”School in Bertinoro, Italy, where shewas named top student by the faculty.In the same manner, Olowabli Rotimifrom Nigeria, attended the FENS-IBRO“Metabolic aspects of chronic braindiseases” School in Gunzburg,Germany. With the help of the School’sorganizer, Patrick Weydt, he willinvestigate ways in which his Europeanschool contacts might be used toimpact neuroscience in Nigeria.

IBRO Alumni Committee creates visibility and connections for young neuroscientists

1999IBRO SchoolsProgramme launched ≤≤ ≤

2002The re-launched IBROVisiting Lecture TeamProgramme holds its firstcourse in Tehran, Iran

19995th IBRO World Congressin Jerusalem, Isreal

2001Launch of theIBRO website

John Nicholls teachingVLTP course in Cameroon

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:09 Page 4

NEUROSCIENCENEWS & INITIATIVES

IBRO Inter-Regional Activities Initiativealready connecting future leaders in worldneuroscienceAt the IBRO Governing Council meeting held on November 13, 2010, in San Diego, USA, IBRO President Carlos Belmonteand Secretary-General Pierre Magistretti announced plans for the "IBRO Inter-regional Activities Initiative."

“The time is now ripe, in our increasingly globalized neuroscience community, for the development of an Inter-RegionalActivities Program with the specific goal of promoting the creation of personal and scientific ties between the new generationsof scientists,” said Professor Belmonte.

Professor Monica Di Luca, the former Chair of the IBRO Western Europe Regional Committee, was appointed as the chair ofthis emerging committee. In addition to facilitating inter-regional collaboration for IBRO Schools, Prof. Di Luca will also overseefuture Young Scientists Visiting Programmes, organized around major neuroscience meetings, to put PhD students from less-favored countries into contact with centers in other regions, in which intensive and high quality brain research is performed.

Within the past year, the inter-regional strategy hasbeen carried out in two neuroscience schools: theIBRO Advanced Neuroscience School held onReunion Island in November 2010, involving the Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, and Africa RegionalCommittees; and the 2nd UAE-IBRO NeuroscienceSchool in the Middle East (February 2011), involvingthe Africa and Asia-Pacific Regional Committees.Also, the launch of the IBRO Young InvestigatorsProgramme – in connection with the 8th IBRO WorldCongress in Florence, Italy, earlier this year – provideda basis upon which to build short-stay laboratory-visitprogrammes in the future.

"While several of IBRO’s regional committees have already been working together to organize inter-regional schools andlaboratory exchanges, this new initiative will aim to promote inter-regional activities from IBRO Central, with the schoolsactivity being most important," said Professor Magistretti. "We want to bring brilliant students together so that they caninteract at a global level and work collaboratively in the future."

IBRO Advanced Neuroscience School, held on Reunion Island(November 2010).

School and conference aimedto strengthen neurosciencenetwork in Middle East andNorth AfricaDespite an aging population and increased prevalence of neurological diseasesuch as Alzheimer’s, there remains a huge shortage of specialized neurologistsand neuroscientists in the Middle East. To help improve this situation, IBRO hascollaborated with the United Arab Emirates’ University Neuroscience Group, otherUniversities in the region, and Arab Expatriate neuroscientists on several initiativesaimed at promoting and supporting the training of neuroscientists andneuroscience research in the region. The first of these included the organization ofa neuroscience school and conference at the Faculty of Medicine & HealthSciences, UAE University.

The IBRO-UAE Neuroscience School “Fundamentals of Basic and ClinicalNeuroscience,” which took place from January 30 to February 5, 2011, broughttogether 32 students, clinicians, and expatriate scientists from different countries inthe region, including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman,

Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen. Following the School, the 1st IBROMiddle-East Neuroscience Conference was held from February 7 to 9, 2011, at the AlAin Hilton Hotel, drawing more than 400 researchers and other scientists.

