baw 2019 report - fens.org files/baw/baw 2019 report.pdf28. brain awareness week 2019: at the...

DANAfoundation-FENSfundedEuropeanBrainAwarenessProjects

FinalReport2019

2017

Armenia/YerevanBosniaandHerzegovina/TuzlaCroatia/Osijek,ZadarDenmark/AalborgØstFinland/HelsinkiFrance/Grenoble,ValbonneGermany/BerlinGreece/Athens,IoanninaHungary/Szeged,BudapestIreland/GalwayIsrael/JerusalemItaly/Trieste,Verona,ReggioEmiliaNetherlands/Amsterdam,RotterdamPoland/WarsawPortugal/Lisbon,CoimbraRomania/BucharestRussia/Perm,St.-PetersburgSerbia/BelgradeSpain/Barcelona,SantJoandAlacant,MadridSwitzerland/VaumarcusTurkey/Gebze,IzmirUkraine/KyivUnitedKingdom/DenmarkHill,Cambridge

2018

Armenia/YerevanBelgium/LeuvenCroatia/ZadarDenmark/AalborgØstEstonia/TallinnFrance/Bordeaux,Marseilles,Paris,Valbonne,NouzillyGermany/BerlinGreece/AthensHungary/Budapest,PecsIreland/GalwayItaly/TorinoPoland/KrakowPortugal/CoimbraRomania/Braila,3projectsinBucharestRussia/St.-Petersburg,KazanSerbia/BelgradeSlovenia/LjubljanaSpain/Barcelona,Murcia,BurjassotSwitzerland/BaselTurkey/GebzeUkraine/KyivUnitedKingdom/Edinburgh,Cambridge

2019

Austria/SalzburgBelgium/BuggenhoutCroatia/Osijek,ZadarFrance/Paris,Grenoble,Gonesse,NantesGermany/Berlin,Bonn,HeidelbergGreece/TwoeventsinHeraklionHungary/Budapest,Szeged,DebrecenIreland/MaynoothItaly/Messina,TorinoPoland/Warszaw,StareMiasto,KrakowPortugal/Coimbra,LisbonRomania/BrailaRussia/St.-PetersburgSerbia/BelgradeSlovakia/BratislavaSlovenia/LjubljanaSpain/Murcia,Valencia,Barcelona,ToledoSwitzerland/BaselTurkey/GebzeUnitedKingdom/Leicester,London

2019AwardedProjects–GeographicalDistribution

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TableofContents

1. Introduction 32. Selectionprocedure 33. Selectedprojects 34. Reportsoftheselectedprojects 61. NeuesSehen-neubewegen! 62. #TheSmellChallenge 83. Mightyanimalbrains 94. TheMoralBrain 105. BrainAwarenessWeekinParis 126. Everydayerrorsasawindowintobrainfunctioning 137. Discoveryourbrain 148. SeriesofneuroscienceeventsinNantes 159. BrainAwarnessWeekBerlin 1710. 9thAnnualDeutscheNeurowissenschaftenOlympiade 1911. HellenicSocietyforNeuroscienceactivitiesduringBAW2019:Educatingstudentsandthepublicaboutthebrain 2112. DendrITEsWorkshop:Learnandrememberthepath!Forestofdendritictreesinbrain! 2313. Thedigitalworldandthebrain 2514. Alzheimer’sdisease,whenyourbrainletsyoudown 2615. NeuroscienceforTeens:KnowYourBrain 2816. PaintingMusic:SoundasVisionviaSynaesthesia 3017. WhathappenedtoMr.Brain? 3118. DigitalMind-Lectures,workshops,guidedtours 3219. Greatdiscoveriesofneurobiologyandneuromedicine 3520. Stressinourbrainanditsmeaninginourlives 3721. Neuroscienceboat;Brainawarenessontheriver 3922. BrainO’Clock–timetomakeitright! 4023. BrainFair:ScientistsandCommunity! 4324. TrainYourBrain 4425. 6thSt.-PetersburgBrainAwarenessWeek"Braininmotion" 4526. Thelifeofbrain 4827. Togetheragainstdementia-BrainAwarenessWeekinBratislavaandKosice2019 5028. BrainAwarenessWeek2019:Atthethresholdofpain 5129. MUSICANDRHYTHM.Themusicalbrain:senses,emotion,memories&rhythm 5330. Neuromascletà:MeetingNeuroscientistsintheStreetduringFallasFestival 5531. BAW2019attheDepartmentofExperimentalandHealthSciencesofPompeuFabraUniversity 5632. BrainAwarenessWeek2019attheHospitalNacionaldeParapléjicos:explorersofthedamagedandhealthynervoussystem 5833. Freepubliceveninglectures,posterexhibitionandguidedtoursattheAnatomicalMuseumpresenting

thetopicsofBasel'sBrainResearch 6034. OurBrainEventsinGreaterIstanbulKocaeliRegion 6235. Brain,BehaviourandBeyond 6336. Otherwaysofcommunicating:AphasiaandBrainAwarenessWeek 65

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1. Introduction

TheDanaFoundationisofferingfinancialsupportofupto1,000EURtothosewhoorganiseabrain

awarenesseventduringtheBrainAwarenessWeekperiodinMarch.TheDanaFoundationhasasked

FENS to administer this support reserved for European organisations contributing to the Brain

AwarenessWeek(BAW).

In2019,thedirectorsofTheDanaFoundationoncemoreapprovedagranttoFENS.

2. Selectionprocedure

FENSdistributed theDanagrants inacompetitiveprocedure.Acall forapplicationswas launched

andthebestprojectswereselectedbyacommitteecomposedof:

- MalgosiaKossut(EDABExecutiveCommitteeMember)

- RolandPochet(BelgianBrainCouncilSecretaryGeneral)

- EvaSykova(DABIandEDABExecutiveCommitteesmember)

- DoraReglodi(FENSSecretaryGeneral-elect)

- HarmKrugers(FENSTreasurer-elect)

- DervilaGlynn(ChairoftheFENSCommunicationsCommittee)

3. Selectedprojects

75 applications from 28 different European countrieswere submitted, of which36 projects in 20

differentEuropeancountrieswereselectedforsupportbytheDana–FENSgrants.

ThefollowingBAWprojects(listedbycountry)wereselectedforfunding:

1.HowfastisourBrain?-LaraBieler(ParacelsusMedicalUniversitySalzburg,Austria)

2.TheSmellChallenge-AnnVanderJeugd(KULeuven,Belgium)

3.Mightyanimalbrains-VedranaIvic(FacultyofMedicineOsijek,Croatia)

4.TheMoralBrain-NatašaŠimić(UniversityofZadar,Croatia)

5.BAWinParis,France-LaurenceLanfumey(IPNP,France)

6.Everydayerrorsasawindowintobrainfunctioning-MarcelaPerrone-Bertolotti(Univ.Grenoble

Alpes,France)

7.Discoveryourbrain-EvinaaSellaiah(SanofiChillyMazarin,France)

8.SeriesofNeuroscienceevents: frombraindevelopment topathologies -ArnaudNicot (INSERM,

France)

9.BrainAwarnessWeekBerlin2019-LindaTidwell(EinsteinCenterforNeurosciences,Germany)

10. 2019 Regionals Deutsche Neurowissenschaften Olympiade - LaShae Nicholson (Deutsche

NeurowissenshaftenOlympiadee.V.,Germany)

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11.HellenicSocietyforNeuroscienceactivitiesduringBAW2019:Educatingstudentsandthepublic

aboutthebrain-KyriakiSidiropoulou(UniversityofCrete,Greece)

12.DendrITEsWorkshop:Learnandrememberthepath!Forestofdendritictreesinbrain!-Georgia

Soursou(InstituteofMolecularBiologyandBiotechnology(IMBB-FORTH),Greece)

13. The brain and the digital world - Emilia Madarász (Institute of Experimental Medicine of

HungarianAcademyofSciences,Hungary)

14. Alzheimer’s disease,when your brain lets you down -Maria Deli (Biological Research Centre,

HungarianAcademyofSciences,Hungary)

15.NeuroscienceforTeens:KnowYourBrain-SzintiaSzert(UniversityofDebrecen,Hungary)

16.PaintingMusic:soundasvisionviasynaesthesia-RichardRoche(MaynoothUniversity,Ireland)

17.WhathappenedtoMr.Brain?-DonatellaRuggeri(Hafricah.NET,Italy)

18.TheNewRevolution:TheDigitalMind-Artificialintelligence,bigdataandprecisionmedicinein

neuroscience-GiuseppeZappala(CentroScienzaOnlus,Italy)

19. Great discoveries in neuroscience and neuromedicine - Dorota Nowicka (Nencki Institute of

ExperimentalBiology,Poland)

20.Stressinourbrainanditsmeaninginourlife-JoannaGadomska(EconomicalandServiceHigh

SchoolF.ChopininŻychlin,Poland)

21.Neuroscienceboat:Brainawarenessontheriver-RafalRygula(InstituteofPharmacologyPolish

AcademyofSciences,Poland)

22. Brain O’Clock – time tomake it right! - Ana Viegas (CNC – Center for Neuroscience and Cell

BiologyandiCBR–CoimbraInstituteforClinicalBiomedicalResearch,Portugal)

23. Brain Fair: Scientists and Community - Margarida Castro-Caldas (iMed.ULisboa, Faculty of

Pharmacy,UniversityofLisbon,Portugal)

24.TrainYourBrain-CristianGurzu(NationalCollegeNicolaeBalcescu,Romania)

25.6thSt.-PetersburgBrainAwarenessWeek "Brain inMotion" - IrinaSukhotina (PavlovFirst St.-

PetersburgStateMedicalUniversity,Russia)

26.Thelifeofbrain-MarijaPetronijevic(StudentsectionofSerbianneurosciencesociety,Serbia)

27. Together against dementia - Dasa Cizkova (Institute ofNeuroimmunology, Slovak Academy of

Sciences,Slovakia)

28. Brain AwarenessWeek 2019: At the threshold of pain - VesnaMarija vanMidden (SiNAPSA -

Slovenianneuroscienceassociation,Slovenia)

29. XVI BAW inMurcia. Themusical brain: senses, emotion,memories& rhythm -Maria-Trinidad

Herrero(UniversityofMurcia,Spain)

30. Neuromascletà 2019: Meeting Neuroscientists In The Street During Fallas - Lucia Hipolito

(UniversityofValencia,Spain)

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31.BAW2019attheDepartmentofExperimentalandHealthSciencesofPompeuFabraUniversity-

MariCarmenCebrián(PompeuFabraUniversity,Spain)

32.BrainAwarenessWeek2019attheHospitalNacionaldeParapléjicos:explorersofthedamaged

andhealthynervoussystem-HugoVaraRivera(HospitalNacionaldeParapléjicos,Spain)

33. Fromneuronal circuits tomental concepts, decisions andmovement: Freepublic lectures and

discussionplatformsoncurrentneuroscienceresearchtopics-NicoleSchaeren-Wiemers(University

ofBasel,Switzerland)

34. Our Brain Events in Greater Istanbul Kocaeli Region - Isil Kurnaz (Gebze Technical University,

Turkey)

35.Brain,BehaviourandBeyond-AndrewYoung(UniversityofLeicester,UnitedKingdom)

36. SpeakRed:workshops andaperformanceofwork inprogress - FinnBeames (Oedipa,United

Kingdom)

FENSwarmlycongratulatesthegrantwinners!

