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NeuroFest 10th Anniversary - A decade of neurotech innovation

🎤 Vocab

❗ Information

NeuroFest 10th Anniversary Program

12:30 P.M. - 1:00 P.M. - Doors Open

Enjoy hands on, interective NeuroActivties, NeuroPoster presentations by trainees and vote for your favorite NeuroArt 2025 image!

1:00 P.M. - Director’s Welcome

Marie Burns, Ph.D. Professor of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, Cell Biology and Human Anatomy and interim Director of the Center for Neuroscience, welcomes you to NeuroFest 10th Anniversary and provides an overview of neuroscience of UC Davis and the day’s exciting presentations and activities

1:10 P.M. - NeuroFest 10th Anniversary Overview

Diasynou Fioravante, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurobiology. Physiology and Behavior, is a co-founder of NeuroFest, She studies small neural circuits to better understand learning, memory and plasticity

1:25 P.M. - New Genetic Technologies Reveal the Inner Lives of Neurons

Alex Nord, Ph.D. is a Professor of Neurobiology. Physiology and Behavior, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. His research explores gene regulatory circuits and chromatin dynamics in the brain, with the ultimate goal of understanding the biological components of human diseases and brain disorders.

1:55 P.M. - Leveraging Stem Cell Models to Shed Light on Neurodegenerative Diseases

Martine Therrien, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is the NeuroFest 10th Anniversary Committee Chair. She uses stem cell models to study how genetics and the environment impact the brain in health and disease.

2:25 P.M. - 3:10 P.M. - Break for NeuroArt, NeuroActivities, and NeuroPosters

Last chance to visit NeuroActivities, NeuroPosters and the NeuroArt 2025 exhibit and vote for your favorite image!

3:15 P.M. - Emerging Deep Brain Stimulation Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease

Carina R. Oehrn, M.D., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery, Her research explores the neural networks underlying cognitive and affective processing in Parkinson’s disease to develop novel deep brain stimulation therapies to improve non motor symptoms.

3:45 P.M. - Model-Based Control: A New Stimulation Approach for Treating Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases?

Jochen Ditterich, Ph.D., Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, studies neural mechanisms linking perception and action, In particular, decision-making, to better understand the neural foundations of cognition.

4:15 P.M. - NeuroPoster Awards, Passport Drawing, and Closing Remarks

Passport Drawing and Closing Remarks Will DeBello, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and NeuroFest 10th Anniversary Committee Co-Chair
Kostas Zarbalis, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and NeuroFest 10th Anniversary Committee Co-Chair

✒️ -> Scratch Notes

Taken from handwritten notes

1st → 2nd
Alex Nord: Inner lives neurons
Martine Therrien: Stem cells and neurodegeneration

Talk 1: New Genetic Technologies Reveal the Inner Lives of Neurons

Alex Nord
1:25: Talk Qs:
• How does DNA → brain
• What are cell types in brain
• How do mutations change neurons & behavior
• How can they be leveraged

CRISPR/CAS can edit the genome
Works through:

Cas9 endonuclease can do a double strand break of DNA
RNA loaded by Cas can read read along the DNA

After this you can cause:

Random mutations (virology usefulness)
Gene editing

CHD8 - Key gene they’re studying, thought to cause brain overgrowth.

Autism?

CRISPRa - (Activational)
CRISPRi - (Inhibitory)

tools to turn genes on & off

ASOs - Antisense Oligonucleotides

Change translation

DNA
↓ ← Crispr
RNA
↓ ← ASOs
Protein

Properties of single cells: scRNA-seq

Access & manipulate single neurons?

AAVs
AAV = adeno-associated virus, non-immunogenic
Recombinant = change the genetic material so virus can’t copy itself

Virus payload of DNA
DNA to be expressed in cell

Talk 2: Leveraging Stem Cell models to Shed Light on Neurodegenerative Diseases

Martine Therrien

Age dependent neurodegenerative diseases

ALS
Alzeihmers
Parkinson’s

Alzheimers will be continued

Its very prominent:
@ 45 years old, 1/5 women and 1/10 men will have it

2/3 of alzheimers victims are women

Some treatments, but mostly attributed to lifestyle as a remedy

Over 100 risk genes identified

Pluripotent - Capable of developing into multiple different cells
iPSC - Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Brain is more than neurons:

Microglia
Astrocytes
Oligodendrocytes
…

Amyloid beta is floated as a potential treatment

Microglia around amyloid plaque?

APP creates amyloid?

Shown a cool video of microglia swarming a laser injury

They immediately engulf it

APOE - Genetic risk factor and disease microglia marker

Produces lipid droplets? Fat?

To study why some microglia are diseased and others aren’t:

link gene expression to function

Villages to study hundreds of donors simultaneuosly, cut down on manpower of seperating them into their own dish:

mtherrien@ucdavis.edu
gliomics-lab.com

Talk 3: Emerging Deep Brain Stimulation Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease

Carina R. Oehrn

Talk seems to be about this paper: Chronic adaptive deep brain stimulation versus conventional stimulation in Parkinson’s disease: a blinded randomized feasibility trial | Nature Medicine

came in a few minutes late :(

STN - Subthalamic Nucleus

Why aren’t these treatments more common?

New tech is still emerging

Chronic Adaptive DBS:

Neural signal biomarkers of symptom states:

Gamma oscillations fluctate with most bothersome symptoms, a precursor

aDBS - adaptive DBS

Stimulation-stimulation gamma power fluctuates at home during constant stimulation

Article about the technology, testimonial - A Personalized Brain Pacemaker for Parkinson’s - The New York Times

Different frequencies of DBS can be beneficial:

Theta stimulation can help WM
Gamma stimulation helps motor abilities

creohrn@ucdavis.edu
Oehrn Lab | The Oehrn Lab

Q&A Notes:

This is novel (the adaptive part)
Most are one way, only stimulating. Recording and adapting has shown potential.
Also, saves time in adjusting/tuning stimulation. These tend to be long 1 hour sessions every 3 months

Tremors are a weird symptom?

Auditory stimulation at a frequency has shown potential. Putting the good frequencies in the brain through sound.
- The only symptom it seemed to improve
Grows resistant to DBS

Talk 4: Model-Based Control: A New Stimulation Approach for Treating Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases?

Jochen Ditterich

Role of computational models in neuroscience?

Fundamental neuroscience (understanding neural mechanisms)
Translational applications (therapeutic neuromodulations)

Engineers approach to controlling dynamic systems:

In the brain instead:

Record neural activity
Act on the brain (electrical stim)

Do a model task, and record from parietal association cortex

He explains dynamic systems models and vector flow fields

Model Based Control - Understanding the dynamic system, and taking ‘smart’ routes to desired outcomes (avoiding heavy resistance, etc.)

🧪 -> Refresh the Info

Did you generally find the overall content understandable or compelling or relevant or not, and why, or which aspects of the reading were most novel or challenging for you and which aspects were most familiar or straightforward?)

Did a specific aspect of the reading raise questions for you or relate to other ideas and findings you’ve encountered, or are there other related issues you wish had been covered?)

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NeuroFest-10th-Anniversary