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IBRO International Brain Research Organization

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

The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), alongwith the Brazilian Society for Neuroscience and Behavior(SBNeC), invites the worlds neuroscientists to Rio de Janeiro,Brazil, for the 9th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience. TheCongress will take place from July 7 to 11, 2015, at theSulAmrica Convention Center, with convenient access toairports, beach hotels and many of the top sights within Riode Janeiro.

A truly global neuroscience meeting held every four years, the IBRO WorldCongress aims to promote neuroscience, increase communication and facilitatecollaboration between investigators throughout the world. Its participants comefrom every neuroscience domain and across every region of the world. Occurringbetween the Football World Cup (2014) and the Olympic Games (2016), the 2015IBRO World Congress will benefit from the preparations for these events that willhave greatly enhanced the citys infrastructure. Add to that an availability of 28,000hotel rooms at all price points, and Rio is well equipped to host the next IBROWorld Congress.

The scientific content will span all aspects of international neuroscience and willbe overseen by the 2015 IBRO World Congress Program Committee:Rafael Linden (Brazil) ChairChristian Giaume (France) Glia, Glia-Neuron InteractionMegan Holmes (UK) Homeostatic and Neuroendocrine SystemsChristine von Broeckhoeven (Belgium) Disorders of the Nervous SystemMu-ming Poo (China) Physiology: Neuronal Excitability and Synapse FunctionMin Zhuo (Canada) Sensory and Motor SystemsKeiji Tanaka (Japan) Cognition and BehaviorFreda Miller (Canada) DevelopmentAndrew Schwartz (USA) Physiology: Systems/Network Functions,ComputationalNeuroscienceRoberto Lent (Local Organizing Committee, Brazil)Dora Fix Ventura (IBRO LARC, Brazil)

Visit the 2015 IBRO World CongressWebsite: www.ibro2015.org

IBRO RALLIES THE WORLDS NEUROSCIENTISTSTO RIO IN 2015

In this issue:2014 IBRO Fellows 2

New Cajal TrainingProgramme 3

Pan-Europe Committee 4

News from the Regions 6-7

Spotlight on Africa 8

IBRO Governing Councilelects new IBRO presidentPierre J. Magistretti of Lausanne, Switzerland, began his three-year term as IBROPresident on January 1, 2014. He formerly served as IBROs Secretary-General from2010 2012, during which time he was instrumental in establishing the IBRO MiddleEast/Northern Africa (MENA) Sub-Region to further enhance the infrastructure forneuroscience research there. In addition, he launched the IBRO Global AdvocacyInitiative, a collaborative effort involving several other leading neuroscience societiesrepresenting all regions of the world.

Professor Magistretti has made significant contributions in the field of brain energymetabolism and the function of glial cells. He is currently the Dean, Division ofBiological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, at the King AbdullahUniversity of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, for which he is onleave from his posts as Professor at the University of Lausanne Medical School andHospitals Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (Department of Psychiatry) andProfessor at the Brain Mind Institute, Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), inLausanne. Below he discusses why he wants to continue his service to IBRO andhow the organization can impact the development of world neuroscience.

As IBROs former Secretary-General, what were the factors in your decision to run for the office of IBRO President?Im very keen about what IBRO does. It is a fantastic organization that fulfills a unique function in world neuroscience, as IBROreally connects people at all levels, especially in terms of training, from early level to very senior, through all the schools thatexist within the organization. IBRO also connects people across the world through its deep penetration within its regions,bringing unique, local characteristics and needs to the attention of our regional committees, and these needs are eventuallybrought up to IBRO Central and funded. I guess one can say that the phrase Think globally, act locally applies to IBRO,and Im proud to continue serving the organization in this new function as president. Im also extremely pleased to be workingcollaboratively with such an outstanding Secretary-General as Sten Grillner.

The IBRO Global Advocacy Initiative:Interview with Sten GrillnerThe IBRO Global Advocacy Initiative was launched in 2012, realizing the need togarner wider support for neuroscience research across the world. Its mission is toinform and educate key policymakers and other opinion leaders as well as the laypublic about new scientific knowledge and recent developments in research onthe brain and the nervous system, in both health and disease, on topics rangingfrom early development to aging.

The Initiative came out of an earlier collaboration between the Society forNeuroscience (SfN), whose advocacy efforts are mainly focused within NorthAmerica, and the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), whichis mobilizing its member societies to do advocacy work within European countries.Along with several other national neuroscience societies including the Japaneseand the Australian neuroscience societies SfN and FENS agreed that IBROshould become the worldwide coordinator of this initiative. Now ISN, theInternational Society for Neurochemistry, and the Dana Foundation have alsojoined the Global Advocacy Initiative. IBRO can ensure local content and relevantprogramming, due to IBROs deep, imbedded knowledge of other regions gainedthrough decades of capacity-building in less developed areas of the world. Sincemost of the funding for neuroscience is distributed through national fundingorganizations, the advocacy activities inevitably need to be carried out at thenational level. This initiative will help provide tools and knowhow for efficientadvocacy.

The IBRO Secretary-General and Chair of the IBRO Global Advocacy Committee,Sten Grillner, recently answered some questions about the plans and timing of thisimportant initiative:

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IBRO ANNOUNCESITS 2014 FELLOWS

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IBRO Research Fellowships, whichinclude the John G Nicholls and RitaLevi-Montalcini Fellowships, supportpost-doctoral training to applicantsunder the age of 45 for up to one yearabroad in high quality laboratories. TheIBRO Research Fellowships werecreated in honor of John G. Nicholls,the founding director of the IBROVisiting Lecture Team Programme(VLTP), and Rita Levi-Montalcini, winnerof the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiologyor Medicine for her discovery of thenerve growth factor.

Karina Abrahao, the 2014 IBRO JohnG Nicholls Research Fellow, earned herPhD from the Universidade Federal deSo Paulo (Brazil) and did post-

doctoral trainingat theUniversidade deSo Paulo. TheIBRO ResearchFellowship willallow her tobegin a secondpostdoctoralfellowship, this

Secretary-GeneralSten Grillner (Sweden)

PresidentPierre Magistretti (Switzerland)

TreasurerQuentin Pittman (Canada)

Regional Committee ChairsPierre M.K. Luabeya (Africa)Keiji Tanaka (Asia-Pacific)Juan Lerma (Europe)Dora Fix Ventura (Latin America)Omar El-Agnef (Middle East/NorthAfrica)Sharon Juliano (US/Canada)

Chair of the Fellowships, TravelGrants & Return HomeCommitteeMarta Hallak (Argentina)

IBRO Secretariat255 rue Saint-Honor75001 Paris, FrancePhone: +33 1 46 47 92 92ibrocentral@gmail.com

Executive DirectorStephanie de La Rochefoucauldstephanie@ibro.info

Director of Communications &ProgramsRobynn Rockstad-Rexrobynn@ibro.info

Professional DevelopmentCoordinatorAileen Guillaumeibroaileen@gmail.com

IBRO Web site:www.ibro.info

International BrainResearch Organization

The IBRO Fellowships, Travel Grants andReturn Home Program Committeerecently awarded Return Home Programgrants to five young neuroscientists from Mongolia, Nepal, Argentina, Mexicoand Egypt who are returning to theircountry of origin after research trainingabroad. IBRO launched the Return HomeProgram in 2006 to counteract braindrain and promote the growth of qualityneuroscience research in developingparts of the world. Each of the followingresearchers will be awarded 20,000 Eurosas start-up funds in order to establishtheir own laboratory and researchprogram.