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Geographicalspreadofthe2019Dana/FENSgrantwinners

France

Spain

Hungary

Poland

Croatia

Germany

Greece

Italy

Portugal

UnitedKingdom

Austria

Belgium

Ireland

Romania

Russia

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Switzerland

Turkey

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4. Reportsoftheselectedprojects

1. NeuesSehen-neubewegen!

DatesandDuration:14/03/2019

Contact:

Mrs.LaraBieler

ParacelsusMedicalUniversitySalzburg

InstituteofexperimentalNeuroregeneration

Strubergasse21,5020Salzburg,Austria

Email:[email protected]

Co-organiser

Dr.BrunoBenedetti


ParacelsusMedicalUniversitySalzburg

InstituteofexperimentalNeuroregeneration

Thisyear,yourgeneroussupportallowedtoorganizeanexcellentworkshop,whereateamoffive

youngscientistsentertainedandinformedc.a.100highschoolstudents,duringtheBrainAwareness

Week2019.Ourworkshop(theoreticallectureandhands-oninteractivedemonstrations)tookplace

atthemuseum„HausderNatur“inSalzburg,on14thofMarch2019.

During each session, highly interested pupils and their teacher listened to a short introductory

lectureabouthowthebrainisprocessingandfilteringsensoryinput/feedbacktoaccuratelyperform

a guided movement. Afterwards the pupils were divided in four groups to perform hands-on

experimentsinsmallerteamsonrotation,sothateveryonehadthechancetoseeeverystationand

beactivelyinvolved.

Most stations demonstrated how important our sensory feedback is even to performwell-known

tasks. However, after interferingwith the sensory inputwell-known tasks became rather difficult

duetomismatchingsensoryfeedback.E.g.thepupilshadtotraceastarfollowingaguidingoutline

onpaper.Whentheycouldwatch theirhanddirectly the taskwaseasyandquick (c.a.5s),but it

becamemuchlonger(c.a.30s)andharderwhentheycouldonlyseetheirhandatthemirror:Same

motortask,butdifferentsensoryfeedback.Adjustingtothenewtypeoffeedbackcouldbetrained

andthebestmotorperformancewaseventuallyrewarded(withchocolate!).

In our newest station,made possible by your generous funding, we demonstrated how long our

brainneedstoreacttoanauditoryorvisualinput.Todoso,weusedthe„BackyardsBrain“muscle

spikerboxpro(laterreferredtoasEMG-Box)incombinationwithareactiontimer.Thepupilsplaced

electrodesontheirflexormusclesontheirlowerarmandcouldobserveEMGsignalsuponflexionof

theirownmuscles,atacomputermonitor.Inafirstexperimenttheyhadtoflexthewristasquickly

aspossibleinreactiontoanauditorytrigger-signal.Everyonetriedveryhardtobethefastestofthe

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class, comparing reaction times amongst “competitors” with millisecond precision. In a second

hands-on demonstration, additional electrodes were also placed on the other lower arm and

connectedtotheEMG-Box.So,itwascontemporaneouslypossibletomeasureEMGsignalsfromthe

leftandfromtherightarm.Inthisdemonstration,ouryoungguestshadtoreacttoahightoneby

flexingtheirleftwristandtoalowtonebyflexingtheirrightwrist.Thealternativeoptionsrequired

choosing between sensory signals to perform the appropriatemotion. This significantly increased

thereactiontimeduetotheneedtothinkaboutwhichwrist to flex.Reactiontimeswereat least

doubledbytheneedofincreasedmentalprocessing.

Thesameexperimentsweredoneforvisualinputs,showingthatvisualinputprocessingisgenerally

slower than auditory input processing. Furthermore, we demonstrated the differences between

reactiontimeandreflexes,explainingwhyareflexcanbefasterthananyreaction,basedontheir

previousexperience.Wehadnicediscussionswiththepupilsandtheywereverymotivatedtosee

more about what can be done with the EMG-box beside the actual experiments, questioning

where/how they could buy/build one of those boxes. In conclusion, further than explaining to

students about connections between motor coordination and sensory feedback, we could

quantitatively show the different time and effort that are necessary to process various types of

sensoryinformationtocontrolsimilarmotortasks.

Werepeatedthisworkshopthreetimeswithdifferentschoolsandweconsistentlyreceivedavery

positivefeedbackbystudentsandteachers.

Adding to the hands-on experiences here described, other small stations and “games” were

organized (self-funded) and run in parallel, during each workshop session. In this regard, your

supportwasnotonlycrucialforincreasingtheexcellenceofourpresentation,butitalsoallowedto

act as catalyst, attractingmore volunteers that participated to theworkshop and presented their

hands-on complementarydemonstrations. Involvingmoreyoung scientists topresentat theBrain

AwarenessWeekofSalzburgisoneofourmainlong-termgoals.

Bypurchasingnewmaterialwithyoursupport,wereallycoulddelivera fascinatingandexpanded

workshop.Stimulatedbythesuccessandbytherewardingfeedbackwealreadyplannedtocreate

additionalworkshops,intheupcomingyears,andfurtherexcitingoutreachactivitiesinAustria.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.hausdernatur.at/de/projekttage.html

• https://www.hausdernatur.at/files/media_hdn/downloads/vermittlung/Brain-Week-2019-final-screen.pdf

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2. #TheSmellChallenge

DatesandDuration:Wednesday13MarchandFriday22ndofMarch,lecture+workshop

Contact:

Dr.AnnVanderJeugd

LaboratoryforBiologicalPsychology,FacultyofPsychology,KULeuven

Tiensestraat102,3000Leuven,Belgium

Tel:(32)474914938


IhostedaworkshopforBrainAwarenessWeek2019.Over250kidsparticipatedinourevent.Ifirst

gaveashortlectureaboutthebrain,rodentresearch,andhowolfactioncanhelpusinunravelling

neurodegenerativedisorders,suchasAlzheimer’sdiseaseandotherdementias.

Next,kidswereinvitedonstagetotakepartintheSmellChallengewheretheywereblindfoldedand

hadtorecognizeseveralsmells,andtellthemwhattheyremindedthemof.

Finally, kids could ask questions about my research. Some questions were: “How can mice and

animaltestinghelpusfindasolutionforAlzheimer's?HowdoyoucatchAlzheimer'smice?Domice

reallylikecheese?”

We'vegotalotofpositivefeedbackfromthekidsabouttheactivity.They'veindicatedthatthey've

learnedalotaboutthebrain,neuroscienceandAlzheimer’sresearchingeneral.

Iwasfeaturedinthenationalnewspapertooandonseveralblogposts/twitters.Thisledtotwonew

collaborations:onewithintheUniversityofLeuvenandonewitharesearchinstituteinBelgiumto

makeacitizenprojectofmyworkshop.

RelatedLinks

• https://annekevdj123.wixsite.com/intro/education-scicomm/battle-of-the-scientists-

wetenschapsbattle

• https://www.facebook.com/anneke.vdj/posts/10218292264998614

• https://twitter.com/avdjeugd/status/1109057441126383617

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3. Mightyanimalbrains

DatesandDuration:ThewholeBAWWeek(7Days)

Contact:

Mrs.VedranaIvić

J.J.StrossmayerUniversityofOsijek,FacultyofMedicineOsijek

J.Huttlera4,31000Osijek,Croatia

Tel:(+38531)512825


Themain organizer of BAW in Osijekwas Faculty ofMedicine Osijekwith its Student section for

Neuroscience(SENZOS).OtherparticipatingorganizerswereUniversityDepartmentforBiologyand

Education Agency. Besides our main topic ‘Mighty Animal Brains’ additional topics ‘Learning and

Memory’and‘BrainandEthics’werediscussedduringBAWinOsijekwithgeneralpublic,teachers

anduniversity,pre-,elementaryandhighschoolstudents.

BAWwasannouncedonthenationalandlocalTVandradiostations(wewereinterviewedbyHRT–

TVandRadio,STV,VinkovačkaTV),viainterestingcountdowntillthestartoftheBAWonFacebook

page of SENZOS (https://www.facebook.com/senzos.ideje/), on the web-pages of Faculty of

Medicine,UniversityDepartmentforBiology,EducationAgency,CityZOO,popularnewsportal for

Osijek and region www.osijek031.com, and in the elementary and high schools from Osijek and

region.Also,ourbrainmascotwaswalkingaroundthecitytoannouncetheevent.

InOsijekweheld38lectures,34workshops,1Pubquiz“Thosewonderfulcreatures”,1debate“Test

–checkingmemoryorknowledge?”,1ScienceCafé“Homosapiensparadox– isnatureprotection

meaningful”,1artexhibition“Animalslikeus”bythestudentsofSchoolforAppliedArtandDesign,

1workshopintheCityZOO,andtherewasorganizedwalkofthedogsfromCityasylum.BAWwas

also organized in the two cities in the region – Vukovar and Slavonski Brod (7 lectures and 5

workshops).

Therewere90differentevents intotalwhichshowedtothewidepublicthathumansandanimals

livetogether-wearethepartofthesameecosystemandhavesimilarbrainstructureswhichmake

usallcapableforcreativegettingourwayaroundtheworld.DuringBAWeveryonewas invitedto

learnaboutanimalcognitivecapabilities,decidewhethermanisreallysmarterthananimalsornot,

does brain size matters, what are the threats to animal survival, which animals can sense our

emotions,howcananimalshelpusintreatingbraindiseasesandhowcanwepreservebrainhealth.

In short, we have fulfilled our goal to present to the public that understanding of animals, their

behavior, and social structurebringsus closer tounderstanding threats to their survivor, but also

closer to understanding development and function of human brain. Faculty of Medicine Osijek

traditionallyorganizeBAWinOsijekandregionandplantocontinuethesameinthefuturebecause

thepublic's interestinNeurosciencedoesnotdecreasehereintheSlavonianregionofCroatia.On

thecontraryitgrowsyear-by-year.

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RelatedLinks

• https://www.mefos.hr/index.php/hr/home/novosti/1805-tjedan-mozga-1

• http://www.osijek031.com/osijek.php?najava_id=76682

• Video

4. TheMoralBrain

DatesandDuration:11-15/03/2019

Contact:

Mr.NatašaŠimić

UniversityofZadar

DepartmentofPsychology

ObalakraljaPetraKrešimiraIV2

23000Zadar,Croatia

Tel:(00385)23200568


This year’s BAW in Zadar was consisted of seventeen activities that included public debatas,

lectures, workshops, demonstrations and experiments for different age groups with a special

emphasis on theMoral Brain. Different age groupswere also learnt about neuroscience, brain

functionsandproducingdifferentformsofbehavior.Theseeventswererealizedundertheumbrella

topicNeuroscienceFactory.

On first day of BAW, professors and students of psychology visited two kindergartens and one

primaryschool.