Electron tomography of cultured hippocampalneurons is subject of 2010 NeuroscienceCover Competition winnerThe winning cover of IBRO’s annual Neuroscience cover competition for 2010 isfrom an article by CP Arthur, C. Dean, M. Pagratis, M. Chapman and MH Stowell.The article, titled “Loss of synaptotagmin IV results in a reduction in synapticvesicles and a distortion of the Golgi structure in cultured hippocampal neurons,”was published in Neuroscience, Volume 167 (2010), Issue 1, pp 135-142. Thewinning cover featured surface rendering of the full three-dimensional tomographicreconstruction of SytIV -/- synapse generated using the IMOD software program(presynaptic membrane [blue], postsynaptic membrane [yellow], mitochondria [red],synaptic vesicles [green]). Dr. Stowell, from the Molecular, Cellular andDevelopmental Biology (MCD Biology) program at the University of Colorado, USA,describes the research behind the paper and the technique behind the image: “Thework presented in [this] paper examines the structural nature of synaptictransmission and the proteins involved in neurotransmitter release. The study wasconducted using electron tomography of cultured hippocampal neurons.Tomographic reconstructions of the hippocampal synapse were modeled(segmented) using the software package IMOD. The cover image was created byexporting the segmented and meshed geometry of the synaptic cleft from IMOD as a VRML file. Graham Johnson, a medicalillustrator, imported the VRML file into the professional 3D software application Cinema 4D. He used this software to add a6nm thickness to the cell membranes to insinuate bilayers and to make their cut edges clearly visible. He created transparentcolored textures for each organelle, applied lights to the scene, and rendered the model with a technology called ambientocclusion to clearly define the organization of the vesicles in 3D space.”

5

w w w . i b r o . i n f o

The IBRO ReporterFor the latest news about our members, events, programmes and funding –

sent by email to our members.

Please keep your membership updated at www.ibro.info.

20036th IBRO World Congress inPrague, Czech Republic

≤2003IBRO surpasses 40,000members ≤

2003Launch of the IBRO BrainCampaign ≤2004

The FENS-IBROEuropean NeuroscienceSchools Programme islaunched≤

Neuroscience, the journal:A message fromthe Chief EditorStephen Lisberger reports: The core mission ofNeuroscience is to publish original scientificpapers that bear directly on the development,function, and malfunction of the brain. TheJournal seeks high quality papers that make asubstantial conceptual advance and are ofinterest to a wide group of readers. In the pastyear, we have seen a continued stream of quality submissions along with anincrease in the quality of the papers we are publishing. We continue toachieve high levels of author satisfaction with a combination of short timesfrom submission to first decision (a median time of fewer than 28 days), rapidon-line and print publication of accepted papers, and fair treatment by adedicated board of Section Editors who give each paper a hearing on thebasis of expert knowledge. We solicit opinions from an enormous number ofexpert reviewers across the world, and our authors report repeatedly that thefeedback they receive is invaluable in improving the quality of theirpublication. Neuroscience also publishes “Special Issues” that arecommissioned by hand-picked Guest Editors. In the next few months, wewill publish Special Issues on topics as varied as “Neuroscience DiseaseModels,” “Signal Processing in the Basal Ganglia,” and “Endocannabinoidsand Stress.” We continue to strive to represent the international neurosciencecommunity broadly, and to involve neuroscientists from around the world asauthors, reviewers, members of the Advisory Editorial Board, and Section Editors.

The neuroscience school held prior to the 1st Middle-East Neuroscience Conferenceassembled students and faculty from throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa,including several expatriate faculty members from abroad.

Continued on page 8

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:10 Page 5

NEWS FROM THEREGIONS 2011

Asia-Pacific Regional Committee (APRC)

Chair: Tadaharu Tsumoto. In the last quarter of 2010 and the firsthalf of 2011, APRC ran two IBRO Schools and one AdvancedSchool (described below). The IBRO School of Neuroscience2010, was held from October 4 to 14, 2010, at the MonashUniversity Sunday Campus, Malaysia, drawing 22 faculty membersfrom Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea,and 39 students from Malaysia, India, Iran, Korea, Thailand,Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Organizer: I. Parhar.The IBRO School on “Neuroimaging: Structural and FunctionalAnalysis of the Human Brain” took place from November 29 toDecember 19, 2010, at the National Brain Research Centre,Manesar, India. This School was held in association with the FAONSCongress at Lucknow, India, drawing 17 faculty members fromIndia, the United States, Japan, Korea and Switzerland, and 29students from India, Iran, China, Australia, Malaysia, Nepal and SriLanka. Organizer: P.K. Roy. The First IBRO-KIST Advanced Schoolof Neuroscience was held from June 28 to July 8, 2011, at theKorean Institute of Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea. ThisAdvanced School attracted 17 faculty members from Korea,Singapore and Japan, and 15 students from Korea, China,Singapore, Japan, Iran and Germany. Organizer: H. Shin.

In addition, four young researchers were selected for the APRCExchange Fellowship Programme in 2011 (from Sri Lanka to India,from India to Japan, from India to Australia, from Iran to Japan). Thisprogramme sponsors young APRC neuroscientists (under 40 yearsold) to spend 4-6 months in a host laboratory within APRC.Applicants must provide strong evidence of intention to return to thehome country after the exchange.