Battuvshin Lkhagvasuren, from Mongolia,completed hispostdoctoral workin psychosomaticmedicine atKyushu Universityin Fukuoka, Japan.He will use theIBRO Return HomeProgram funding toestablish his ownlaboratory at theHealth Sciences University in Ulaanbaatar,Mongolia. The first Mongolian scientist whospecialized in and graduated inNeuroscience in a developed country, Dr.Lkhagvasuren plans to study the role of thehistaminergic arousal system inthermoception during hibernation.

I plan to pursue a career in neuroscienceupon the foundation of a Mongolian Societyof Neuroscience, focusing on thetransmission of knowledge of neuroscienceto present and future generations ofscientists, said Dr. Lkhagvasuren. Byawarding me the Return Home Fellowship,IBRO has lightened my financial burden,which allows me to focus more onestablishing my new laboratory.

IBRO awards five Return Home Program grants to promoteneuroscience research in the developing world

Ajaya Jang Kunwar, from Nepal, completedhis post-doctoraltraining at theCenter for MolecularNeurobiology, OhioState University,USA, after earninghis PhD at GeorgAugust Universityin Goettingen,Germany. He hasreturned to Nepalto establish his

own laboratory at the Nepalese ArmyInstitute of Health Sciences in Kathmandu, anewly established non-profit health scienceinstitute that provides laboratory space andbasic laboratory supplies, but does notprovide funds for researchers. Using theIBRO Return Home Program funding, Dr.Kunwar will study the effect of long termgonadal hormone deprivation on centralnervous system cytoarchitecture and on thebehaviors of male and female rats.

Due to lack of resources and researchfunding and inadequate support fromassociated agencies, running a researchcareer in itself is a challenging job, wrote Dr.Kunwar. "Though I have worked in the stateof facilities like [those found in] European andAmerican labs, its almost beyond the dreamto follow the same level of research here inNepal. Therefore, I have to focus on suchresearch which is feasible [within] the realityof developing countries like Nepal.

Lucia Alba-Ferrara, from Argentina,completed her post-doctoral training atthe University ofSouth Florida,USA, after earningher PhD at theUniversity ofDurham, UK. Shewill establish herown laboratory atthe Instituto SanLazaro de

Neurociencias/FULTRA in Salta, Argentina, whichhas active agreements with University ofSouth Florida Morsani College of Medicine,Washington University Medical School andHarvard Medical School. Dr. Alba-Ferrara isa qualified clinical psychologist and a well-trained neuroscientist who combines trainingin clinical as well as in experimentalpsychology with a background in basicneuroscience research, and she isparticularly interested in investigating the linkbetween emotional prosody deficits andauditory hallucinatory experiences.

We will recruit hallucinators from apopulation of indigenous inhabitants of theArgentinean Andes, wrote Dr. Alba-Ferrara.The clinical hallucinators will be medicationnave psychotic patients which, because lackof accessibility to the health system, havenever received treatment. The non-clinicalhallucinators will be culturally matched to thisgroup. We will use functional magneticresonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brainactivity during auditory halucinations in bothgroups.

Luis BernardoTovar y Romo,from Mexico,finished his post-doctoral trainingat the JohnsHopkins UniversitySchool of Medicine,USA, and will beestablishing his own

laboratory at the Universidad NacionalAutonoma de Mexico, in Mexico City. Whileworking on his PhD at the same laboratory, hissupervisor Ricardo Tapia, M.D., Ph.D. hadthis to say about him: Luis is one of the beststudents I have ever had. He is a verytalented, responsible, highly motivated anddedicated researcher, with initiative andability to solve technical and theoreticalproblems.

Dr. Bernardo Tovar y Romos research focusis the molecular mechanisms ofneurodegeneration and neuroregeneration:

The specific objective is to assess the role ofsignaling mediators released from vascularand neuronal progenitors in the preservationof neuronal survival and functionality, hewrote. The understanding of theseprocesses is of great importance for theimplementation of therapeutic strategies thatpromote the preservation of neuronal viabilityand the functional recovery in patients thathave suffered stroke.

Wael Mohamed, from Egypt, completed hisdoctorate degreeat Penn StateUniversity, USA.He is in theprocess ofestablishing hisown laboratory atMenoufia MedicalSchool in ShebinEl Kom, Egypt,where he isstudying the effectof early iron deficiency anemia on the brain.According to his scientific mentor, ProfessorRichard Kostrzewa of East Tennessee StateUniversitys Quillen College of Medicine, Dr.Mohameds achievements exceed theexpectations of a young academician, anddemonstrate his potential and desire todevelop as an accomplished scientist. Hepublished his first research paper while amasters student in Egypt, and he has nowfirst-authored eight scientific articles.

Early iron deficiency anemia is the mostprevalent single-nutrient deficiency in theworld today, significantly present indeveloping as well as industrializedcountries. In my home country of Egypt, thisis a major problem, leading to cognitiveimpairment, wrote Dr. Mohamed.Completing this work will greatly enhancethe management and treatment of somecognitive disorders like ADHD, especiallyamong school age children.

IBRO announces its 2014Research Fellows

time at the National Institutes of Health(NIH, in Bethesda, USA) in thelaboratory of David Lovinger, where herresearch will focus on understanding,via the use of optogenetic andelectrophysiological techniques, howethanol exposure can affect neuronaladaptations and behavior. IBRO hasbeen very influential in her career inneuroscience research thus far: I aman alumna of IBRO since 2006, startingwith a Visiting Lecture Team Programcourse in Manaus, Brazil. That time, Iwas very young and the School openedmy mind for Neuroscience, she wrote.Indeed, I discovered that I have a bigpassion for electrophysiology after anIBRO course in Montevideo, Uruguay.IBRO Schools gave me the opportunityto be in touch with several techniquesand ideas, and these shaped mycareer. Now its time to [take] anotherstep in my scientific career and go to avery high quality lab at NIH. I want tolearn techniques that Brazil does nothave yet mainly optogenetics,voltametry and, if possible, clarity andto be able to bring the knowledge toBrazil one day, to develop studies in the

addiction field.Pak Kan (Jacque) Ip, the 2014 IBRORita Levi-Montalcini Research Fellowfrom the Hong Kong University ofScience and Technology, hasinvestigated the molecular mechanism

of cortexdevelopment.With the IBROResearchFellowship, hewill work at thePicower Institutefor Learning andMemory at MIT

(Boston, USA) under the supervision ofProf. Mriganka Sur, focusing on thepathophysiology of autism spectrumdisorders. Dr. Ip has developed astrong interest in neuropsychiatricdisorders during his PhD research: Mylong-term goal is to use multipleapproaches including molecularbiology and circuit neuroscience tostudy how specific gene mutation leadsto various defects in neuropsychiatricdiseases, he wrote. The IBROfellowship will provide an invaluableopportunity to be trained, in a world-class laboratory, on deciphering thecomplex neuronal circuits and its role inautism. This training opportunity willallow me to combine this expertise inmolecular biology with cutting-edgecircuit neuroscience.

Important FundingDeadlines IBRO International Travel Grants

(July December 2014): March 1, 2014 SfN-IBRO Travel Grants 2014:

March 1, 2014 IBRO Research Fellowships, 2015:

June 1, 2014 IBRO Return Home Fellowships,

2015: September 1, 2014 IBRO International Travel Grants

(January June 2015): September 1, 2014

Check online at www.ibro.info for thedeadlines of all of IBROs RegionalFunding Programs:

Africa: Short Stay Fellowships in Africaor Abroad

Asia-Pacific: IBRO-APRC Exchange Fellowships and Interregional Travel Grants

Europe: PERC InEurope Short Stay Fellowships and Symposia/WorkshopsFunding

Latin America: Interregional Travel Grants, Schools and Short Courses Funding, Short Stay Fellowships and PROLAB

International Fellowships to Marine Biological/Cold Spring Harbor laboratories, USA

IBRO (the International BrainResearch Organization) is the

global neuroscience federationdedicated to the promotion of

neuroscience andcommunication between brainresearchers around the world,

with special emphasis onassisting young investigators in

the developing world.Incorporated in 1961, IBRO now

counts more than 80 membersocieties in over 60 countries

around the world, with amembership of more than

75,000 neuroscientists.