About70preschoolchildrenand25schoolchildrenparticipated inouractivities.Thetittlesof the

topics were:Mr/Mrs Good and /Mr/Mrs Bad and Brain House. Brainmodel, video and power

pointspresentations,asneurosciencecoloringbookswereused.Forlearningcorticalandsubcortical

areas,didactichousewasalsoused.Thebrainanditsfunctionswaspresentedtochildrenasfamily

memberswholivesinhousewithroomsupstairs(corticalareas)anddownstairs(subcorticalareas).

OnseconddayofBAW,ouractivitieswererealizedinthreeprimaryschools,thenursinghomeand

publiclibrary.

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About 90 school children learnt about brain, its parts and how it makes decisions and produces

differentformsgoodandbadbehaviors.Differentactivitiesincludingdiscussionsandsolvingmoral

dilemmas,matchingofpuzzles,neuro-quizzeswereused.Severaldifferenttopicswerecoveredas:

JourneythroughtheNervousSystem,Moraldilemma:amIecologicallyaware?,EcologicalBrain.

Forelderlypeople(about80)wholiveinnursinghome,twomaintopicswerepreparedintheforms

of lectures and workshops. One of them was Active Brain-Healthy Brain and the other one was

relatedtoMoralDilemmasinEverydayLife-What’stheRightChoice?Withtheaimofimprovement

brainfunctions,numeroussuggestionsandrecommendationsweregiventoolderpeople.

The lectureThechallengesofautism inthemodernworld-fromstigmatomoderntechnologywas

heldinthepubliclibrary,whereabout60audiencemembershavebeenattended.

On thirddayof BAW, three secondary schoolswere visited.About 90pupils participated in next

workshops,lecturesanddebatas:MoralsandI,TeenageMoralBrain,BrainandDigitalTechnology.

OnfourthdayofBAW,activitiesweredirectedtowardsgeneralpublicanduniversitystudents.

Inthepublicdebatanamed(No)MoralBrainin(No)MoralSociety,fourprofessorsfromUniversityof

Zadartalkedaboutmoralitywithaspectsofphilosophy,psychologyandneuroscience.Thiseventin

publiclibrarywaswellvisited(about80-90audiencemembers)andcoveredbylocalmedia.The

audienceshowedgreatinterestforsimilaractivitiesinthefuture.

Studentsdifferentuniversitygroups(about60)participatedinonlineexperimentMoralMashineat

theDepartmentofPsychology.

TheworkshopIchooseacleanenvironmentwererealizedinkindergarten(about50children).

On fifth day of BAW, invited speakers from Psychiatric hospital Rab visited Department of

Psychologyandthenheldlecturesandworkshopsconcerningbiofeedbackandneurofeedbackwith

emphasisonclinicalapplicationstotherapeuticpurposes ingeneralandthetreatment ofmental

disorders.Theseeventswerealsowellattendedwithmorethan80audiencemembers.

During BAW, all our professors and students of psychology wore BAW t-shirts. As usual, all our

activities were covered by local media (newspapers, radio stations, internet portals). Two our

professors,includingthemainorganiserNatašaŠimić,wereinvitedinlocalradioshowtopresent

BAWandgiveanswersonquestionsaboutmorality,MoralBrainandbrainfunctioningingeneral.

WethankFENSforsupportingouracitivities. RelatedLinks

• www.facebook.com/tjedanmozgaZD/

• www.unizd.hr/psihologija/tjedan-mozga

• http://www.unizd.hr/psihologija/novosti/view/artmid/18395/articleid/37844

• https://radio.hrt.hr/radio-zadar/clanak/moralni-mozak-naslov-ovogodisnjeg-tjedna-

mozga/192880/

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5. BrainAwarenessWeekinParis


Contact:Dr.LaurenceLanfumey

CerveauenSeine,Inserm

102-108ruedelaSanté,75012Paris,France


Co-organiserDr.IsabelleDusart


ForthisParisianeditionoftheBrainAwarenessweek,thelargestFrenchneuroscientificcommunity

proposed a vibrant, diverse and passionate program of events, which touchedmore than 15,000

people.Thisyear,theprojectpresentedactivitiesrelatedtolabwork("Livefromthelab")andthe

society("BrainandSociety").

Eventstookplaceeverydayinprestigiousresearchcenters,schools,sciencemuseums,bars,cafés,

bookstores...Alsothisyear,wemetalargerpublicintheParisianworkingclasssuburbs,inlibraries,

medialibraries,wherefamiliescometogether,toscreenfilmsandproposedebatestoparentswhile

children were welcomed by young scientists around fun and creative workshops. This allowed

neuroscientists tomeetpeoplewhere they liveand topresent theirwork "athome”.Around125

experts,fromyoungdoctoratestoretiredneuroscientists,sharedtheirpassionandexplainedtheir

researchtoasizeableParisianpopulation.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.facebook.com/Semaine-du-Cerveau-%C3%A0-Paris-309797552411169/

• https://twitter.com/semainecerveau

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6. Everydayerrorsasawindowintobrainfunctioning

DatesandDuration:5days(11-15March)

Contact:

Ms.MarcelaPerrone-Bertolotti

Laboratoiredepsychologieetneurocognition(UMR5105,CNRS)Psychology(UniversitéGrenobleAlpes)

UFRSciencesdel’HommeetdelaSociétéCS40700

38058GrenobleCedex9,France

Tel:(4)76825860Email:[email protected]

Differenteventswereorganizedalltheweek.Eacheventaddressedtheissuesof“Everydayerrorsas

awindowintobrain functioning”.Theseeverydayerrorswereanalysedatdifferent levels,suchas

bodilyphenomenaa(e.g.tickling,hiccups,etc...),cognitiveglitches(e.g.thetipofthetonguestate,

cognitivebias)andcellulartroubles(e.g.intracellulartrafficking,ageing,axonalregrowth).Allevents

bring some information about this phenomenon in relationwith artistic events andpresentations

(includingcinema,theatreandillusionism).Theeventstookplaceinadiversityofplaces(Grenoble

and its suburbs) and contexts (academic, non-profit organisations, charities, private…) in order to

meetwithdifferentaudiences(fromchildrentoadults).

RelatedLinks

• https://neurocog.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/retour-sur-la-semaine-du-cerveau-

794911.htm?RH=62277192867226

• https://www.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/fr/acces-direct/actualites/agenda/agenda-culture-

cst/semaine-du-cerveau-2019-quand-les-molecules-deraillent-le-cerveau-se-trompe-ou-est-

malade--448976.kjsp

• https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/auvergne-rhone-alpes/isere/grenoble/semaine-du-

cerveau-grenoble-plonger-mysteres-sortileges-cette-machine-imparfaite-1636490.html

• https://fondation.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/menu-principal/actualites/a-la-une/un-atelier-de-

la-maison-pour-la-science-en-alpes-dauphine-lors-de-la-semaine-du-cerveau-

476951.kjsp?RH=8614751154778185

• https://www.facebook.com/Lasemaineducerveau/

• Video

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7. Discoveryourbrain


Contact:

Mrs.EvinaaSellaiah

UPMC,SorbonneUniversitésdocteure

95500Gonesse,France

Tel:(6)89241532


Co-organiser

Mrs.LianaKobylinska

Maisondesadolescents,HôpitaldeGonesse


Themainobjectiveofthisprojectwastoincreaseawarenessregardingbrain.Inthissense,fromthe

11thtothe17thofMarchwearegoingtoorganizeaseriesoftalks,lectures,movieprojections,and

workshopsforstudents,patientsandfamiliesregardingthebrain.Eachdaywasaroundadifferent

theme:nutrition,sleep,memory,emotions.Thiswillbethefirsteventduringthebrainawareness

weekinthiscityofmorethan22thousandsofhabitants.Itwasthefirstbrain'sweekinthiscity.

OnMondayafternoon,theinaugurallecturewasintheauditoriumatthehospitalofGonesse.The

themeofthelectureswillbeontherelationshipbetweenalimentationandthebrain.Wehadalot

ofparticipants:between40and60participantsduringalltheafternoon.

OnWednesdayevening,DrChandrouKumardidatalkinacoffeeonthetheme:“electronicdevice

inyourbrain”,andDrMarieLacroix,didatalkaboutmemoryprocess,andhowtoimprovememory

inourdailylife.Thesetwotalksbrought40participants,inacoffeeshop,whowasfreelyprovided

by the owners. The participants were curious, and asked a lot of questions during both

interventions.Thecoffeeplacewasadifferentwaytointerestlocalswithoutanyorfewbackground

inscience.

OnFridayevening, a filmprojection tookplaceat the city cinemaaboutnutrition. Therewere30

participants.All theparticipantsstayedafter themovie to talkwithDrLianaKobylinskaabout the

impactoffastfoodinourdailylife,andhowwecanbettereatinourlife.

On Saturday afternoon, a cartoon projection took place at the city cinema on how emotions are

processed in the brain. There were 80 participants, mostly kids. Dr Laurent Goetz did a

question/answer session after themoviewith the children. All of them asked both pertinent and

interestingquestionsafterthemovie.Childrenwerecuriousonhowemotionswereprocessedinthe

brain.

OnSundayafternoon,theclosingevent,entitled«Discoveryourbrain»tookplaceatthecityevent

center. It regrouped all the intervenants of the week. Workshops around different themes was

organized, together with stands for each of the following : optical illusions, the mechanism of

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addictions,memorytesting,emotionalprocessingandthemostcommonmythsregardingthebrain.

Theywerealso two talks :oneon themyths,andoneonhypnosis.Abigbrainwasplaced in the

centerof theevent,wereparticipants couldexplore thedifferent regionsof thebrain.About300

participantswerepresentduringthisday.

During the event, different surveys was performed. In order to evaluate the efficacy of the

informations delivered throughout the week, a brief test was distributed on Sunday to each

participant,andadrawlwillbeorganizedforthechancetowinaprice.Events-bagscontainingthe

main program of the event, themain information to retain about the brain, a list ofmovies and

booksaboutthebrainandBAWmaterialswasdistributedtoeachparticipant.

Thanks to the grant, we had provided a coffee break with sweets and cookies and one of the

intervenant came from Romania to do one of the talk. Sweets and cookies were offered to the

participantsforalltheevent.Wecouldofferedalsofourgiftbags(withmug(thankstothegrant),

chocolate (thanks to the grant), and information on the brain) for 4 participants, and for all the

voluntary intervenants.We could also pay for the travel for 6 of the intervenants thanks to the

grant,intervenantscamefromMarseille,MontpellierandRomania.

Relatedlinks

• https://www.facebook.com/semaineducerveauGonesse

8. SeriesofneuroscienceeventsinNantes


Contact:

Mr.ArnaudNicot

INSERM,CRTI

30bvdJeanMonnet,CHUHotelDieu

44000Nantes,France

Tel:(+33)240084690


Co-organisers

Laureline Berthelot, Hélène Boudin, Sophie Talon from Inserm/Université de Nantes (UMR 1064,

UMR1235)andPierreDaSilvawithCamilleSicotfromADRInsermGrand-Ouest

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For this BAW 2019 (and future years), in addition to the french official national web site

www.semaineducerveau.fr, we created “Semaine du Cerveau Nantes” ‘s facebook and

“SDCNantes” ’s twitteraccounts to relayour specialeventsandpictures. Wehad severalevents

coveringthewholeweektill thenextTuesday.Theeventswereadditionallyadvertisedbyposters

andflyersdistributedinthecity-thankstostudents-toattractavariedpublic.