Africa Regional Committee (ARC)

Chair: Abdul Mohammed. The 10th International SONA (Society ofNeuroscientists of Africa) 2011 Conference was held in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia, from February 9 to 11, 2011. The conference wasa unique platform for the prospective collaboration for thebetterment of neuroscience and neurology in Africa. Participantscame from Africa (Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, Rwanda, DR Congo,Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe) as well asother regions (Yemen, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, UK, USA, France).ARC members were involved in organizing several symposia andthe IBRO Alumni symposium was well attended. Local Organizers:M. Zebenigus and Y. Woubishet (Ethiopia), with the ARC Chair asone of the international organizers.

APRONES – the Association for Promoting Neuroscience Educationand Research in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) –organized a two-day symposium on Epilepsy in Lubumbashi,DRC, from May 30 to 31, 2011. Organizers: P. Luabeya and T.Kayembe (DRC). The 4th Regional Teaching Course (RTC),sponsored by EFNS-WFN-IBRO, took place at the University ofYaoundé, Cameroon, from July 6 to 9, 2011. During the RTC, aworkshop on publishing manuscripts was held by faculty andsponsored by Wiley-Blackwell. The RTC continues to be a verysuccessful joint activity with the EFNS and WFN to build upneurological research in Africa. Organizers: J.M. Vallat (France), R.Kalaria (UK-Kenya), A.G. Diop (Senegal). The 4th Teaching ToolsWorkshop was held in Accra, Ghana, from September 12 to 16,2011. Organizers: S. Juliano (USA), A.G. Diop (Senegal). The course“Models for approaching brain health and disease: fromknockout mice to non-human primates,” took place in Rabat,Morocco, from October 30 to November 9, 2011. Organizers: N.Lakhdar-Ghazal (Morocco), R. Butterworth (Canada).

The IBRO Africa Symposium at the World Congress ofNeurology (WFN) took place in Marrakech, Morocco, fromNovember 12-14, 2011. ARC featured a symposium oncommunicable and non-communicable diseases research in Africa.Organizers: R. Kalaria (UK-Kenya), C. Newton (Kenya).The 2ndAnnual Neuroscience Meeting in East Africa Neuroscience willbe held in Mombasa, Kenya, from December 4-6, 2011. Organizers:C. Newton, M. Kihara, A. Mohammed (Kenya). The 27th IBROSchool in Ibadan, Nigeria, “Basic and Clinical Neuroscience inWest Africa: Focus on toxicological, traumatic, degenerative andvascular disorders of the brain,” will take place December 5 to 9,2011. Organizers: S. Ogunniyi, R. Akinyemi, J. Olapade (Nigeria) andR. Kalaria (UK-Kenya). The 2nd Inter-Regional IBRO School:“Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, with focus onlearning and memory” will take place in Cape Town, South Africa,from December 12-23, 2011. Organizers: H. Markram (Switzerland),L. Kellaway (South Africa), V. Srivastava (India). A regional workshoptitled “Infections of the CNS” will be held in Gaborone, Botswana,from January 26 to 28, 2012. Organizers: S. Vento (Botswana) andK. Kristensson (Sweden).

Central and Eastern Europe RegionalCommittee (CEERC) Chair: Ryszard Przewlocki. In the past year, several initiatives,meetings, symposia and workshops have been supported in orderto increase exchange and networking between neuroscientistswithin the Central & Eastern Europe region. These include: aninternational symposium titled “One hundred years of Ivan Djaja’sBelgrade School of Physiology,” which took place in Belgrade,Serbia, from September 10 to 15. 2010; the 13th Meeting of theHungarian Neuroscience Society, a multi-disciplinary biennialmeeting that took place in Budapest, Hungary, from January 20 to22, 2011; the Sinapsa Neuroscience Conference, CentralEuropean FENS Featured Regional Meeting, held in Ljubljana,Slovenia from September 22 to 25, 2011; the “5th InternationalCongress of Ukrainian Society for Neuroscience: In memory ofPlaton Kostyuk,” held in Kiev, Ukraine, from June 6 to 11, 2011;the 10th International Congress of the Polish NeuroscienceSociety, which was held from September 21 to 24, 2011 in in Lodz,

Poland; and the 6th International Workshop, "Sleep as a Window tothe World of Wakefulness," organized by the Russian SomnologicalSociety in Moscow, Russia, from October 17 to 19, 2011. CEERC,along with the IBRO Alumni Committee, was involved in planningthe first IBRO Young Neuroscience Forum “Neuronus” in Krakow,Poland, April 15-17, 2011, organized by students for students.