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IBRO INVESTS INEDUCATION & EXCELLENCE

IBRO and FENS collaborate inlaunching the Cajal TrainingProgramme Since the initiation of the FENS (Federation of European Neuroscience Societies)-IBRO European Neuroscience Schools Programme in 2006, more than 1000neuroscience students from throughout the European continent have receivedtraining through two-week neuroscience schools. However, despite the recognizedposition of European neuroscience and brain research as leading in multiple fieldsof neuroscience, a high-level, coordinated and dedicated training facility forneuroscience does not currently exist in Europe, similar to Cold Spring Harbor orWoods Hole in the United States.

The establishment of a prominent site for state-of-the-art European neurosciencetraining courses is important for the sustained development of the next generationof neuroscientists, said FENS President Marian Jols. Therefore FENS, with IBROas a full partner, has decided to replace their Schools Programme with a Centre ofExcellence Programme to draw participants from throughout Europe. The plan isto provide approximately six training activities per year, with courses spanningfive years.

IBROs commitment will ensure that the trainings held at the Centres of Excellencewill also be open for students from outside of Europe, said IBRO Secretary-General Sten Grillner. In the past several years, the IBRO Alumni Committeehas selected top-quality students from IBROs other Neuroscience Schools inother regions to participate in FENS-IBRO Neuroscience Schools, a successful

initiative that IBRO Officerswant to continue.

The two institutes chosen theUniversity of Bordeaux (France)and the Champalimaud Centrefor the Unknown (Lisbon,Portugal) were selected froman open bid process that calledfor, among other criteria, afaculty performing high-levelneuroscience research as wellas a commitment formaintaining training activitiesover several years. The courseprogram will start with aminimum of two courses inBordeaux in 2015 and one inChampalimaud, scaling up to asteady rate of at least four

advanced training courses in Bordeaux per year, starting in 2016, with two othercourses at the Champalimaud campus.

The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown a state-of-the-art biomedicalresearch facility with an impressive new set of buildings located directly on theAtlantic coast of Lisbon, Portugal houses the Champalimaud NeuroscienceProgramme (CNP), which hosts around 150 scientists and staff is lead by 15independent investigators. CNP laboratories apply advanced molecular,physiological and imaging techniques to elucidate the function of neural circuitsand systems in animal models that include Drosophila, mouse, rat and zebrafish.

Neuroscience research in Bordeaux has become, over the past 10 years, one ofthe most attractive sites across Europe, with more than 50 research groupsorganized in institutes and research units affiliated to the University of Bordeaux,the CNRS, the INSERM and the INRA. Bordeaux has a history of organizingattractive courses within the FENS /IBRO schools programme. The new advancedcourses organized in Bordeaux will greatly benefit from technical facilitiesequipped with the best up-to-date equipment in Molecular and Cellular imaging,functional imaging in vivo, functional genomics , animal behavior, human behaviorand psychopharmacology, and a movement analysis platform.

Due to the high complementarity between the Bordeaux and Champalimaudvenues, the absolute range of courses that may be offered through such a dualmodel will be quite remarkable with respect to topics, disciplines and technicalinfrastructure, said Professor Grillner.

Bordeaux (France), with a history of organizingsuccessful courses within the FENS-IBRO SchoolsProgramme, will potentially host four advancedtraining courses per year.

By Susan Sara (France), Chair: The major initiative of theCommittee in the past few years has been to organize aseries of alumni symposia within regional and internationalmeetings. We organized and supported three such symposiain 2013:

Alumni Symposium at the 2013 annual meeting of theSociety for Neuroscience: November 10, 2013, in SanDiego, USA. Co-chaired by former IBRO Alumni Symposiumspeaker Dr. Hailan Hu, the four speakers were all recipientsof IBRO return home grants and have recently establishedtheir own laboratories with the help of IBRO. MirandaMladinic (Croatia/Italy), Pedro Bekenschtein (Argentina), MirShahram Safari (Iran/Japan) and Mario Perell (Argentina)presented their research under the theme Modulation ofneuronal networks for behavioral adaptation: IBRO alumniaround the world on the cutting edge of neuroscience.

Alumni Symposium at the 2013 Meeting of the Society ofNeuroscientists of Africa (SONA): June 14, 2013, in Rabat,Morocco. Karim Fifel (Morocco), Solomon Umukoro (Nigeria),Toni-Lee Sterley (South Africa), Bamidele Victor Owoyele(Nigeria) and Philip A. Adeniyi (Nigeria) presented theirresearch under the theme Animal models for therapeuticintervention in neuropathological disorders.

Alumni Speakers at the NEURONUS 2013 IBRO & IRUNNeuroscience Forum: May 9-11, 2013, in Krakow, Poland.A session entitled Basic Neuroscience was chaired by

Matthew Holt from the VIB Center for the Biology of Disease,KU Leuven in Belgium, who gave a presentation entitledFundamental Mechanics of Membrane Trafficking: Lessonsfrom the Central Nervous System. Anthony Holtmaat fromthe University of Geneva in Switzerland presented a keynotelecture titled Compound mechanisms for sensory mapplasticity in the mouse barrel cortex. Both IBROInternational Alumni Lecturers also participated in a ScientificCareer Opportunities session held on the opening evening ofthe meeting, giving students and young and beginningneuroscientists an opportunity to learn more about scientificcareer pathways, experiences, and possibilities in a convivialand supportive atmosphere.

IBRO Alumni Lecture at the 2013 FENS Featured RegionalMeeting: September 12, 2013, in Prague, Czech Republic.FENS-IBRO School Alumna Ileana Hanganu-Opatz(University of Hamburg, Germany) delivered a lecture titledOntogeny of uni- and multisensory perception in rodents.

Additionally, the IBRO Alumni Committee supported JimmyOlusakin from Kampala University, Uganda to attend theFENS-IBRO Summer Synapse School at the Bordeaux,France, training center in September 2013. This initiativefollows the highly successful program established three yearsago to bring top students from IBRO Schools to EuropeanNeuroscience Schools, funded by the Alumni Committee.After the School, Dr. Olusakin spent one week in Paris at thelaboratory of Thomas Prat.

IBRO Alumni Committee shines the spotlighton inspiring young scientists

The 2013 SfN IBRO Alumni Speakers, who have each benefitted from IBROs Return Home Program (left to right): Mario Perell ,Pedro Bekenschtein, Miranda Mladinic and Mir Shahram Safari.

IBRO honors former presidentCarlos Belmonte for his service to IBROOn November 9, 2013, IBRO Secretary-General Sten Grillner led the IBROGoverning Council and Regional and Program Chairs participating in the meetingin a toast to two-term IBRO President Carlos Belmonte, whose second term inoffice finished at the end of 2013. Professor Belmonte thanked the IBRO GoverningCouncil for its trust in him during his presence in IBRO and also acknowledgedthe other IBRO leaders for being extremely positive and helpful, as well as the IBROstaff for being solution-oriented.

IBRO has progressed substantially in recent years in terms of consolidating itsglobal role in developing world neuroscience, and this is a result of the efforts ofall the people sitting here today, said Professor Belmonte, whose leadership ofIBRO has spanned several decades.