1-Exposition"CEREBRAL”:FortheBAW2019,wecreatedatabletappdealingwithcentralandgut

neuronalsystemsandrelatedbraindysfunctions.Tentabletsweremadeavailableallweekforthe

publicandexposedona speciallydesignedcardboardbrainmodelat theMuseum inNanteswith

speciallogodesignandposter.OtheranimationswereperformedonWednesdaytoattractchildren

withneurosciencegamesand3Dvideo.TheadditionalpresenceofneuroscientistsfromNanteswas

held on certain hours duringWednesday, Thursday and Sunday to discuss freely with the public

(generally30-70yearsold). Thiseventwasorganizedby INSERMGrandOuest,with the students

from LISAA (L’Institut des Arts Appliqués) for the graphical and computer-based arts, and

researchersfromINSERMorINRAforthescientificpart.

Public(scholars&adults):about2000thewholeweek.

2-Afternoonconferenceondifferenttypesofmemory,neuralsubstratesandAlzheimerdiseaseat

the Museum with 2 neurologists from the CHU Nantes Hospital followed by questions from the

public.Publicattendance:60-70,studentsandretiredpeople.

3-Eveningeventwiththeateron"Alzheimer"(greatmasterpiecefromAvignon'sfestival)followed

byonehour-debate/discussionwiththreeAlzheimerspecialists/researcherscoveringmedicineand

Alzheimerdetection.Publicattendance:100.

4-Aseveryyear,wehadaneveningScienceCaféwithinformaldiscussionsforstudentsandadults.

Thisyearwasdevotedto"Microbiotainfluenceonbraindiseases"withthreeNantesneuroscientists

fromINSERMorINRAPublicattendance60.

5-Aseveryyear,wehadanafternoonattheLectureHallinUniversityofNantesforhighschooland

undergraduate students. Various aspects are covered from classes and new technological

approachesleadingtostudyinneurosciencesattheUniversity,aneurosciencequizpreparedbythe

organizer, and examples of neuroscience research in Nantes research institutes by two PhD

students.This isfollowedby2shortconferencesbyMDsonsleep,circadianrhythmandeffectsof

sleepdeprivation.Publicattendance:160.

6-Anotherconference-interviewonaddictionwiththelocalradio“Prun’”and“Lelabodessavoirs”

washeldonTuesdayeveningwith2researchersfromNantes-AngersUniversityand INSERM. The

eventwasrecordedandisavailableonlineasapodcastontheradiowebsite.Thiswasfollowedby

off-linequestionsfromthepublic.Publicattendance:150atafamousculturallocationinNantes

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7-WeestablishedanewcollaborationwithMediathequedeSaint-Nazaire(60kmfromNantes)on

Saturdaymorningwithaneuroconferenceon“DYS”symptoms(dyslexia,dyspraxia,…)andcognition

followedbyseveralquestionsfromthepublicrelatedtoadvancesinbiologicalresearchinthefield.

Publicattendance:about80.

RelatedLinks

• http://semaineducerveau.fr/

• https://www.facebook.com/pg/SemaineduCerveauNantes2019/events

• https://twitter.com/SDCNantes

• https://www.facebook.com/InsermGrdOuest/videos/351492828793439/

9. BrainAwarnessWeekBerlin


Contact:

Mrs.LindaTidwell

ExzellenzclusterNeuroCure,Charité-Universitätsmedizin

NeurologyDepartment

Charitéplatz1,10117Berlin,Germany

Tel:(030)450539745


Co-organiser

Mrs.MargretFranke

BernsteinCenterforComputationalNeuroscienceBerlin,Humboldt-UniversitätzuBerlin


Our program of the Brain AwarenessWeek (BAW) 2019 was designed to address various target

groupsfrompupilsgrade10toacademia.Withanintroductorylectureonperceptualillusionsthat

was held for high school students, Prof. Dr. Gabriel Curio started the BAW at the Humboldt-

UniversitätzuBerlin.Afterwards,studentswereabletochoosebetweensevendifferentworkshops

ontopicsrangingfrom“Introductionintosynapseswithlabvisit”to“fMRI–howdoesitwork,what

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canwedowithit”,“Newmethodsofmultiplesclerosisdiagnoses”.Someteacherscomeeveryyear

withtheirpupilstoourpupil’sday(77participants).

During the whole week, we showed the exhibition: The BeautifulMind“. It was displayed at the

Einstein Center forDigital Future. This international photo exhibition showsphotographs taken in

internationallabswithnervecellsofdifferentbrainareasthathavebeenespeciallystainedinorder

tomake structures visible. The large-sized photographs are illuminated from the backside, which

givesthemaspecialappearance(100visitors).

During thewholeweek,weshowedManicVR:Accompaniedby thevoicesofFeliciaandFrançois,

the visitor embarks on a journey through the phases of a bipolar disorder: he gains an intimate

insightintotheconstantlychangingrealitiesandstatesthatarepartofthetypicalclinicalpictureof

amanicdepression(100visitors).

OnMondayatalkwasgivenattheSt.Hedwig-Krankenhausaboutthetopic:„bipolar“vonProf.Dr.

DorotheavonHaebler(Psychiaterin,Neurologin)undKalinaBertin(150participants)

OnTuesday,weofferedaWorkshoptoschoolchildren(20participants)

OnWednesdaywe organized a Talk/Discussion: (Un)visible worlds: Do our eyes communicate? A

transdisciplinarydiscussioneveningwithProf.Dr.MichaelBach,Prof.Dr.Dr.BrigitteFalkenburgand

RubenvandeVen(100participants).AnotherTalkonWednesdaywasattheUrania:“Howdoesour

dietaffectthebrain?”(100participants)

OnFriday,weorganizedaworkshopcalled:TheShitshow–aworkshopaboutshittyfeelings.How

cantherealityofdepressionandanxietybecommunicatedtothosewhoarenotdirectlyaffected?

Our program was announced on TV screens at all the Berlin university cafeterias and in the

underground TV system with more than 30 spots/day. We have a special website for the BAW

events inBerlin (www.baw-berlin.de).All ourpartnerorganizationspromoted theBAWeventson

theirownwebsites,onFacebookandonTwitter.Mathematicsandbiologyteacherswerecontacted

directlytoinformaboutthespecialeventsforpupils.

We are very grateful to ourmaster and doctoral students aswell as our technical staff, and our

facultymembers,whomadethisprogrampossible.

Wewould like to thankFENS for theirgeneroussupport.Thegrantmade itpossible toorganizea

verydiverseprogramandadvertiseitbroadlywithspotsandflyers.

RelatedLinks

• http://www.baw-berlin.de/programm.html

• https://www.facebook.com/ECN.Berlin/

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10. 9thAnnualDeutscheNeurowissenschaftenOlympiade

DatesandDuration:02.03.2019

Contact:

Mrs.LashaeNicholson

DeutscheNeurowissenschaftenOlympiade

c/oNeurowissenschaftlicheGesellschafte.V.

c/oDeutscheNeurowissenschaftenOlympiadeBerline.V.

Robert-Roessle-Str.10,13092Berlin-Buch,Berlin,Germany


Co-organiser

Mr.FriedrichSchwarz

DeutscheNeurowissenschaftenOlympiadee.V.


OnSaturday,March2,2019,over100talentedhighschoolstudentsfromalloverGermanygathered

in Berlin, Bonn, and Heidelberg to demonstrate their knowledge of the human brain in the 9th

AnnualNeuroscienceOlympiadRegionals,hostedbytheDeutscheNeurowissenschaftenOlympiade

e.V. (DNOe.V.).AteachRegionalsevent, studentsparticipantsengaged ina5-stageneuroscience

competition consisting of a written exam, patient diagnosis exam, neuroanatomy and histology

exam, and 2-podium rounds led by a panel of local neuroscientists. Student participants were

supportedthroughouttheprocessbytheirfamily,friends,andteachers.Thetop15participantsof

eachRegionalseventsearnedtheopportunitytoenterintotheNationalsOlympiad,takingplacein

Frankfurt, Germany on May 11, 2019. The 1st place Nationals winner will go on to represent

Germanyatthe2019InternationalBrainBeeChampionships,takingplaceinSouthKorea.DNOe.V.

issupportedbytheGermanNeuroscienceSocietyaswellasbytheHertieFoundation.

Paralleltoourneurosciencecompetition,eachRegionalseventhadaNeuroscienceExpowithhands-

on neuroscience activity booths and poster session, ran by PhDs students. Posters’ offered

interestingtakesonneuroscience,coveringtopicssuchas“OurbrainISplasticbut,ofcourse,they

arenotMADEofplastic”and“howtoboostyourbrainwithaerobicexercise.”

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Activities were designed to teach event guests about various neuroscience concepts in fun

interactive ways. Activities included motor learning tasks (Dart throwing Game with phase shift

googles),visualandlanguageprocessingtasks(StroopTest),andmanyothers.

At theRegionalsevent inBerlin, students tookabreak fromthecompetitionandhadan intimate

discussionwith thecompetition Judgesandorganizersabout lifeas scientist.Studentsasked their

careerpaths,fieldsofstudy,andhowtobalancelifeasascientistandmore.Forexample,Arabela

Youlten from Berlin Brandenburg International School asked “What do you think is the biggest

misconception about the field of Neuroscience”.MandyWatson fromDNO Berlin e.V. said: “It is

nowscienceiscommunicatedtothegeneralpublic.Alotofscientificinformationiscommunicated

viaastoryorcatchyheadline,buttherealunderlyingscientific informationcansometimesnotbe

clearly explained. I think, the scientific community in general has to improve how scientific

information is present to non-scientific audiences.” Students also expressed high interest in the

challengesfacedbyfemalescientists.

DNOe.V.aimistoreachandteachyoungstudentsaboutneuroscienceinfunyetchallengesways,

givingthemafoundationofscientificinquiryatthebeginningoftheircareers.Itisourgoaltoinspire

young students to become creative scientists, motivated to push the boundaries of scientific

knowledgeandresearchtodiscover,treat,cure,andpreventneurologicaldiseases.

At our 2019 Regionals event, this goal continued to be realized.Our participants expressed deep

appreciation for this valuable opportunity to expand their horizons on neuroscience through the

competition.RachelKiss (17yearsold) said “…Beingapartof thecompetitionwas reallyamazing

becausewegottoseerealexamplesofthebrain.”SannevandeHoef(16yearsold)—“…Ireallylike

thePatientDiagnosissectionofthecompetition.It’sagreatopportunitytogothroughtheprocess

of looking at a patient’s behavior, their history, and lab results to determine what neurological

disordertheymighthave.Itisarealtakehomemessagethatmanydifferentfactorscontributetoa

givenperson's disease and youhave to look at andunderstanddifferent pieces of information in

ordertotreatapatientproperly.”