CEERC members were also involved in the IBRO-FENS EuropeanNeuroscience Schools Committee in organizing EuropeanNeuroscience Schools.

Travel Grants: CEERC funded travel grants to 44 post-docs andPhD students to attend the FENS Forum in Amsterdam in July 2010.In 2011, CEERC founded 30 travel stipends for young scientists toattend the IBRO World Congress in Florence. The selectedresearchers represent Armenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia,Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia,Slovenia and Ukraine. In addition, the IntraEuropean MobilityProject – originated by CEERC and WERC – funded five youngresearchers (from Georgia, Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Croatia)for short visits to European laboratories in Germany, England andHungary in order to learn new techniques or methods required intheir recent studies.

Latin America Regional Committee (LARC)

Chair: Osvaldo Uchitel. In the past year, the Latin America RegionalCommittee funded the following Neuroscience Schools: 1)PABSELA Stem Cell Research Training 2010: Mining the CancerTranscriptome in the CNS; organized by B.L. Caputto (Argentina),Oct. 22-Nov. 1. 2010. 2) Signal transduction in the Central NervousSystem: Facts and Principles; organized by A. Ortega, (Mexico), Oct.26-Nov. 5, 2010. 3) 1st Caribbean School of Neuroethology;organized by E. Mora (Cuba), May 9-19, 2011. 4) Calcium signaling,regulation and Cytoskeleton in the Nervous System; organized by J.Sotelo (Uruguay), Sept. 18-Oct. 1, 2011. 5) Third INF SummerSchool in Neuroendocrinology; organized by A. Franci Janete(Brazil), Aug. 14-27, 2011. 6) Inter regional School: Probing Normaland Pathological Neural Cell Functions; organized by J.R. RodriguezMedina (Puerto Rico), Oct. 31-Nov. 13, 2011.

The following courses and workshops were supported during thefirst semester of 2011: 1) Course: Neurobiological basis of drugaddiction; organized by M. Antonelli (Argentina), April 4-10. 2) IIInternational Workshop on Neuroimmunology; organized by A.Robinson (Cuba), June 26-30. 3) Emerging Concepts on NeuronalCytoskeleton; organized by C. Gonzalez-Billault (Chile), April 24-27.4) Neuroanatomía y neurofisiología de los ritmos circadianos/XISimposio Latino Americano en Cronobiología; organized by R.Aguilar-Roblero (Mexico). May 5-9. 5) V Latin American SummerSchool on Epilepsy; organized by E. Cavalheiro (Brazil). Feb. 20-March 1. 6) The Neuroscience of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism;organized by R. Pautassi (Brazil), March 3-4. 7) Herramientas de

Proteómica Avanzada aplicada a Estudios del Sistema Nervioso; organized by O. Alzate (Colombia), April 12 -16. 8) Designing andbuilding microscopes for neuroscience research; organized by C.Morgado Valle (Mexico), March 28 -April 1. 9) LIV Congreso Nacionalde Ciencias Fisiológicas; organized by C. Escobar (México), Sept.10-14. 10) Neural Basis of Maternal Motivation: Relationship andcoordination with other social motivational systems; organized byD. Olazabal (Uruguay), Sept. 3-5 . 11) Bases de la electrofisiologíay del imaging: de la teoría a la práctica; organized by G.Lanuza(Argentina), Oct. 19-20. 12) Molecular tools for the study ofintegrative neurophysiology; organized by M.Cambiasso (Argentina),Dec. 5-8. 13) (Re) consolidacao da memoria e suas nuances: uma janelapara a plasticidade; organized by L. Alvares (Brazil), August 24.

LARC also awarded up to €1000 each for intra-regionalexchanges and travel grants within the Latin America region. In

Marina Bentivoglio, Pierre Magistretti, Abdul Mohammed and KristerKristensson, at the 2011 SONA meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

6

2007 20087th IBRO World Congressin Melbourne, Australia

Dargut Kemali (left) andCarlos Belmonte (center)≤

2008Formation of IBRO Womenin World Neuroscience(WWN) Committee ≤

Judy Illes, founding chair of WWN

IBRO forges link with the Dargutand Milena Kemali Foundation andholds first Inter-regional School inNaples, Italy

2010The IBRO Inter-RegionalActivities Initiative is launchedto further enhance cross-regional collaboration

The First IBRO-KIST School of Neuroscience in Seoul, Korea, allowedparticipants to explore the latest techniques in systems neuroscience.