During his term in office as the IBRO Secretary-General from 1998-2001, Dr.Belmonte was instrumental in the reorganization of IBRO into six regions based on geographic, social and economic criteria.This structure has succeeded in giving neuroscientists in different parts of the world a direct voice in defining their own needsand priorities in research and science education. His recent contributions as IBRO President include working collaborativelywith national and regional neuroscience societies in joint programs, as well as fostering the advancement of neuroscienceresearch in the developing world, with a strong emphasis on excellence. He championed the idea of bringing together brilliantyoung neuroscientists to forge friendships and research collaborations that will continue as they become the future leadersin neuroscience.

Carlos Belmonte talks with IBROGoverning Council members during hisfinal meeting as IBRO President, the rolein which he served since 2008.

IBROs commitment will ensure that thetrainings held at the Centres of Excellencewill also be open for students from outsideof Europe.

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IBRO COMMITTEESLIGHT THE WAY

Women in World Neuroscience CommitteeChair: Emmeline Edwards (USA) During 2013, theCommittee on Women in World Neuroscience(WWN) continued to support a number of majorinitiatives around the world, to improve careerdevelopment, mentoring and networkingopportunities for women neuroscientists around theworld, with special attention to women indisadvantaged regions. Some of the activitiesincluded:

Neuroscience for Daily Life of Women WWNpartially supported this Roundtable Discussion inMaracaibo, Venezuela, with women from Haiti and Venezuela who are involved in brain disorders research.

III Course of Experimental Neuroscience of Tolima: Cerebral Microdialysis from Theory toPractice WWN provided partial funding for thiscourse, taking place at the University of Tolima (Colombia).

Junior Women Neuroscientists in Africa: A Sample from North, South, East and West Africa SONA 2013 (Rabat, Morocco) This symposium, co-sponsored byWWN, was proposed and chaired by Abdul Mohammed (Sweden/Kenya) and Nouria Lakhdar-Ghazal (Morocco), and attracted more than one hundred participants.

Female Neuroscientists on the Move: From Bench to Bedside and Back SONA 2013 (Rabat, Morocco) All presentations at this symposium highlighted the work of female neuroscientists engaged in research spanning fromBasic to Translational and Clinical Research.

Global Mentoring Program: Enhancing Access Through Skype WWN has provided six Skype units to WWN membersin developing countries in order to facilitate on-line mentoring at the Punjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, University of Karachi (Pakistan) and the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Makerere University(Uganda).

Functional Approaches to Increase Collaborations and Strengthen Research Networks WWN sponsored this symposium held during the 2013 Society for Neuroscience meeting.

The IBRO WWN partially funded the Experimental Neuroscience course inTomila, Columbia, as well as sponsored two promising femaleneuroscientists who will use the microdialysis techniques they learnedthere to enhance their current research.

IBRO Ethics in ResearchCommitteeChair-Elect: Pedro Maldonado (Chile) The IBRO Ethics in Research Committeehas three main aims: (1) reaching out to educate and provide information to thosewith little knowledge of animal research, (2) promoting the ethical researchguidelines for research in general, and (3) providing specific information to moreadvanced groups of scientists and animal care workers that request suchguidelines. Here are Committee highlights from the past year:

Symposium at the SONA meeting in Rabat, Morocco: The Committeepresented a Symposium at the Society for Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA)conference in May 2013, titled The Ethics of Neuroscience in Africa, coveringthe history of bioethics; the importance of proper protocols, planning experiments,ethical committees, and animal activism; the ethics of using wild caught andunusual animals in research; and the ethical challenges faced by researchers inthe laboratory environment.

Participation in an IBRO school in Africa: Each year the Committee coordinateswith the IBRO Africa Regional Committee to select a neuroscience trainingprogram in which to include special sessions on ethics. In September 2013, theEthics in Research Committee participated in the IBRO Workshop on Epilepsy inKigali, Republic of Rwanda, which connected Committee members to highlymotivated individuals in Kigali who are interested in creating an upcoming regionalworkshop in Kigali focusing on ethics.

Regional meetings in Latin America: The Committee of IBRO organized a small,regional workshop with eight neuroscientists from five different Latin Americancountries to discuss the current state of scientific ethics in both human and animalneuroscience research in Latin America. In addition, Committee member SilvinaDiaz organized a meeting linking neuroscience researchers across Latin Americawith animal care specialists to discuss the ethics of using animals in research,among other topics.

IBRO officially merges its two Europeanregional committees, creating thePan-Europe Regional Committee (PERC)A new IBRO regional committee, the Pan-Europe Regional Committee (PERC), has been officially formed, combining whatwere previously the IBRO Central & Eastern Europe Regional Committee (CEERC) and the IBRO Western Europe RegionalCommittee (WERC). At a joint meeting with CEERC and WERC members held in Krakow, Poland, on May 11, 2013, the twocommittees voted to merge their identities into one committee serving all of Europe, as well as operate from the same budgetstarting in 2014. The former CEERC and WERC were created in 1995, defined and created largely based on theconsequences of the political and ideological differences existing at the time, according to IBRO past President Carlos

Belmonte, who was serving as IBROs Secretary-General when the two separate committees wereformed. Much has changed in Europe and theworld, since then.

I believe the integration of the two Europeanregions into a single one is a rather logicalaction, said PERC Chair Juan Lerma. No doubtthis is a step forward towards making a strongerEurope, because both regions could benefit fromeach other in fostering neuroscience.

In the past several years, the CEERC and WERChave been collaborating on programs such asthe InEurope Short Stay Grants program, whichincreases intra-European mobility of youngresearchers by providing grants for short, goal-directed exchanges within Europeanlaboratories, so that they can acquire newmethods or specific techniques that arenecessary for their work. New plans areunderway to launch programs that willencourage further cross-Europe collaboration.

New committee aims to optimize resources and opportunities for youngEuropean neuroscientists, as well as strengthen cross-Europecollaboration.

Visiting Lecture Team ProgramChair: U.J. (Jack) McMahan (USA) The IBRO Visiting Lecture Team Program(VLTP) has been instrumental in launching neuroscience programs in areas wherenone existed. Students coming to a Visiting Lecture Team Program course typicallycome from wide range of scientific disciplines, which is why the VLTP coursescover a variety of topics of current interest in basic neuroscience. The lecturerslengthy contact with students is another hallmark of the VLTP, which benefitsstudents when they pursue overseas training and other opportunities for careeradvancement. As a result, the IBRO VLTP has been influential in many brilliantyoung students decisions to embark on a career in neuroscience, including the2014 IBRO Research Fellow Karina Abrahao and 2009 Research Fellow SergiuPasca, who was just offered a tenure-track Assistant Professorship at StanfordUniversity (USA).

In 2013, the IBRO VLTP traveled to Latvia and Paraguay to expose potentialresearch scientists to neuroscience opportunities, both locally and abroad:

Center for Cognitive Neurosciences and Semantics, University of Latvia, Riga,Latvia August 21-29, 2013. The courses 52 students came mostly from Latviabut also included several students from Lithuania and Estonia, and were earningdegrees in biophysics, biology, physics, psychology, cognitive neuroscience,pharmacology, and biomedical engineering. There were also four medical students,three advanced BS students and two postdoctoral fellows.

After the course, many commented on the fact that it was the first time they hadhad the opportunity to interact with professors in a profound way, and that it wasinspiring to see, as presented in the course, how systematic, rigorousexperimentation leads to the creation of previously unimagined and usefulknowledge, said visiting lecturer Jack McMahan.