RelatedLinks

• http://www.neurowissesnschaften-olympiade.de/

• https://www.facebook.com/deutscheneurowissenschaftenolympiade/

• https://neurowissenschaften-olympiade.de/dno-blogs/

• https://www.facebook.com/deutscheneurowissenschaftenolympiade/videos/12090439725

61650/

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11. HellenicSocietyforNeuroscienceactivitiesduringBAW2019:Educatingstudentsand

thepublicaboutthebrain


Contact:

Prof.KyriakiSidiropoulou

UniversityofCrete,BiologyDepartment

VoutesUniversityCampus,70013Heraklio,Greece

Tel:(302)810394071


Co-organiser

Prof.ChristinaDalla

NationalKapodistrianUniversityofAthens,FacultyofMedicine


Otherco-organisers

Prof. Marigoula Margarity, Prof. Spyros Efthimiopoulos, Prof. Anastasia Tsingotzidou, Prof. Stella

Giakoumaki,Dr.FoteiniDelis

Themembers of the Hellenic Society for Neuroscience (HSfN) organized the following events for

Brain Awareness Week 2019. In Athens, Members of the Hellenic Society for Neurosciences

participatedintwoeventsattheAthensScienceFestivalthattookplaceatTechnopolisinGazifrom

3-9 April 2019: http://www.athens-science-festival.gr/en/. At the first event, neuroscientists,

psychiatrists andpharmacologists talked to ~30high school students aboutAddiction, basedon a

book they wrote for the general public. The second event was a “Science Café” regarding the

“Neurobiology of Creativity” where Prof. Elias Kouvelas, Emeritus Professor at the University of

Patrasandfoundingmemberofthesociety,gaveatalkwiththeyoungestmemberofoursociety,

SofiaKrokida,amedical studentof theUniversityofAthens.At theevent therewas translation in

signlanguagefordeafstudents.

InPatras,studentsofHighschools(20thJuniorHighSchoolofPatras,GeneralLyceumofLala,ileia,

2ndGeneralLyceumofPreveza,Epirus,1stGeneralLyceumofAmaliada,ileia,JuniorHighSchoolof

Goumero,ileia,JuniorHighSchoolofGoumero,4thJuniorHighSchoolofPyrgos,etc.,foratotalof

500highschoolstudents)visitedthelaboratoryofHumanandAnimalPhysiologyattheUniversityof

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Patras. This visit was organized by Prof.MarigoulaMargarity and included a presentation on the

basicsofhowourbrainworksandobservationofbrainsectionsatthemicroscope.Dr.Margaritystill

acceptsstudentsattheLaboratoryofHumanandAnimalPhysiology,Dept.Biology,inthecontextof

the activity “the schools go to theUniversity “ introducing the topic “ Brain… theDirector of our

life”.Themainevent,entitled“BRAIN.SoSmall…SoGreat ”,heldat theConferenceandCulture

CenteroftheUniversityofPatrasonMarch31st,2019,includedoralpresentations,minitheatrical

andmusicalperformancespresentedbythestudentsof11schoolsonvarioussubjectsconcerning

thehumanbrain.Atotalof450peopleattendedtheevent.

InNafpaktos,theeventorganizedbyProf.SpyrosEfthimiopoulostookplacewasentitled“Emotions

andmatechoice”andincludedpresentationsbyhighschoolstudentsandProf.MarietaPapadatou-

Pastou.

InIoannina,Dr.FoteiniDelis,visitedValaneioGradeSchoolandgaveinteractivepresentationsto50

primaryschoolstudentsonthefollowingtopics:1)Whereisthebrainandhowdoesitlooklike?2)

Whatdoesthebraindo?3)Howshouldweprotectthebrain?And3)What’sitmadeof?

InHeraklio,Crete,Prof.KyriakiSidiropoulouandthemembersoftheNeurophysiologyandBehavior

Laboratoryvisitedthe37thprimaryschoolofHeraklionaswellastheHighschool inMalia,where

120primaryschoolstudentsand30highschoolstudentsparticipated,respectively.Dr.Sidiropoulou

gave a presentation entitled “Learning about the brain”, while Ph.D., M.A. and undergraduate

students demonstrated behavioural tasks used to study the brain, brain anatomy using brain

models, imaging brain slices under a microscope and making a ‘brain-hat’. Furthermore, in

collaboration with the Museum of Medicine of Crete the event entitled “Development of the

adolescent brain” was organized with the participation of about 150 high school students. The

eventsincludedpresentationsaboutthespecificsofbrainfunctionduringadolescencebyseveralof

HSfNmembers (Profs. Ioannis Charalampopoulos, Ioannis Zaganis, Kyriaki Sidiropoulou,Marigoula

Margarity)andinteractiveactivitieswithProf.MargarityandmembersoftheNeurophysiologyand

BehaviorLab.

In Rethymnon, Crete, the event “The Brain and the organization of behaviour” took place on

Wednesday 13/03/19 at Xenia Hall. The aim of the event was to inform the public about the

multidisciplinaryfieldofNeurosciencesandtherelationshipbetweendrugaddictionandthebrain.

Stella Giakoumaki, George Panagis and Andreas Kastellakis presented the current knowledge on

drugaddictionprocessesandinteractedwiththeparticipants,whichincludedtheScoutsofWestern

Crete.

In Thessaloniki, two events took place: 1) The tender side of oxytocin and 2) Brain and gender:

mutual dependencies. The first eventwas a one-day in depth presentation of the peripheral and

centralnervoussystemactionsoftheneuro-hormoneoxytocin.Almost80studentsoftheArtSchool

of Thessaloniki attended the event,which included a talk by Prof. Anastasia Tsingotjidouon “The

tendersideofoxytocin”andavideopresentationentitled“TenderMorality”,whichwasproduced

by the artist Stavros Panagiotakis. The second event included a presentation by Prof. G.

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Papadopoulos,entitled"Brainandgender:mutualdependencies".Theeventwasattendedbyabout

200universitystudents.

RelatedLinks

• http://www.hsfn.gr/education/awareness/

• https://www.facebook.com/pg/%CE%9C%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF-

%CE%99%CE%B1%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE%CF%82-

%CE%9A%CF%81%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%9Cuseum-of-medicine-of-Crete-

258078787581765/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2231174763605481&__tn__=-UC-R

12. DendrITEsWorkshop:Learnandrememberthepath!Forestofdendritictreesin

brain!


Contact:

Mrs.GeorgiaSoursou

FoundationforResearchandTechnology(FORTH)

InstituteofMolecularBiologyandBiotechnology(IMBB)

100NikolaouPlastirastr.,VassilikaVouton

70013Heraklion,Crete,Greece

Tel:(0030)6949286680


Co-organiser

Mrs.MariaKaratsoli

FoundationforResearchandTechnology(FORTH)

InstituteofMolecularBiologyandBiotechnology(IMBB)


Volunteers

IoannaPandiandAthinaKarasavvidi

InthecontextoftheBAW2019,we,fromtheInstituteofMolecularBiologyandBiotechnologyand

Poirazi labhaveorganizedavarietyofactivities for specificagegroups toexplainandexplore the

fascinating concept of how the brain works. Our team tried to make this week impressive and

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memorablewithtwoseparateevents.Theeventstookplacefrom14-15.03.2019intheHospitality

Center for male children and at SOS Children’s Villages in Heraklion, Greece, respectively. The

audience was comprised of elementary/middle/high school students. Prior and throughout the

week, we disseminated the event through mailing lists and social media (Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram),soastograbpeople’sattention.

Ouractivitiesweredesignedtoaddressalltheaforementionedtargetgroups.Withanintroductory

lectureonhowthebrainworkswestartedtheBAWatbothevents.Theaimoftheworkshopwasto

familiarize children with the most important functional regions of the brain by focusing on the

importanceof learningandmemoryprocesses.Forthispurpose,amodelofthebrainwasutilized

alongside with the presentation and an interactive discussion with the students. Afterwards,

students were able to choose between several hands-on activities, games and experiments, that

reached across disciplines and age groups. Specifically, elementary students were engaged with

making types of neurons with plasteline and painting neuroscience images, middle students

observed nerve cells as an electrical circuit and playedmemory games, and high school students

were making neural networks with the assistance of NEURONIFY. The latter was something

fascinatingasstudentsweremakingtheirownnetworkofexcitatoryandinhibitorycells,withtheir

ownstimulus-eithercurrentinjectionorexternalvisualstimuli-soastomeasuretheresponseand

countthespikes!Therewasalsolotsofgeneralinformationandamemoryquizforeachstudentsto

complete in everyone’s workshop folder. The event was very well attended with the attendees

interactingwith our team, by askingmany interesting questions. All childrenwere retreatedwith

chocolates,refreshmentsandsweetsaftercompletionoftheevents.Ourmainpurposewastomake

peopleofall agesandbackgroundsunderstandmoreabout the importanceofbrain researchand

spark curiosity about how the brain works and the role of dendrites as elementary units in the

accomplishmentof learningandmemoryprocesses.Therewasalsoanaddedvaluetoourproject,

whichwastheengagementofthesechildren,whohavedailystrugglesintheirfamilies,intheBAW

activitiesasanimportantstimulusofgainingmoreknowledgeandhavingthechancetoleavetheir

routineforthesetwodaysandpenetratedeeperintofindingoutourbrain’ssecretswithus.

Overall, the eventswerewell received.We have completed ourmission of organizing BAW2019

with excitement and satisfaction, and we hope this would continue in an annual basis from our

home institutionand lab.To thisend,wewould like to thankDANA foundationandFENS for this

greatopportunity.

RelatedLinks

• http://www.dendrites.gr/

• https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1511351992331367&type=1&l=2d37b451c3

• https://www.facebook.com/dendrites.gr/

• https://twitter.com/dendritesgr/status/1105402213306900480

• https://twitter.com/MariaKaratsoli/status/1106202624439783425

• https://www.instagram.com/p/BvEG-rJnqD_kguoXhPyc2YmgzFHQSxCpuNBVhM0/

• https://www.instagram.com/p/BvG6P7HnjafsMiLfPTG_K28G0YM8SVUryEWbt80/

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13. Thedigitalworldandthebrain

DatesandDuration:12thand13thofMarch

Contact:

Prof.EmíliaMadarász

InstituteofExperimentalMedicineofHungarianAcademyofSciences

Szigonyu.43,1083Budapest,Hungary

Tel:(36)12109966


Co-organiser

Dr.IldikóVilági

EötvösLorandUniv.

Dept.ofPhysiologyandNeurobiology


Thefourmainprogram-packageswerethefollowings:

1. “The brain in pictures andmodels” exhibition and handcraft centres. Handcraft desks offered

brainmodels, tools to produce neuron and brainmodels from variousmaterial and to create

molecule-models from Lego parts. Robot-models imitating themoves ofmice and dogswere

providedforlookingandplaying.Postersdemonstratingthemacro-andmicroscopicstructureof

thebrainwereexhibitedinallvenues.

2. The“Psycho-physiologicalPlayground”providedworkbenchesforstudying

i) animalbehaviourinthebasementoftheHall;

ii) humanperception,motorandcognitivecoordinationintheGaleryoftheHall.