Alexandra Constantinescu (left), from the “Carol Davila” Medical Schoolin Bucharest, Romania, and Tea Speljko (right), from the CroatianInstitute for Brain Research, have traveled to UK laboratories in Oxfordand Manchester, respectively, through IBRO's InEurope short-stayprogramme.

Participants and leaders organize the field work at night during the 1stCaribbean School of Neuroethology, an IBRO-LARC School, held inHavana, Cuba, in May 2011.

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:10 Page 6

NEWS FROM THEREGIONS 2011

2010 a total of 14 travel grants and 14 short research stays wereawarded, and in 2011, 7 travel grants and 14 short-stays werefunded. Finally, Prolab was launched in 2010 to promotecooperative research by laboratories from two different LatinAmerican and Caribbean countries during two years. Its main goalis to set up collaborations with emerging groups and also open aspace for horizontal collaboration among established groups withinthe region. Two grants have been awarded for the two-year project:R. Buijs (Mexico)-R.P. Markus (Brazil), and C.L. de Oliveira (Brazil)-C.F. Centurión (Paraguay).

United States & Canada RegionalCommittee (USCRC)

Chair Gregory Quirk: In 2011, the USCRC has maintained successfulprograms (such as the IBRO Fellows School), continued productivecollaborations with the Society for Neuroscience International AffairsCommittee (such as the Teaching Tools Workshops in Africa), andhas initiated new programs that are particularly relevant to the IBRO

mission (such as the Hispaniola School). The US-Canada RegionalCommittee is dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge to theworld's neuroscientists; the promotion of research and professionaltraining activities across international borders; and the enhancementof public awareness of neuroscience worldwide. The goal of thecommittee is not to duplicate activities of the other IBRO RegionalCommittees, but to provide new opportunities and activities notcurrently offered by other parts of IBRO.

The USCRC worked with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL)and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) course instructors toidentify and encourage highly qualified and motivated researchtrainees from developing countries to apply for admission tosummer neuroscience courses at the MBL and CSHL. This initiativeis referred to as the “IBRO Fellows Program.” In 2011, five MBLfellowships and four CSHL fellowships were awarded.

The 5th Canadian School of Neuroscience on NeurodegenerativeDisorders and Brain Trauma took place in Montreal and Quebec Cityfrom May 23 to June 4. This North American/Canadian School ofNeuroscience supports the idea that developed countries shouldbecome the base for international neuroscience education. TheSchool’s organizing committee, in consultation with members of theIBRO Regional Committees for Africa (ARC) and Latin America(LARC) selected 12 students from over 125 applicants. The studentsincluded graduate students, postdoctoral trainees and junior staffand originated from Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa,Argentina, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

The USCRC has focused much of its international efforts on theTeaching Tools Neuroscience Workshops in Africa, with 2011Teaching Tools Workshop held at the University of Cape Coast,Ghana, from September 12 to 16. The course was directed bySharon Juliano, in collaboration with the ARC. After the success ofthe 2010 Hispaniola School of Neuroscience – "Trauma and theBrain," in Santiago, Dominican Republic – the USCRC, along withthe Society for Neuroscience and the NIH Blueprint forNeuroscience Team, decided to support a follow-up “AdvancedWorkshop.” Participants were the committed alumni of the 2010Hispaniola School of Neuroscience. This workshop went into depthon topics related to neurobiology that will allow the enhancementof the current teaching activities and the development of materialsto be used in teaching and dissemination in Haiti. In addition, amentored practicum that will involve collection of data related toneurotoxic exposure will be extremely useful in exposing students towhat research is about, and the resources available to them.

Western Europe Regional Committee(WERC)

Chair: Juan Lerma. Over the past year, committee members havepreserved the role of WERC in supporting young neuroscientists andstrengthened educational programmes in Western Europeancountries. To this end we used a range of different measuresinvolving as much as possible European regions and the continuousexchange with other IBRO regional committees. WERC supporteda number of high quality scientific educational programs through theaward of students’ fellowships:

• The Sevilla School in Neuroscience, organized by Jose-M.Delgado-Garcia, a European programme officially included inthe Postgraduate Programme of the Universidad Pablo de Olavide. In 2011, WERC funds fully supported six Latin-Americans and helped with small stipends for six more students coming from Spain.

• The 6th International Meeting on Steroids and Nervous System, held in Torino, Italy (February, 2011), for which WERCsupported the participation of young investigators coming from the East and less favoured countries.