Universidad Nacional De Asuncion, Faculdad De Ciencias Medicas,Asuncion, Paraguay October 10-16, 2013. More than 50 students attendedthis course, which included 25 lectures on basic and clinical neuroscience andsmall group discussions.

In November 2013, the IBRO Ethics in Research Committee organized aworkshop in Montevideo, Uruguay, to review national policies across Latin Americaand to coordinate regional activities.

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Neuroscience, the journal:A message from the Chief EditorStephen Lisberger reports: Neuroscience continues to thrive and publish excellentpapers in a changing environment for scientific publication. The Journal is adaptingto new challenges, new competitors, and new ways of presenting scientificresearch. The field of brain research is becoming increasingly an internationaldomain, and Neuroscience receives an increasing fraction of its papers fromoutside the traditional regions of North American and Europe. Journals thatoperate on the open access model are springing up in many forms, andNeuroscience is reacting by continuing to provide a good author experience whileretaining a culture of strenuous but fair peer-review. Our editorial process is basedon editors who are also working scientists, and who endeavor to curtail theexcessive requirements of a small set of reviewers. We maintain a median time ofjust over 30 days from submission to first decision, and we now publish papers aspart of an issue within 6-7 weeks after acceptance. Neuroscience continues toallow the authors the freedom to include all the material they need to present theirresearch, without limitations on length or number of figures. We also attempt topresent unified, readable papers by disallowing supplementary figures or text. Oneof the major features of the Neuroscience brand is our Special Issues. Thesecontain commissioned review articles on timely themes and appear about fourtimes a year. Look for a number of interesting Special Issues in the coming year.

NEUROSCIENCENEWS & INITIATIVES

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The 2012 Neuroscience Cover Competitionwinner features illustration depicting the roleof endocannabinoids in the extinction of fearThe winning cover of IBROs annual Neuroscience Cover Competitionfor 2012 is from an article by C.J. Riebe, F. Pamplona, K. Kamprath andC.T. Wotjak, titled Fear relief - towards a new conceptual frame workand what endocannabinoids gotta do with it. The article andcorresponding cover illustration were featured in a special edition ofNeuroscience (volume 204, pp 159-185) that was published in March2012, titled Stress, Emotional Behavior and the EndocannabinoidSystem.

First author and originator of the winning cover design, FabricioPamplona, is a scientific researcher of the D'Or Institute of Research andEducation (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Also serving as articles first author isCaitlin Riebe, from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry ResearchGroup on Neuronal Plasticity (Munich, Germany). The winning coverfeatured an image of a man working to balance himself while walkingacross a tightrope. Dr. Pamplona explains the significance of the imageas follows: We represented the endocannabinoids as a balance stickthat helps a person to walk across the stressful events of the daily life ina urban scenario. The daredevil picture represents somebody that facesits challenges with confidence. And I wonder if such a person must havea well-tuned endocannabinoid system to keep safe." Illustration of winning cover

Patrik Verstreken to be awarded2014 IBRO-Kemali Prize for Researchin the Field of Basic and ClinicalNeurosciencesThe Ninth International Prize of the IBRO-Kemali Foundation will be awarded toPatrik Verstreken of VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) and KU Leuven,(University of Leuven), Belgium. The IBRO-Kemali International Prize for Researchin the Field of Basic and Clinical Neurosciences isawarded every two years to an outstanding researcher,under the age of 45, who has made importantcontributions in the field. As the winner of this prize, 38-year-old Patrik Verstreken will receive 25,000 Euros fromthe IBRO-Kemali Foundation and will be invited to givea featured lecture at the 2014 Federation of EuropeanNeuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum of Neuroscience,taking place from July 5 to 9 in Milan, Italy.

"Patrik Verstreken was chosen to receive the 2014IBRO-Kemali Prize in recognition of his outstandingwork on mechanisms underlying presynaptic transmitterrelease, and its relevance to neurodegenerativediseases," said Marina Bentivoglio, chair of the IBRO-Kemali Foundation Scientific Committee. TheIBRO-Kemali Foundation (formerly the Dargut andMilena Kemali Foundation) was established in 1996 by Dargut Kemali, a renownedpsychiatrist at the University of Naples, and by the will of his late wife MilenaAgostini Kemali (1926-1993). Upon Dargut Kemalis death in 2011, IBRO absorbedthe Foundation, according to his wishes.

Young Belgian hasproduced seminalresearch on synaptictransmission andParkinsons disease.

From your perspective, what are the key points about the brain that most need to be conveyed to both the public andlawmakers?That the brain is of central importance from many different perspectives, such as to: understand the normal function of the brain and thereby ourselves, maintain a healthy brain throughout life, understand the many devastating diseases of the brain that make patients suffer and are responsible for no less than one

third of the costs for health care in Europe and elsewhere, develop new forms of therapy, including novel forms of drugs, transfer the knowledge of learning and memory to the field of education, utilize the knowledge of the brain for the development of robots that can perceive the environment and use this information

to make rational decisions. Such service robots should be designed to assist humans with everyday tasks, and also patients.

How does the IBRO roadmap for global advocacy differ from the projects already initiated by SfN and FENS?The FENS/SfN project can be considered a pilot project, in which the various European Neuroscience societies took part ina workshop highlighting successful examples of advocacy from different countries, including those in North America, and thestrategies followed by national initiatives. With this as a background we have now started to implement a global plan, in whicheach region (i.e., South America, the Asian-Pacific area and Africa) will organize similar workshops.

What do you see as the biggest barriers to increasing resources for neuroscience research in less developed regionsof the world?As is the case in some developed regions as well, the local economies dont allow for making research a priority. What is evenmore significant is that the political leaders may not realize why to engage in brain research. Therefore our task is to alert ournational societies to the need for them to engage in advocacy, to inform lawmakers and the public of the need. And that theyshould support research perhaps in particular centers in which competence can be developed.

Are there plans to increase the partners and resources with which IBRO is working, to boost critical mass in termsof influencing policymakers around the world and the lay public?Yes, we have plans to reach out to other like-minded associations, and we have been also expanding from the initiation, withthe addition of the Dana Foundation and the International Society for Neurochemistry, for example.

How will IBRO identify the top priorities and challenges for each region or country?In each of the IBRO regions during 2014 we will have a workshop including all the national societies, with a program thatshould include speakers with different backgrounds and skills in advocacy, as well as regional and national funding agencies,and also relevant political organizations or academies. For example, in Africa we want to include the African Academy ofSciences. The goal will be to bring all the different viewpoints together to identify the key issues, priorities, resources andactionable steps. This will be followed by actions during 2015-16 funded by the seed money we have collected thus far, andperhaps other types of funding.

The IBRO Global Advocacy Initiative: Interview with Sten Grillner (Continued from page 1)

IBRO Governing Council Elects New IBRO President (Continued from page 1)

IBRO Member SpotlightThe International Neuroinformatics CoordinatingFacility (INCF), an IBRO member since 2011,develops collaborative neuroinformatics infrastructure and promotes thesharing of data and computing resources to the international researchcommunity. Neuroinformatics integrates information across all levels andscales of neuroscience to help understand the brain and treat disease.For more information: www.ibro.info/incf.

What are your goals for IBRO duringyour term as President?I think IBRO can play a very importantrole in Global Advocacy. I would alsolike to continue IBROs past PresidentCarlos Belmontes vision to continueto differentiate between the early andthe more advanced stages of IBROschools. In particular I intend to furtherconsolidate the IBRO College model,where very talented and well-trainedneuroscientists from less favoredcountries can interact with young

faculty from more established countriesto form collaborative relationshipsamong the future leaders inneuroscience. Also, as IBROsSecretary-General, I was very involvedin developing the MENA region andIBRO has already been successful inAfrica and South America, but I thinkwe can also be very useful in high-potential countries such as China andIndia, and I would like to become morefamiliar with their needs andexpectations.