Visitors “played” at 28 workbenches, each supervised by scientists and supplied with

explanatory posters. The experiments on mice and rats included observations of animal

behaviourinopen-fieldtests,Skinner-boxes,labyrinthsandsocialinteractionboxes.Self-testsof

human reactions could be studied in human brain-computer interface experiments, body-

balancetests,aswellasinopticalandaudioillusions.

3. Scientificlecturesanddiscussions

IntheLectureHall,scientificlectureswerepresentedon:

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• Noveltechniquesinbrainresearch(Dr.BalázsHangya;IEM-HAS)

• Clinical application of novel brain imaging techniques and brain prosthetics (Dr. László

Halász;NICN)

• Socio-psychologicalimpactsofhumanlearning(Dr.JózsefTopál;RCNS-HAS)

• Ethical aspects of application of novel methodologies in brain therapy (Dr. Ferenc

Oberfrank;IEM-HAS)

IntheSeminarCornervideopresentationsanddiscussionswereorganizedon:

• Etorobotics:afellow-robotismyfriend?(Dr.ÁdámMiklósi;ELTEDept.Ethology)

• Automaticdevicesinstudiesofbehaviour–Dr.DianaBalázsfy(IEM-HAS)

• Perspectives of robotics in clinical neurosciences (Botzheim Lilla, Dr. Laczkó József;

WignerCentreofHAS)

4. “Historyofbrainresearch”tourintheBiologyMuseumofEötvösLorandUniv.(leadbyDr.Géza

Zboray)

Visitors earned a confirmatory stamp at each play-stationwhere they played. Visitorswithmore

than 50% of stamps were awarded with small presents including pens, rulers, cardholders - all

decoratedwithBrainAwareness logo. TheroleofFENSandDANAAlliancewasmadeclear forall

participants.

Theeventwasreallypopular inthisyear.Morethan1200visitors,from6-yearoldstopensioners,

played with us. Different media including Kossuth Radio, Inforadio, TVM5, Qubit, University TV,

BrainResearchatHASinternetmagazineandmanyprintedorganspresentedtheeventforthewide

public.

RelatedLinks

• http://agykutatasnapjai.koki.hu/?page_id=15

• https://www.facebook.com/events/2217946521793701/

14. Alzheimer’sdisease,whenyourbrainletsyoudown


Contact:

Prof.MariaDeli

BiologicalResearchCentre

Temesvarikrt62,H-6726Szeged,Csongrad,Hungary

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Tel:(62)599602


Co-organiser

Dr.AndrasHarazin

BiologicalResearchCentre


Our10thBAWeventwasheldon12thMarch2019intheBiologicalResearchCentre.Theprogram

wasannouncedonpostersandsocialmedia(Facebook,LinkedIn).

The lectures related to themain topic, Alzheimer’s diseasewere held by experts in the field and

reflectedseveralaspects.Dr.SáraKálmán,aneurologist,talkedaboutanewdiagnosticapproachof

Alzheimer’s disease in human patients, speech analysis by a computer. Dr. Zita Gálik-Oláh

demonstrated their new results on rotifers, microscopic animals, which can digest protein

aggregations.Dr.MelindaTóthintroducedtotheaudiencetheanimalmodelsofAlzheimer’sdisease

usedinresearch.Prof.JánosJuleszpresentedhowneurodegenerativediseasesarereflectedinarts

through paintings, statues and his own and other poems. A quiz was held connected to the

presentations,andsixstudentswereawardedforthecorrectanswers.The lectureswerefollowed

byanaudienceof150personsfromsecondaryschools,studentsfromtheUniversityofSzegedand

researchersfromthecentre.

The BAW playhouse, open all through the event, had several activities, including quiz, simple

experiments,opticalillusions,gamesandhandcraftsandentertained20childrenandtheirparents.

The laboratory demonstrations related to cell cultures, cell viability experiments, atomic force,

fluorescent, laser dissection and two-photonmicroscopies, psychoactive compounds and research

onfruitflieswerealsopopular,morethan87studentshadfirst-handexperienceinbrainresearch.

An art competition was announced for schools in Szeged with the Alzheimer’s disease topic in

February. Submittedartpieceswereexhibited in theentrancehallof the research centre for two

weeksandthreewinnersreceivedprizesbasedontheevaluationofaprofessionaljuryandapublic

vote.Ateahousewithsnacks,softandhotdrinksandopportunityfordiscussionwiththespeakers

wasorganized,whichwasopenduringthewholeevent.

RelatedLinks


• https://www.linkedin.com/company/bbrg/

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15. NeuroscienceforTeens:KnowYourBrain


Contact:

Ms.SzintiaSzert

UniversityofDebrecen

Anatomy,HistologyandEmbryologyDepartment

Nagyerdeikrt98,4032Debrecen,Hungary

Tel:(+43)6604766481


The project I organized was aimed at approximately 550 high school students, aged 14-18, in

Debrecen. In Hungary, there are limited possibilities outside of Budapest for students to learn

science interactively. High school students especially, are only able to learn about anatomy and

neuroscience intextbooks.Asahighschoolsophomore interested inneuroscience, Ibelievedthat

providing studentswith opportunities to learn neuroscience topicswas needed.My BAW project

tookthescienceofourbrainandnervoussystemdirectlytothesestudentsandengagedthemwith

interactive lectures, competitions, mouse dissections, lab exhibitions and posters. Below are the

lecturetopicspresentedbyprofessorsfromtheUniversityofDebrecen.

Lectures:

1.Dr.PéterSzücs:SensingandRealizingPainRequiresComplexNeuronalNetworks

Ourknowledgeabouttheneuronsinthesenetworks,theirconnectionsandtheirfunctioninhealth

and disease is still very limited. In this talk, Professor Szücs gave a short overview of "good" and

"bad"painand the technical possibilities andmethodsof studyingneuronalnetworks responsible

forprocessingpainsignals.

2.Dr.ZoltánKisvárday:HowDoestheBrainSee?

The visual system is one of the favoured objects in brain research because the basics of its

anatomical connections and functional properties are reasonably well known. The aim of the

presentationwas to demonstrate themultiplexed nature of visual cortical signal processing using

examplesfromanimalexperimentingandhumanpsychophysics,fromthepossiblefunctionalroleof

neurontypesthroughfunctionalbrainmapsuptothereliabilityofvisualperception.

3.Dr.ZoltánMészár:WhyDoesOurBrainAge?

Neuronspopulatingourbrainmaintaintheirplasticitythroughoutour lives,meaningthattheycan

change their physiology and morphology upon variable environmental conditions. This ability

decreaseswithageand incaseofneurodegenerativediseases.Whatare themajorstepsof these

processes andhowwe canexamine thembyusing transgenicmodels,was themain focusof this

lesson.

4.Dr.AlettaHarman:Stroke:WhyIsEarlyDetectionImportant?

29

Therearetwotypesofcerebralstroke.Unfortunately,thisdiseaseinsomecasescausespermanent

damage,sothepatientmaybebedriddenforallhislife.Thesoonerthepatiententersthehospital,

thesoonerthetreatmentcanbestartedandthedamageislessirreversible.Timeisbrain!

5.Dr.BalázsPál:DrumbeatsfortheBrain:TheReticularActivatingSystem

The reticular activating system is comprised of a group of nuclei in the brainstem. Their role is

relatively simple but important: They are responsible for regulating sleep andwakefulness. Their

task is similar to thepercussion instruments in a symphonicorchestra: Theyareprobablynot the

mostsophisticatedones,buttheyhaveasignificantimpactontheintegrityofthewholesymphony.

6.Dr.BalázsPál:GlialCell:"Smartglue"orPartnerinThinking?

Besides neurons, the brain consists of non-neuronal cells known as glia. Their importance was

underestimated in the past as they were considered as “glue” between neurons. In the last two

decades,aquietrevolutionofunderstandingglialfunctionstookplaceandnowadaysglialcellsare

knownasimportantcontributorstoneuronalfunctions.However,thequestionisstillopenwhether

theyare “smartdevices”of thebrain toprovideneuronal functionsorpartnersof theneurons in

thinking.

7.Dr.AttilaLaczovics:WeareOurBrain

In this lecture, the different anatomical regions of the brain were discussed. The physiology was

explained, including regions like Broca’s Area,Wernicke’s Area and the various lobes. The lecture

describeddifferentdiseases.

8.Dr.LászlóOláh:CerebralCirculation

The lecturedescribed thebasic functionandanatomical structuresof the cerebral circulation.Dr.

Oláhalsogaveafewclinicalapplicationsrelatingtoit.

Dissection:

Dr.PéterSzücs:Amouse’snervoussystemwasshowedthroughadissection.

ThedissectionwasdoneaccordingtotheDirective2010/63/EUoftheEuropeanParliamentandof

the Council of 22 September 2010 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes

(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32010L0063).

LabExhibition:

Dr. Zoltán Kisvárday: In the lab at the University of Debrecen, Dr. Kisvárday held a visual system

exhibition explaining about the visual cortex and theneurological connections using experimental

models.

Insummary,alotofstudentsseemedveryinterestedintheproject.Manystudentsinteresttowards

researchseemedtobeawakenedandmanyofthemstrengthenedtheirgoalofgoingintoamedical

field.Thefeedbackfromstudentsandteachersalike,wasverypositive.

RelatedLinks

30

• http://teenagebrain.org/

• https://twitter.com/SzertSzintia/status/1115957332687691776

16. PaintingMusic:SoundasVisionviaSynaesthesia


Contact:

Dr.RichardRoche

NeuroscienceIreland/MaynoothUniversity,PsychologyDepartment

HumeBuilding,2ndFloor,MaynoothUniversity

15Maynooth,CoKildare,Ireland

Tel:(86)2872107


Co-organiser

Prof.AineKelly

TrinityCollegeDublin,PhysiologyDepartment


This special event to celebrate Brain Awareness Week “Painting Music: Sound as Vision via

Synaesthesia” was organised by Drs Richard Roche, Maynooth University, and Áine Kelly, a

neuroscientistintheTrinityCollegeInstituteofNeuroscienceandtheeducationandoutreachofficer

of the national neuroscience research society, Neuroscience Ireland. “In this unique event, we

illustratedtheremarkablenatureofhowsensoryinformationisprocessedinthebrainbyhostinga

livesimultaneousperformanceofmusicianDrSvetlanaRudenkoandpainterDrTimothyLaydenin

thebeautifulsurroundingsoftheCollegechapel.BothSvetlanaandTimothyhaveabenigncondition

called synaesthesia – this is a type of sensory cross-activation that can result in people hearing

coloursorseeingsounds.WewantedtocaptureinrealtimeTimothy’svisual interpretationofthe

musicSvetlanawasplayingongrandpiano”.

Difficulties in bringing the piano up the stairs to the originally proposed venue, Regent House,

resultedintheeventtakingplaceinTrinityCollegeChapel,whichprovedanexcellentalternative.