• The French Society of Neuroscience (SdN), which pioneereda program in which young Latin American and South

Mediterranean neuroscientists, in their last year of their Doctoral degree or during their early post-doctoral stage, canattend the Society meeting and visit French laboratories in their quest for a post-doctoral position. This year, WERC assisted in the funding of three fellowships to students fromBrazil and Argentina, and seven students from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.

To further support intra-European mobility, WERC continued theInEurope Programme as a joint activity with CEERC; supportedyoung neuroscientists with travel grants to participate in the IBROWorld Congress in Florence; and cooperated with CEERC andFENS in the FENS-IBRO European Neuroscience Schoolsprogramme.

At the end of 2010, an Inter-Regional activity of the Africa and theWestern Europe regional committees, with the participation ofAsian/Pacific Regional Committee, took place on Reunion Island:the IBRO School of Neuroscience “Neurobiology of InfectiousDiseases: A View for Global Neuroscience.” Finally, WERCsupported the initiative by Micaela Morelli (WERC member), LaurentFagni and Marina Pizzi to arrange, on the occasion of the 8th IBROWorld Congress in Florence in July 2011, short stays in Europeanlaboratories of young investigators from countries with limitedresources. This program has been very successful and is providingthe opportunity for young investigators to participate in laboratorywork to gain knowledge of innovative techniques and establishpersonal contacts with researchers of the WERC region.

IBRO's APRC electsnew chairProfessor Tadaharu Tsumoto has beenelected by the IBRO Asia-PacificRegional Committee (APRC) as itsnew chair, taking over from Prof.Hitoshi Okamoto, whose term in officeofficially ended in 2010. Prof. Tsumotoworks as the Senior Team Leader forthe Laboratory for Cortical CircuitPlasticity at the RIKEN Brain ScienceInstitute, in Wako, Japan, where hisresearch interest is synaptic andcircuit plasticity in the visual cortex. Hehas served on the IBRO APRC since 2004 and was the presidentof the Japan Neuroscience Society from 2005 to 2010.

Prof. Tsumoto was the principal researcher of the HumanFrontier Science Program Research Grant "An IntegrativeApproach to the Study of Visual Cortical Plasticity: FromMolecular Mechanisms to Modeling." He was the BergerLecturer at the 10th International Congress of EMG andClinical Neurophysiology in Kyoto, Japan, and was thePlenary Lecturer at the 4th Congress of the Federation ofAsian-Oceanian Neuroscience Societies in Hong Kong and atthe 19th Iranian Physiology and Pharmacology Congress inTehran. In addition, he served as a regional correspondingeditor of NeuroReport, was the editor-in-chief ofNeuroscience Research from 2000-2009 and currently servesas a member of its Advisory Board.

Professor TadaharuTsumoto

7

w w w . i b r o . i n f o

20111st IBRO Middle EastNeuroscience Conference,held in Al Ain, UAE

≤

≤

Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

2011Future endeavours: IBROjoins Global Advocacy Project

20118th IBRO World Congress inFlorence, Italy

≤

The 4th Teaching Tools Workshop took place in Cape Coast, Ghana, inSeptember 2011, drawing participants from 11 African countries.

Young Investigator Rabiu Abdussalam Magaji (center), from theAhmadu Bello University, Nigeria, gained valuable experience workingin the laboratories of Juan Lerma (right) and Carlos Belmote (left) of theInstituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, University Miguel Hernandez-CSIC, in Spain, just prior to the IBRO World Congress in Florence.

New members electedfor APRC, ARC and LARCThe results of the election of new members of IBRO’s Asia-Pacific Regional Committee (APRC), Africa RegionalCommittee (ARC) and Latin America Regional Committee(LARC) are:

APRCShigang He (China)Nancy Ip (Hong Kong)Keiji Tanaka (Japan)Shubha Tole (India)

ARCMusa Mabandla (South Africa)Paul Manger (South Africa)Adesola Ogunniyi (Nigeria)Nilesh Patel (Kenya)

LARCLuis Aguayo (Chile)Jaime Eugenin (Chile)

The term of membership of IBRO’s Regional Committees isfour years, with half the membership replaced every twoyears. Members may be re-elected once.

IBRO members:Please update your details in the IBRO

Members database for the latestinformation about IBRO's activities:

www.ibro.info

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:10 Page 7

8

Rio de Janeiro

Janeiro, who presented the winningbid. “In addition, Rio de Janeiro willhave hosted the FIFA World Cup in2014 and will be preparing for theOlympics in 2016 – world-class eventswhich will provide the city with theinfrastructure needed to reach a recordnumber of participants."