How can IBRO help meet thechallenges facing neuroscientists indeveloping parts of the world?Training is a large part of IBROs efforts.IBRO also helps well-trained scientistsgo back to their home countries andexpand upon their competencies inways that are meaningful for the localneeds there. IBRO also works toestablish neuroscience competenciesand capacity-building in less favoredregions by nurturing solid connectionsbetween countries with established

neuroscience programs and those withfewer resources.

As IBROs Ambassador to the World,what are the key messages aboutIBRO that you most wish to convey?Organizations such as IBRO are atestimony to the fact that scienceworks without borders. Serving as acommon language, science can securea better world and serve as a bridgebetween different cultures, carrying amessage of peace. I really hope the

IBRO meeting in Rio de Janeiro, in2015, will be a success, and I call uponall the neuroscientists in the world to bethere. Its a different meeting from thosetaking place in the US, Europe and inthe national societies, in that it is trulyinternational with scientists from allover the world, and we should supportit as much as we can. The Congresssexcellent International ProgramCommittee will ensure an outstandingprogram.

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NEWS FROMIBROS REGIONS

Asia-Pacific Regional CommitteeChair: Keiji Tanaka, Japan

In the past year, the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee funded the following activities:

Schools Guangzhou, China, March 21-29, 2013. Organized by Sun Yat-sen University (Bin Jiang). Nan-Tong, China, October 25 to November 1, 2013. Organized by Nantong University (Fei Ding). Tehran, Iran, October 26 to November 6, 2013. Organized by the Medical School of Tarbiat Modares University (Prof. Saeed

Semnanian).

Advanced Schools Clayton, Australia, January 30 to February 1, 2013. Organized by Monash Biomedical Imaging Center, Monash University. Sunway, Malaysia, September 1-30, 2013.

Organized by the Brain Research Institute, MonashUniversity Sunway Campus (Ishwar Parhar).

Associate Schools Bangkok, Thailand, July 29 to August 3, 2013.

Organized by Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital (Kanokwan Tilokskulchai).

Islamabad, Pakistan, September 30 to October 4, 2013. Organized by the National University of Sciences and Technology (Touqeer Ahmed).

Varanasi, India, October 19-23, 2013. Organized bythe Banaras Hindu University (M. K. Thakur).

APRC Exchange Fellowships Dr. Jitendra Kumar Sinha (National Institute of

Nutrition, Hyderabac, India). Host: Prof. Margaret Morris (University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia).

Dr. Touqeer Ahmed (National University of Sciencesand Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan). Host: Dr. Joshua Johansen (RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan).

Dr. Taskina Ali (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib MedicalUniversity, Dhaka, Bangladesh). Host: Prof. Saeed Semnanian (Tarbiat Modares University, Iran).

Africa Regional CommitteeChair: Pierre M.K. Luabeya, Belgium

In the past year, the IBRO ARC sponsored the following professional development activities within the African continent:

Regional Meeting: 11th International SONA 2013 Conference. Rabat, Morocco, June 8-12, 2013. Organized by N. Lakhdar-Ghazal.

Symposia & Workshops: Symposium on cognitive screening and dementia in sub-Saharan Africa: December 4-7, 2012, in Nairobi, Kenya. Organized

by R. Kalaria. Workshop on Peripheral Neuropathies in the Tropics: April 20-23, 2013, in Kinshasa, DRC. Organized by P. Luabeya. 6th Teaching Tools Workshop: June 7-12, 2013, in Rabat, Morocco. Organizer S. Juliano. Workshop on Getting your article ready for submission: June 9-12, 2013, in Rabat, Morocco. Organized by M. Bentivoglio. ARC-MENA Symposium on Khat: June 9, 2013, in Rabat, Morocco. Organized by A. Mohammed and M. Al'Absi. IBRO Workshop on Epilepsy: September

23-24, 2013, in Kigali, Republic of Rwanda. Organized by F. Sebera andM. Perez Arroyo.

Schools: ARC/IBRO/ISN School "Addiction to

Drugs of Abuse - From Neurochemical toPathological Aspects": June 8-12, 2013,in Rabat, Morocco. Organized by N. Lakhdar-Ghazal, R. Butterworth and M. Al'Absi.

5th IBRO-EFNS Regional Training Course: July 10-13, 2013, in Dakar, Senegal. Organized by A.G. Diop and R.N. Kalaria.

2nd School on Insect Neuroscience andDrosophila Neurogenetics: August 19 - September 8, 2013, in Bushenyi, Uganda. Organized by L. Prieto Godino, S.Yusuf, J.Berni and T. Baden.

IBRO School on Salvaging Neurons Blending Basic and Clinical Neuroscience: December 2-6, 2013, in Ibadan, Nigeria. Organized byA. Ogunniyi.

Latin America RegionalCommittee (LARC)Chair, Dora Fix Ventura, Brazil

Most of the academic activities promoted and organized by LARC were co-sponsored and partially financed by local institutions (universities, researchinstitutes, national research councils, private foundations, etc.) and internationalscientific organizations. The main activities taking place over the past year aresummarized below:

Meeting or Workshop VI Neurotoxicity Society Meeting, Mechanisms of neurodegenerative

disorders: March 21-24, 2013, Valdivia, Chile. Neuronal Cytoskeleton Workshop 2013; ICGEB-Chile "Second Workshop -

Emerging Concepts on Neuronal Cytoskeleton: May 26-30, 2013, Maitencillo,Chile.

First Joint Meeting on Alcohol and Other Drugs of Abuse: from molecules to human disorders: October 16-19, 2013, Concepcin, Chile.

Schools VII Latin American Summer School on Epilepsy: Sao Paulo, Brazil,

February 17- 26, 2013. Organized by E.A. Cavalheiro. 2nd Caribbean School of Neuroethology: May 12-25, 2013, Havana, Cuba.

Organized by E. C. Mora.

Travel Stipends Four travel grants of 1200 euros each

for intra-regional travel to congressesand meetings.

Ten short-stay grants for laboratory visits within Latin America.

PROLAB (launched in 2011 to promote cooperative research by laboratories from Latin American andCaribbean countries and Brazil duringtwo years). This past year, five exchange groups were funded by LARC: (1) Investigation of the contribution of the visual pathways for the generation of visual evoked potentials using conventional methods and pseudo random stimulation, in humans, between Federal University of Par (Brazil) andUniversidad Nacional de Tucumn (Argentina); (2) Signaling in radialglial cells (Mller and Bergmannglial cells) byneuro- and gliotransmitters, between Centro de Investigacin y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV) (Mxico), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro(Brazil), and Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF); (3) Mitochondrial impairment in astrocytes following traumatic brain injury: potential neuroprotective strategy by hMSCm, between Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colmbia), and FederalUniversity of Bahia (Brazil); (4) Role of the dorsal hippocampal 5- HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors in the potentialization of the startle response in CHF and CLF rats, between Pontificia Universidade Catlica do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Universidad de los Andes (Colombia); and (5) Bioinformatic analysis of the genetic origin of the evolution of the mammal brain with neuronal diversity butnon neuronal conservation, between Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniera Gentica y Biologa Molecular (INGEBI), CONICET (Argentina).

IBRO Inter-Regional ProgramIn 2014, IBRO supported two high-level colleges, bringing together students frommore than one region in order to interact at a global level and work collaborativelyin the future:

IBRO-Kemali College: RNA & the Etiology of Brain Disease. August 25 - 31, 2013, in Cortona, Italy. Students came from IBROs Asia-Pacific, Europe and US/Canada regions. Organized by C. Bagni.