The evening began with a description of the neuroscience of synaesthesia by Prof Fiona Newell,

Professor of Experimental Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. Fiona explained how studying the

brain of people with synaesthesia has opened a window into our understanding of how sensory

31

information is processed in thebrain. Svetlana thenplayed3piecesona Steinwaygrandpiano–

Sonata No. 5 by Scriabin, a series of preludes by Debussy, and finally Brahms’ Opus 117, Three

Intermezzi.Timothyproducedthreeverydifferentcanvassesinresponsetoeachpieceofmusicand

finishedbydescribingtheworkheproducedduringaquestionandanswersessionmoderatedbyDr.

RichardRoche.

Theeventwas supportedby funding from theProvost’sVisual andPerformingArts Fundand the

FederationofEuropeanNeurosciences(FENS).

RelatedLinks

• https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/painting-music-sound-as-vision-via-synaesthesia-tickets-

56346856966#

17. WhathappenedtoMr.Brain?


Contact:

Dr.DonatellaRuggeri

Hafricah.NET

SettimanadelCervello

vialeItalia159,98124MessinaME,Italy

Tel:(348)7627591


DuringthewholemonthoftheBrainAwarenessWeek2019morethan650schoolsmetMrCervello,

acharachterbornthankstothecreativityofmorethan40psychologistsandscientificdivulgators.

“ChefinehafattoMrCervello?”isavoluntary,self-fundedprojectthataimstotalkaboutthelatest

researchesanddiscoveriesaboutthebraintokidsandteenagers,coveringtopicssuchasfunctional

anatomy,cognitionandemotions,socialrelationsandneuroscience,adolescenceandthebrain.

SchoolsfromalloverItalyhaveopenedtheirdoorstotheneuroscientiststhatcoveredthesetopics

followingabookletco-authoredbyourgroupof41psychologists.

32

Our goal for this 2019 edition was to involve the youngest generations in this annual discussion

aboutthebrain.

Ourtargetwas:kidsinprimaryschool(6-10),kidsinmiddleschool(11-13),teenagersinhighschool

(14-18),educators,teachers,andparents.

Feedbacks were very positive, both from the schools' managers and from the target audience.

Journals andmagazines covered the news, telling how the youngest generations can be involved

withpracticalworkshopsandfun,speciallessons.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.facebook.com/settimanamondialedelcervello/

18. DigitalMind-Lectures,workshops,guidedtours


Contact:

Dr.GiuseppeZappalà

CentroScienza

ViaAccademiadelleScienze6,10123Torino,Italy

Tel:(328)5991143


Co-organiser

Prof.AlessandroVercelli

UniversityofTorino,DepartmentofNeuroscience


NeuroscienceInstituteCavalieriOttolenghi,regioneGonzole10,10043Orbassano(To),Italy

IstitutoNazionalediNeuroscienze

Theprogrammeproposedaseriesoflecturesforthegeneralpublic,aimingtoexplore,accordingto

differentapproaches,thecontaminationsbetweenneuroscienceandthenewdigitalknowledge.

This edition of the BAW in Turin also includedworkshops for students of primary and secondary

schools. Three hands-on activities have been proposed to further elaborate on neurosciences on

differentlevels.

33

1. GuidedTourtoMuseumofHumanAnatomy,andtoTheCesareLombrosoMuseum.

2. Lectures:

• March11,20195:00pm

AlessandroMauroDip.diNeuroscienze-UniversitàdiTorino

BIGDATAANDPRECISIONMEDICINEINNEURODEGENERATIVEDISEASES

For the understanding of the enormous amounts of clinical, neuroimaging, biological,

genetic, epigenetic and environmental data collected during the analysis of subjects and

patientsatrisk,bigdataanalysismodelsareneeded,suchasmachinesanddeeplearning.

• March12,20199:00pm

GiovanniPetri,ISIFoundation

THEMINDISSPOKEN:THECOMPLEXITYOFBRAINCONNECTIONS.

Anewfrontierinneuroscienceisthestudyofbrainconnectivity.Thestudyoftheenormous

complexity of this network and its ability to continuously change over time is a great

challenge.

• March13,20199:00pm

MaurizioBalistreri–Dip.diFilosofiaeScienzedell'educazione–UniversitàdiTorino

InnocenzoRainero,Dip.diNeuroscienze–UniversitàdiTorino

SergioFoà,Dip.diGiurisprudenza–UniversitàdiTorino

THEEXPLOSIONOFDATAANDTHEPRIVACY

Bigdata,precisionmedicineanddataprotection:whatistobesharedandwhatisprivate.

Wehave the right toprotectourdata,what is their value for the societyandwhat is the

economicvalueforthecompanies

• March15,20195:00pm

AlfredoBensoeGabriellaOlmo,PolitecnicodiTorino

THEDAWNOFANEWERA:THEUNIFYINGPOWEROFNEURALNETWORKS

Biologicalbrainscontainbillionsofneurons,eachwiththousandsofconnections.Thesevery

complex networks are able to process, store, retrieve a large amount of information in

parallel, which allows the animals to decode their environment and act appropriate

behaviour.Weareatthedawnofaneweradominatedbythegrowingexchangebetween

naturalandartificialneuralnetworks.

• March16,20196:00pm

CorradoCalìKingAbdullahUniversityofScienceandTechnology(KAUST)SaudiArabia

34

WALKINGINTHEBRAINWITHREALITYVIRTUALThecomputingpowerofthebrainisstilla

mystery,whichforthemostpart isbasedonitscomplexenergymanagementsystem.The

useofVirtualRealityallowsscientists toexplore thebrain fromthe insideand investigate

howitscellmorphologyisoptimisedtosupportitthecomplexmetabolism.

3. Workshops

• 03/11/2019-03/15/2019

THEFIVEWONDERShumanperception,fromworldtoourbrainandback

The sense organs represent the interface through which the individual receives and

translates information fromtheoutsideworld.This initiativereveals thedeceptionsof the

mechanisms of the physiology of sensory perception, exploring them with practical

experiences.Ajourneytodiscoverthemechanismsofperceptionandrepresentationofthe

sensoryworld,throughanexperientialprocess,createdbythebio-evolutionandshapedby

culture.

SHUTTEREDNERVES

Through an interactive game, complemented by questions, answers andmany curiosities,

the workshop explores in detail our peripheral nervous system and its regeneration,

dissectingitsanatomical-sensorialcomplexity.

ASTORYOFSKELETONANDBRAIN

Thehumanskeletonisasupportstructurebutalsoadocumentthatcantellusthelivesand

storiesof themenof thepast.Whoseskeletonwas it?Howoldwashe?Didhehaveany

illness?What did he eat? These are some questions that the physical anthropologist can

answer.With a particular focus on the cranial box, it is possible to deepenneurocerebral

functionalsofromtheskeletalpointofview.

• 03/14/2019

BRAINBRAINANDMIND1:LuigiRolandoMuseumofHumanAnatomy

BRAINBRAINANDMIND2:CesareLombrosoMuseumofCriminalAnthropology,twoguided

tourstoexploretherelationshipbetweenbrainandmindthroughtheircollections.

Thisyear'seditionoftheBAWwascharacterizedbyworkshopactivitiesforschoolsandguidedvisits

to theCesare LombrosoMuseumand the Luigi RolandoMuseumofAnatomy. This assortmentof

activitieshasbeenhighly appreciatedby thepublic, and thepresenceof thepublichas therefore

grown. About 700 people attended the Digital Mind lectures cycle, with a prevalence of young

people between the ages of 20 and 30,many ofwhomwere university students.Workshops for

schoolswere attended by over 300 young students and for guided visits tomuseums, the places

availablehavebeensoldoutimmediately.

35

RelatedLinks

• http://centroscienza.it/settimana_cervello19


• https://www.facebook.com/NeuroscienceInstituteCavalieriOttolenghi/videos/10498581918

89857/

• https://twitter.com/search?q=centroscienza&src=typd

• https://compagniadisanpaolo.it/ita/News/Settimana-del-Cervello-2019

• http://www.nico.ottolenghi.unito.it/ita/News/Settimana-del-Cervello-2019-La-mente-

digitale

19. Greatdiscoveriesofneurobiologyandneuromedicine

DatesandDuration:March11-16th,2019

Contact:

Mr.DorotaNowicka

NenckiInstituteofExperimentalBiology

3PasteurSt.,02-093Warsaw,Poland


Twobasesofthisyears'programwere:(A)fivelecturesinfiveconsecutivedays,aimingatadultand

advanced student audience, (B) one day of games and presentations for primary and secondary

school children, to introduce them to basic neuroanatomy, brain physiology and human brain

evolution.Also,weorganizedacompetitionforpupilsofprimaryandsecondaryschoolsforaproject

ofaneverydayobject,usingneurobiologicalmotifs.Wehad92participantsandevenmoreprojects

ofwhich12wererewarded.

(A)We planned to acquaint our audiencewith the scientific achievements, whichwe considered

greatdiscoveriesofmodernneuroscience.To thisend,we invited5 researcherswhopresented5

lectures:

1. Dr Marzena Stefaniuk, Nencki Institute – “A journey inside the brain” – the history of

microscopicdiscoveriesofneuraltissue.

2. DrEwaKublik,NenckiInstitute–“Theelectricallanguageofneurons”.

36

4. Anna Chabuda, Marian Dovgialo, Dept. of Physics, Warsaw University/Braintech - EEG

presentationslive.

3. Prof.KrzysztofTurlejski,CardinalWyszynskiUniversity–„HM–themostfamouspatientof

theworld.Theboundariesofacceptedriskinneurosurgeryandpsychosurgery”.

4. DrMartaObara-Michlewska,MossakowskiMedicalResearchCentre-"Cleanbrainisanagile

brain-theroleofglymphaticsystem".

5. Prof.Małgorzata Skup,Nencki Institute – “The case of Christopher Reeve”. Yesterday and

todayofspinalcordrepair".

(B)Displaysandgames:

1. Anatomy of the brain; a display of brains of various species. Demonstrators explained

diversity and peculiarities of a variety of brains of vertebrates from various branches of

evolutiontree,e.g.marsupials,rodents,mammals.

2. Modelsofhumanbrainandbody;presentationofmainbrainpartscoupledwithinformation

ontheirfunctions.DemonstratorswerethestudentsfromWarsawMedicalUniversity.

3. Morphologyof thebrain;histochemicalsectionsofbrainsservedtodescribebrainregions

andmakeanintroductiontobrainfunction.

4. Microscopicobservationsofratandmurinebrainsections;varioustypesofneuronsandglial

cellsweredemonstrated,visualizedwithGolgistaining,Nisslstaining,GFAPimmunostaining

andother.Microscopesconnectedto3Dmonitorswereused.

5. Animalbehavior-presentationsofvariousbehavioraltests(video):Morriswatermaze,open

field,rotarodtest,elevatedplusmaze,socialinteractionstest).

6. Animal welfare – presentation of living conditions of laboratory animals, enriched

environment(furnishedcages),videos.

7. “Fluorescence – how do we use it to visualize brain structure”. The presentation of

fluorochromes and fluorescent images of brain tissue. Explanation of the mechanism of

fluorescence.

8. The exhibition “Evolution of brain in hominids” – provided by the staff of Dept. of

Bioarchaeology,InstituteofArcheology,WarsawUniversity.

9. “Ants&co.”–ourevergreenexhibitionofvariousinsects.Insectlearningskillsandbehavior

weredemonstratedanddiscussedwithourmyrmecologists.