Rio de Janeiro, the second largest cityof Brazil, is the third largestmetropolitan area in South America andboasts an extensive network of hotelsand hostels as well as myriad touristicand cultural opportunities. The BrazilianSociety for Neuroscience and Behavior(SBNeC) is a 35-year-old associationwith nearly 4000 members working inthe various fields of neuroscience.SBNeC has organized an annualmeeting since its foundation and wasresponsible for coordinating the FirstIBRO-LARC Congress ofNeurosciences for Latin America,Caribbean and Iberian Peninsula (INeuroLatAm) in 2008, whichcongregated more than 2,400attendees from 30 different countries.During this meeting, a Latin-AmericanFederation for Neuroscience (FALAN)was created, officially formalized in2009. FALAN now counts 10 countriesfrom Latin America and the Caribbeanas founding members, and Portugaland Spain as associate members.Neuroscience in Brazil benefits from anincreasing national investment inscience in the last decade that haspositioned Brazil as the 13th country innumber of papers published ininternational journals. This progressivescenario provides a fertile environmentfor young students interested inscience, in general, and neuroscience,in particular.

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 5

2011IBRO now counts 84 member societies in 61countries around the globe, with a membership ofmore than 75,000 neuroscientists

≤

Fifty Years of

IBRO 1961 2011

^The IBRO Visiting Lecture Team at Arba-Minch University, Ethiopia, in November 2010.

IBRO’s VisitingLecture Teambrings expertiseand experienceto developingneuroscienceprogrammesIn the final months of 2010, IBRO'sVisiting Lecture Team Programme heldexperiment-based lecture courses inEthiopia and Chile, covering a variety oftopics of current interest in basicneuroscience and exposing potentialresearch scientists to neuroscienceopportunities, both locally and abroad.

October 25 – November 2, 2010: ArbaMinch University, Arba Minch,Ethiopia. Forty-eight students from 9Ethiopian universities attended thiscourse, organized by Biniam Wondale(Arba Minch University, Ethiopia) andU.J. McMahan (Texas A&M University,USA). The 28 lectures coveredprinciples of neural signaling; structure,function and formation of synapses;physiology and pharmacology ofchannels and receptors; mechanismsof sensory transduction and signalingin the auditory system; structural andfunctional organization of and signalprocessing in the visual system; neuraldevelopment, degeneration andregeneration; and mechanisms ofplasticity. Research equipment andresources comparable to those enjoyedby students in countries having bettereconomies are in short supply inEthiopia, but as evidenced by thenature and quality of the 10-minutestudent talks, imagination and effortcan overcome the lack of wealth ingenerating useful scientific information,as attested to by the course lecturers:Jonathan Ashmore (University CollegeLondon, UK), Alisdair Gibb (UniversityCollege London, UK), U.J. McMahan,and John Nicholls (DepartmentInternational School for AdvancedStudies, Italy).

November 29 - December 7, 2010:University of Santiago, Santiago,Chile. This VLTP course, open tostudents throughout Chile, provided anopportunity not only to exposeUniversity of Santiago students to adetailed overview of problems inmodern neuroscience, but also tointroduce the new programme to thebroader Chilean academic community.Thirty-seven students from 5 Chileanuniversities attended this course,organized by Jaime Eugenin (Universityof Santiago, Chile) and U.J. McMahan.The 35 lectures included the principlesof neural signaling; structure, functionand formation of synapses; physiologyand pharmacology of channels andreceptors, mechanisms of sensorytransduction; structural and functionalorganization of and signal processing in

the visual system; neural development,degeneration and regeneration; andmechanisms of plasticity. The students,from undergraduates to graduates topost-docs and regardless of theiruniversity, were eagerly immersed in thestruggle to grasp the breadth and depthof neuroscience faced by all beginners.The lecture team consisted of ProfessorU.J. McMahan, Kenneth Muller(University of Miami School of Medicine,USA), John Nicholls, Richard Rotundo(University of Miami School of Medicine,USA), and Shlomo Rotshenker (HebrewUniversity Medical School, Israel).

IBRO leads off its 50th year with a new logoNew image for IBRO commemorates a half century of promoting neuroscience globally

The dawn of modern neuroscience – in the second half of the20th century – is when the International Brain ResearchOrganization (IBRO) also had its beginnings. Formallyestablished in 1961, IBRO was formed in response to thegrowing demand from neuroscientists in many countries for acentral organization that would cut across world boundariesand improve communication and collaboration among brainresearchers.

Today, IBRO is the global neuroscience federation dedicatedto the promotion of neuroscience and communication betweenneuroscientists around the world, with special emphasis onassisting young investigators in developing regions. IBRO nowcounts 84 member societies in 61 countries around the world,with a total membership of more than 75,000 neuroscientists.