IBRO College: Dynamic Imaging in Neuroscience.December 3-12, 2013, in Valdivia, Chile. Studentscame from IBROs Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. Organized by F. Barros.

In Guangzhou, China, PhD students came from China, Pakistan,India, Malaysia, Nepal and Thailand to participate in the IBROSchool on the subject of probing the activity of the neural network inthe brain.

Sharon Juliano (USA) leads a workshop session at the 36th IBRO Africa RegionNeuroscience School, "Salvaging neurons: blending basic and clinicalneuroscience," in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Drs. Pautassi and Fabio, from Argentina,presented their poster Prenatal ethanolexposure affects learning and extinctionin adolescent rats at the First JointMeeting on Alcohol and Other Drugs ofAbuse, in Concepcin, Chile.

At this hands-on College in Valdivia, Chile, practicalactivities gave students firsthand experience withtechniques they need to know or to implement for theirown projects.

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NEWS FROM THEREGIONS 2012

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Middle East/Northern AfricaSub-Region (MENA)Chair: Omar Mukhtar El-Agnaf, United Arab Emirates

Despite political unrest affecting parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa overthe past year, causing delays or cancellations of previously planned activities, theMENA Sub-Region supported the following professional development events:

1st IBRO-MENA Neurogenetics School October 2012, in Tunis, Tunisia. Organized by F. Hentati, O. El-Agnaf and R. Amouri.

Parkinsons Disease & Related Neurodegenerative Disorders Workshop, March2013 in Dubai, UAE. Organized by A. Almadani, J. Inshasi, O. El-Agnaf and S. Alrukn.

6th International Conference on Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders in the Middle East, October 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey. Organized by M. Emre.

IBRO-MENA Neuroscience Research Symposium & Grant Writing Workshop, November 2013 in Sanaa, Yemen.

New IBRO Regional CommitteeChairs AnnouncedFour new regional committee chairs have been appointed this year, responsible forleading their committees in planning and implementing the professional-developmentand capacity-building activities carried out locally, within their respective region:

Dora Fix Ventura has been elected the new chair of theIBRO Latin America Regional Committee (LARC). Sheis a Full Professor at the University of So Paulo (USP)Institute of Psychology in So Paulo, Brazil, was ViceDean of the Institute, and was twice Head of theDepartment of Experimental Psychology there. Inaddition, she has been a founder, board member andpresident of several scientific societies. Recently, shewas awarded the Neurocincias Brasil Medal by theSociedade Brasileira de Neurocincias eComportamento SBNeC (2010).

Pierre Mesu'a-Kabwa Luabeya, Professor ofNeurology at the Haute Ecole de la Province de Namur,Belgium, and the Kinshasa University School ofMedecine, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),has been appointed as the new chair of the IBRO AfricaRegional Committee (ARC). One of the foundingmembers of the ARC, Prof. Luabeya is also an activemember of the Association pour la Promotion desNeurosciences (APRONES). Through his work with bothIBRO and APRONES, Prof. Luabeya has strengthenedlinks with local, regional, international societies ofneurosciences, such as the Congolese League AgainstEpilepsy and the World Federation of Neurology.

The IBRO Asia-Pacific Regional Committee hasappointed as its new chair Keiji Tanaka, DeputyDirector of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute and theLaboratory Head of its Cognitive Brain MappingLaboratory in Wako, Japan. He has served on thecommittee of the Human Frontier Research Program(HFSP) for long-term fellow selection, on the GoverningBoard of the International NeuroinformaticsCoordinating Facility, and on the organizing committeeof the Cold Spring Harbor Asia First NeuroscienceSymposium. In 2008 Professor Tanaka was awardedScience and Technology Prize by the Japanese Ministryof Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology,and he won the Neuronal Plasticity Prize from the IPSENFoundation in 2007.

Sharon Juliano, of the Uniformed Services Universityof the Health Sciences (USA), was recently elected aschair of the U.S./Canada Regional Committee. She hasplayed a vital role in promoting neuroscience educationand training in the global community through herorganization of workshops and courses in LatinAmerica, Eastern Europe, and Africa, and has alsopreviously served as the Chair of IBRO's Ethics inResearch Committee. Professor Juliano has beenhonored with several awards, including the FlexnerAward for Outstanding Research (Institute for Neurological Sciences) and theDistinguished Service Medal. In 2012, the Society for Neuroscience presented herwith the Award for Education in Neuroscience.

Dora Fix Ventura

At the 1st International Summer School for Neuropathology and Epilepsy Surgery,held in Erlangen, Germany, funds from IBRO-PERC made it possible for severalparticipants coming from Croatia, Serbia, Portugal, Brazil and Romania to attend.

United States& CanadaRegionalCommittee(USCRC)Chair: Sharon Juliano,United States

The IBRO USCRC works to leverageresources from within its region to thebenefit of economically challenged anddeveloping regions of the world. Withinthe past year, the USCRC carried outthe following activities:

The IBRO Fellows Program: Theintent of this program is to identifyqualified students in resource restrictedcountries, especially those who havebeen to IBRO schools, and provide theopportunity for them to attend anadvanced course at the MarineBiological Laboratory (MBL) or ColdSpring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in theUnited States. This year, the USCRCsupported six students from India,Cuba, Argentina and Nigeria to attendcourses at MBL.

The 7th Canadian IBRO School ofNeuroscience: May 13 to May 26,2013, in Montreal and Toronto,organized by A. Aguayo and E. Cooper.This School, which was held inconjunction with the CanadianNeuroscience Society, supports theview that international neuroscienceschools work well in developedcountries. Participants includedgraduate students, postdoctoraltrainees, junior staff, and clinicianscientists who reside in Kenya, Tunisia,Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa,Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba. This year, theSchool also had the opportunity to linkto the 4th International Congress onNeuropathic Pain.

The 6th Teaching Tools Workshop(TTW) Fundamentals ofNeuroscience: June 7 to 12, 2013, inRabat, Morocco, organized by S.Juliano. The TTW participants engagedin active discussion about how tointegrate a program of Neuroscienceinto their curriculum, how to influencetheir heads of department, and how tomotivate their students and colleagues.Grants from The Grass Foundation andthe Society for Neuroscience madepossible a special lecture from MichaelBoivin (USA) on Cognitiverehabilitation after severe malaria.

TTW instructor Nilesh Patel assistsworkshop participants with a computerprogram designed to assist in teachingthe fundamentals of neuroscience.

Pan-European RegionalCommittee (PERC)Chair: Juan Lerma, Spain

In the past year, the IBRO PERC sponsored the following professionaldevelopment activities throughout the continent of Europe:

Travel Grants: PVWEL Travel Stipend Program: Fifteen PhD students from developing countriesin Latin America and Africa were awarded travel grants to attend national societiesmeetings and visit local labs on behalf of the French, the Spanish and thePortuguese neuroscience societies. InEurope (Intra-European Mobility Program): Six PhD students/young postdocsfrom Western, Central and Eastern Europe were funded to visit Europeanlaboratories for up to one month, to acquire new methods or specific techniquesthat are necessary for their work.

Symposia, Workshops and Meetings: International Meeting Steroids and Nervous System: Torino, Italy 1st European Neuroscience Conference by Doctoral Students: Bordeaux, France 7th European Conference on Comparative Neurobiology: Budapest, Hungary NEURONUS Meeting: Krakow, Poland Dopamine 2013: Alghero, Italy The first 10 years of the Master Program in Neurobiology at the University of

Pavia (2003 - 2013): Pavia, Italy Neurodevelopmental Basis for Health and Disease: Egmon aan Zee,

The Netherlands 7th International Symposium on Experimental and Clinical Neurobiology: Kosice,

Slovakia 17th International Symposium on Chromaffin Cell Biology: Rouen, France Social Cognitive Neuroscience: Trieste, Italy European Congress on Visual Perception: Bremen, Germany Imaging the brain at multiple scales: Lange Sin-Anaastrat, Belgium FENS Featured Regional Meeting 2013: Prague, Czech Republic 11th International Congress of the Polish Neuroscience Society: Poznan, Poland International Summer School for Neuropathology and Epilepsy Surgery (INES):

Erlangen, Germany Spanish Young Investigator Symposium: Oviedo, Spain SiNAPSA Neuroscience Conference '13: Ljubljana, Slovenia Current Trends in Biomedicine: Membrane Traffic at the Synapse: Baeza, Spain Current Aspects in Pathophysiology of Alzheimer's: Braga, Portugal Applied Neuroscience Industrial Biotechnologies in Neuroscience: Trieste, ItalyThe Regions of IBRO

Pierre M.K. Luabeya

Keiji Tanaka

Sharon Juliano

Middle East/Northern Africa Sub-Region

IBRO's Regional Committees work to create and support education and trainingprograms that are suited to local needs and to promote neuroscience careers foryoung researchers within each region.

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IBROS SPOTLIGHTON AFRICA

2013 SONA Conferencehighlighted neurosciencegrowth, opportunities in AfricaIBRO through its Africa Regional Committee (ARC) and several other committees was a major sponsor of the 11th International Conference of the Society ofNeuroscientists of Africa (SONA) Conference. With the theme Let us change theworld by advancing neuroscience research in Africa, the Conference took placefrom June 13 to June 17, 2013, at the Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V-AgdalUniversity in Rabat, Morocco. Speaking at the opening session was RobertHorvitz, Nobel Prize recipient for his work on apoptosis in nematodes. The closinglecture was given by Abdesslam El Khamlichi, who recently received a lifetimenomination as President of Honor of the World Society of Neurosurgery.

This conference marks a step forward in the maturity of the Society by proposinga new vision to modernize the functioning of SONA to meet international standardsaccepted by all the members of the society, said Nouria Lakhdar-Ghazal, Chairof the 2104 SONA Conference Organizing Committee, at the Opening Ceremony.By this investment SONA has been able to attract more than 36 symposiumproposals, all of excellent scientific stature, from throughout the world. In addition,attendance at this meeting in Morocco has more than doubled, compared toprevious meetings. We can all feel proud that SONA has become an internationallyrecognized neuroscience society.

In addition to IBRO Centrals financial support of this regional meeting, severalIBRO Committees participated in the 2013 SONA Conference:

The IBRO Women in World Neuroscience Committee sponsored a symposium titled Neuroscience in Africa: A Sample from North, South, East and West Africa.

The IBRO Alumni Committee hosted a symposium titled Animal models for therapeutic intervention in neuropathological disorders.

The IBRO Ethics in Research Committee presented a symposium on The Ethics of Neuroscience in Africa.

Pre-conference events also sponsored by IBRO included a neuroscience school,a teaching tools workshop, and a writing workshop to aid young Africanneuroscience investigators in the preparation and submission of scientificmanuscripts.

The final attendance at the 2013 SONA International Conference in Rabat, Morocco,was 269 participants coming from 30 countries, 19 of which were African countries.

New Writing Workshop for Africans focusedon improving chances of getting theirresearch published To have a successful scientific research career, its either publishor perish. The experience of the IBRO-ARC workshopGetting Your Article Ready for Submission held from June 9 to 12, 2013, in Rabat, Morocco showed that capacity-building initiatives aimed at the preparation and submission of scientific manuscripts to indexed journals are much neededfor African neuroscientists.

In partnership with the Rita Levi-Montalcini Foundation, IBRO held its firstworkshop specifically dedicated tohelping young African neuroscienceinvestigators prepare an article forsubmission to scientific journals.Organized by Marina Bentivoglio (Italy),the event was one of several satelliteevents sponsored by IBRO taking placein the vicinity of Rabat, Morocco, leadingup to the SONA Congress held there.Along with Professor Bentivoglio, thementors for this workshop includedRoger Butterworth (Canada), Krister Kristensson (Sweden) and IBRO Alumnus Samir Ahboucha (Morocco).

According to Professor Bentivoglio, the workshop was verypractically oriented, with the aim to prepare final versions ofmanuscripts already drafted by young African investigators, inorder to make articles ready for submission to a peer-reviewedjournal. The participating students came from Cameroon,Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, South Africa, Kenya andNigeria. So far, several students have submitted theirmanuscripts to scientific journals.

One of the articles (submitted by the workshop participantIsmail Ogunbayode Ishola pictured left, with his mentor Prof.Butterworth from the University of Lagos, in Nigeria) hasbeen accepted for publication by the Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry journal. Uponnotification that his article was accepted to be published, hewrote the following to Professor Bentivoglio: The writing

paper workshop was of great help to me. It really changed my art of writing a scientific paper. You and Professor Butterworthdeserve so much, as I would not have sent the paper to a journal with this much of an impact factor.

IBRO African School focusedon addiction to drugs of abuse Drug use in Africa is rapidly escalating, not only for cannabis and khat, butespecially the more dangerous drugs which are often contaminated that userscan easily purchase. Understanding the dangers of drug abuse and themechanisms involved in the brain are therefore of critical importance in Africa,where such research is lacking despite the scientific potential that exists there tostudy the problem. Held from June 8 to 12, 2013, the IBRO African NeuroscienceSchool Addiction to drugs of abuse: from neurochemical to pathological aspectsopened many possibilities to develop research in this topic in Africa, while itsworkshops proposed simple methods that could be learned and reproducedlocally. Taking place just prior to the SONA meeting in the vicinity of Rabat,Morocco, the School was a joint venture between IBRO and the InternationalSociety for Neurochemistry (ISN) on the topic of addiction to drugs of abuse, frombasic to therapeutic approaches. The third- and fourth-year PhD studentsattending the School came from Morocco, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya,Cameroon and South Africa.

6th Teaching Tools Workshop: Integratingneuroscience into higher-level educationThe 6th Teaching Tools Workshop (TTW) was hosted by University Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco, from June 7-12, 2013,receiving support from the Society for Neuroscience, IBRO and The Grass Foundation. Twenty-six participants attended,who originated from 11 African countries. Organizer Sharon Juliano reported on the Workshop:

The teaching program focused on Fundamentals of Neuroscience. We presented elements necessary for a basicunderstanding of Neuroscience: fundamentals of neurons and glia, principles of electrophysiology, selected aspects ofsensory and motor processing and function, and limbic system function. The program also devoted time and effort topedagological principles and discussion of how to teach effectively. Strongly integrated into the program was our focus onthe interactive process and involving the student to be actively present during teaching. Also included were interactiveactivities and laboratories to be conducted in groups.

We also spent substantial time on discussion of how to teach effectively on the continent of Africa. Although many regionsof Africa have excellent technological capability and access to information, there are many that do not. Teachers can belimited by poor resources, such as lack of electricity, minimal availability to technology, poor or intermittent internet access,or extremely large classes. The TTW participants engaged in active discussion about these issues, as well how to integrate

a program of Neuroscienceinto their curriculum, how toinfluence their heads ofdepartment, and how tomotivate their students andcolleagues. After leavingthe Workshop, the studentsare encouraged to engagetheir superiors in discussionabout curriculum revision.This past year we receivedmany reports that ourparticipants have presentedto their department headswith the hope of creating aNeuroscience curriculum intheir facility.