“I truly believe that IBRO should be viewed as a reference point for neuroscientists around the world, and that itsmembers should share a sense of community and belonging,” said IBRO Secretary-General Pierre Magistretti.

To help mark IBRO’s 50th anniversary, a new logo has been designed to emphasize IBRO’s truly global reach and forwardmotion. A graphic representation of nerve cells replaces the brain image in the former logo, to be more consistent withtoday’s nomenclature of “neuroscience,” versus “brain research,” and to better encompass the various research domainsof IBRO’s members.

In addition, the nerve cells’ reach around the globe represents the many ways in which IBRO connects people aroundthe world, sparks new cross-regional initiatives, builds awareness of neuroscience and creates synergies that helpaccelerate the progress of neuroscience research.

“Over the past half century, IBRO has evolved to become the meeting point of neuroscientists from around the worldand, indeed, almost all neuroscientists are members of IBRO,” said IBRO President Carlos Belmonte. “I am proud to beassociated with this organization, which is perceived as the natural link between scientists working in less-developedcountries and those working in high-income regions of the world.”

FENS-IBRO Schools serve to increasequality of neuroscience education in EuropeSince 2004, IBRO has joined forces with the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) to increase thequality of neuroscience schools and courses throughout Europe. The FENS-IBRO European Neuroscience SchoolsProgramme, currently chaired by Ryszard Przewlocki, brings together educational activities previously sponsored byFENS through its Schools Committee and by IBRO's Regional Committees for Europe: Western Europe RegionalCommittee (WERC) and Central and Eastern Europe Regional Committee (CEERC). Starting in 2009, the Society forNeuroscience has joined to further its professional development activities within Europe. Among the goals of thisProgramme are decreasing the gaps between different European neuroscience curricula and between Europe and therest of the world – while maintaining regional research priorities – and increasing the mixing and collaboration of youngEuropean neuroscientists. A recent addition to this Programme has been the training of promising students comingfrom disadvantaged regions outside of Europe, made possible through travel grants.

The following Schools have been held in 2011: (1) “Development and plasticity of cortical representation,” Bertinoro,Italy, June 5-10, 2011. Organizers: Z. Molnar (UK), P. Rakic (USA). (2) “European Pain School 2011: Bridging moleculesand mind,” Siena, Italy, June 12 – 19, 2011. Organizer: M. Zimmermann (Germany). (3) “Causal Neuroscience:Interacting with neural circuits,” Bertinoro, Italy, June 19 – 24, 2011. Organizers: G. Buzsaki (USA) and M. Hausser(UK). (4) “Metabolic aspects of chronic brain diseases,” Günzburg, Germany, July 20 – 26, 2011. Organizer: P. Weydt(Germany). (5) “Advanced course in computational neuroscience,” Bedlewo, Poland, August 1 – 26, 2011. Organizer: P.Latham (UK). (6) “Lausanne & Geneva Training Centre: Imaging brain function in animals and humans,”Lausanne/Geneva, Switzerland, August 22 – September 9, 2011. Organizer: S. Bolea (Switzerland). (7) “Europeansynapse summer school,” Bordeaux, France, September 4 – 23, 2011. Organizer: C. Mulle (France). In early 2012:“Neural coding in sensory systems,” Obergurgl, Austria, January 8 - 15, 2012. Organizer: M. Bethge (Germany).

Middle East Initiatives

The aim of the Conference was to bringtogether neuroscientists from theMiddle East, North Africa and the restof the world to discuss the advances inthe field of basic and clinicalneuroscience, presenting a balancebetween the recent advances in basicneuroscience research and treatmentsof psychiatric and neurologicaldisorders. The conference providedlocal scientists with the opportunity tonetwork and establish collaborationswith leading international scientists inthe field as well as expatriateneuroscientists from the region.

According to IBRO Secretary-GeneralPierre Magistretti and the organizers oft h e M i d d l e E a s t S c h o o l a n dConference, the neurosciencecommunity that exists within the MiddleEast, while fragmented, is highlydedicated and eager to help pave theway for improved infrastructure anddevelopment programs for futuregenerations of neuroscientists.

A milestone meeting took place on theeve of the Conference, forming the FirstTransitional Committee for the IBROMiddle East & North Africa Chapter.Additionally, the second IBRO Middle-East Neuroscience Conference is beingplanned for 2013, in Beirut, Lebanon.

IBRO’S GLOBALREACH CONTINUES

NEW IBRO 2011_Layout 1 01/12/2011 16:10 Page 8