10. Artisticworkshop for the youngest guests– coloring “brain caps”,making brainmodels of

dough.

11. Ropemodelofneuron

C.Nervoussystemphysiology

1. Visualperceptionandthemechanismofvision:

37

• Stroopeffect

• Benham’sdisc

• Blindspot“visualization”

• Testsforcolorblindness

• Depthspinner

• 3Dillusionfloor

andmanyothers

2. EEG recordingsduringvariousactivities related todifferent sensorymodalities tovisualize

andexplainbrainelectricalactivity.PresentedbythestudentsofWarsawUniversity,Faculty

ofPhysics.

3. “Why does neurologist tap your kneewith a hammer?”Description and testing of simple

neurologicalexamination.PresentedbythestudentsofWarsawMedicalUniversity.

RelatedLinks

• https://pl-pl.facebook.com/TydzienMozgu/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xvbrXiogc&t=25s

20. Stressinourbrainanditsmeaninginourlives


Contact:

Mrs.JoannaGadomska

TheF.ChopinHighSchoolofEconomicsandServiceinŻychlin

ParkowaStreet2,62-571Miasto,Wielkopolska,Poland

Tel:(+48)608789106


Co-organisers

M.Sc.AgnieszkaRogalska



M.Sc.MonikaKieliszak

38



Themainactivitieswerecarriedoutfor1weekduringBrainAwarenessWeek,theprojectcombined

manydifferentschools,fromalloverPoland,370studentsofourschool,about3,000studentsfrom

20 schools (primary and secondary schools , including international) parents, teachers and local

residents cooperating throughout Poland. But many actions and projects were carried out

continuouslyfromJanuarytoMarch.Throughourplannedactivities,wewantedtoshowstudents,

parents and residents how stress works in our brain and how the medical, biological and

psychologicalaspectsworkcloselytogetherduringstressfulsituations.

AlreadyinJanuary,weplannedtherecordingofthefilm,by20reportedschoolsfromalloverPoland

onthesubjectof"Healthywaystofightstress",laterallthefilmswereputtogetherinasinglemovie

thatwepublished, shared.At thebeginningofFebruarywealsoannounced twocompetitions for

students from all over Poland: a competition for a multimedia presentation on the subject of

"Healthywaystofightstress"andtheposter"Stopfordrugs,alcohol,cigarettesandafterburners".

Allsentpresentationswerepostedoneducationalportalsandpagesforstudentsandteachers,and

posterswerealsousedtoprepareanexhibitionthatwasopenedtoall interestedresidentsofthe

KoninCounty.DuringBAW"SchoolChampionshipinSUDOKU","BrainKnowledgeContest",aswell

as the "Find and Solve Rebus" competition, which consists in finding the largest number of

suspendedrebusesontheschoolpremisesandcorrectsolvingthem.

OnthefirstdayoftheBAWonMarch11,lecturesforteachers:"Theimpactofstressonthehuman

brain"byMScGadomska–abiologistandneurodidactic.Duringthelecturewegotacquaintedwith

the structure of the brain, the body in a stressful situation, the concept of stress, stress phases,

sourcesofstress,rankingofstressfulsituations.Thenextlecturewas:"Atrip,asoneoftheformsof

combatingstress"byMScMarciniak,ageographer.Being in theopenair reduces thesecretionof

cortisolorstresshormone.Naturecalmsdown,relievestensionandenergy.

March 12, "Neurodetic games and games as a form of stress fighting", is the best fitness for our

brain by MSc Wallis - a mathematician; Games teach planning, prediction, drawing conclusions,

developconcentration,intelligence,memory.

On the following day,March 13,workshops for students and their parents: "Achieving a state of

relaxationusing the SITAmethod"byMSc Jankowska, aGerman forwarder. The SITAdeviceused

during the workshop helped students gain the ability to achieve a state of relaxation. A "breath

strength"withMARogalska,anEnglishmusician;exerciseswithvoiceemissionwithbreathcontrol.

March14,sociotherapeuticworkshopsforstudents"Wecopewithstress-relaxationtechniques"by

MA Kieliszak, a psychopedagogue and sociotherapist. Work in task groups, workshops with

relaxationexercises''Feelingyourself".ThenextstepforthatdayisYogaclasses,forlocalresidents

oftheOldTown,withMAMatuszak,ayogainstructorandhealthylifestyletrainer.

OnthelastdayofMarch15,alectureforteachers,pupils,parentsandwillingresidentsfromallover

Poland, "Diet that alleviates the effects of stress" with Dr Pałasz, a certified dietician, author of

39

booksonhealthynutrition.Themeetingendedwiththescreeningofajointlyrecordedvideo,which

thenwaspublishedontheInternetandthewinners'rewardfromtheaforementionedcompetitions.

RelatedLinks

• http://biologiazblondynka.blogspot.com/2019/02/ogolnopolski-projekt-stres-nasz-

mozg.html

• https://youtu.be/i3fcdy03wqU

• https://www.facebook.com/Zdrowe-sposoby-walki-ze-stresem-

1027191304157312/?modal=admin_todo_tour

• https://glos.pl/patronaty/nasz-patronat-projekt-stres-a-nasz-mozg-walka-do-wygrania-2

• https://lajt.lm.pl/aktualnosci/informacja/120249/projekt_stres_a_nasz_mozg_-

_walka_do_wygrania_z_zseu_w_zychlinie?fbclid=IwAR1m9LLbKbOTfFA2J3lS1i3BRc5ZmQdM

e809Qd3qKPUWI5zyYo4qO5YTJlE

21. Neuroscienceboat;Brainawarenessontheriver


Contact:

Mr.RafalRygula

InstituteofPharmacologyPolishAcademyofSciences,AffectiveCognitiveNeuroscienceLab

12SmetnaStr.,31-343Krakow,Malopolskie,Poland


Co-organiser

Ms.KarolinaNoworyta-Sokołowska

InstituteofPharmacologyPolishAcademyofSciences,AffectiveCognitiveNeuroscienceLab


This fascinating new project continued great success of our last year’s action: “the Neuroscience

Bus”, and aimed to integrate neuroscience and brain awareness into the general community by

presentinganddisplayingpopularneurosciencewithinthecity’spublicspaces.Onthe7thdayofthe

BAWinKrakow(17.03.2019),the‘Neuroscienceboat’,wascirclingfor5hoursaroundthelimitsof

themedievalandbeautifulKrakow'soldtown.

40

The selection of activities on board included short popular neuroscience lectures, scientific

workshops, neuroscience promoting posters, multimedia presentations, and scientific

riddles/quizzes.TheactivitiesonboardengagedthecrowdswalkingonthebanksoftheVistulaRiver

and through the KrakowOld Town, offering brief encounters with neuroscience, and providing a

chanceofinteractionbetweenKrakowresidents,touristsandneuroscientists.

TheNeuroscienceBoat,operatingunderthepatronageofInstituteofPharmacologyPolishAcademy

of Sciences created an opportunity to interact with famous local neuroscientists and young PhD

students,askquestions,andgetimmediateanswers.

Weestimatethatduringthe5hoursofboatoperationweeasilyreachedseveralhundredsofpeople

acrosstheentireagespectrum.Therewasalsoanaddedvaluetothepresentproject,whichwasthe

engagementofyoungneuroscientists(PhDstudents)intopopularisationofneuroscience.

RelatedLinks

• http://if-pan.krakow.pl/pl/wydarzenia-i-aktualnosci/aktualnosci/Dr-hab-Rafal-Rygula--

otrzymal-The-Dana-Foundation-Grant-na-popularyzacje-neuronauki/304/


• https://www.radiokrakow.pl/audycje/pracuja-na-nobla/statek-neurobiologiczny-instytutu-

farmakologii-pan/

22. BrainO’Clock–timetomakeitright!

DatesandDuration:1-31March,2019

Contact:

AnaViegas

CIIB–CentreforInnovativeBiomedicineandBiotechnology(CNC–CenterforNeuroscienceandCell

Biology-andiCBR–CoimbraInstituteforClinicalBiomedicalResearch)

ScienceCommunicationOffice

RuaLarga,Coimbra,3004-504,Portugal

Tel:(00351)916334879


The Brain Awareness Week (BAW) 2019 organized by CIBB consortium of University of Coimbra

happenedinCoimbraduringMarch(1st-31stMarch2019).In2019,CIBBneuroscientistsinvitethe

41

citizensforseveralchallengesduringBAW.Ourproposalaimedtopromoteahealthylifestyleandan

active agingby engaging society in neuroscience and increasing the scientific culture. This project

alsoaimed to involveabiggernumberof researchers inScienceCommunicationcompared to the

previous years. In this regard, we took advantage of our “know-how” in the following fields:

Neuroscience,Metabolism,andBiotechnology.Theprojectpromotedseveralinitiativesfordifferent

publics.

1.Schooltime

NeuroscientistswenttoElementary,MiddleandHighSchools,SeniorUniversitiesandAssociations

todeliverneuroscienceinformationindifferentformats:hands-onactivities,games,formallectures,

andexperiments.

2.Labtime

DuringBAWresearchers fromCNC.IBILIopened thedoorsof their laboratoriesand receivedvisits

fromdifferent publics that can explore different themes in neuroscience as: Canwe enhance our

brain?;Howdoes the sleep affects ourmetabolism?; Study of humanbehavior;Howdowehaveenergy to thebrain?;Howneuronsdie inAlzheimers disease?;Neurons,obesity andaging;Braindevelopment;Howcanyouaddressneurodegenerativedisorders?

3.Foodtime

We distributed a flyer to several places with illustrations promoting a healthy diet and an active

lifestyleandexplainingitsrelevanceinourmetabolism.

4.Debatetime

“Whenthebrainbecomesdependent”-17thMarch,FNACCoimbra

Sessionforgeneralaudienceaboutdependenciesatapubliccaféinashoppingcenter.The

initiativecountedwiththeparticipationofapsychologist,threemedicaldoctorsandneuroscientist.

5.Selfietime

Inordertocreatemeetingplacesbetweenscienceandsociety,weproducedaudio-visualcontents

aboutneuroscienceresearchandbrainfacts.Weproducedfoursmallvideos,“SelfieScience”,where

different neuroscientists explained in an informal way their research projects. The videos were

sharedatCNCyoutubechannelandsocialnetworks(FacebookandTwitter).

6.Traveltime

Duringoneweek,wepromotedspeeddatingsbetweenscientistsandthepublic,whiletheytraveled

together the city by bus. The researchers had the opportunity to share their researcher in an

informalwayandcitizensreceivedscientificinformationinanunexpectedway.

7.Radiotime

The neuroscientists approached brain-related topics and explain their research in the podcast

“CiênciaaosDomingos”atRUC-RádioUniversidadedeCoimbra.

42

8.Gametime

Neuroscientistsplayedaboard-gamewiththepublicduringasessionpromotedatthebar“Casadas

Artes”inCoimbra.Thegameiscalled“Braindemic”andplayersareresearcherswhosemissionisto

treatneurodegenerativedisorders.Thiseventwasfrequentedbyadultsandyoungadults.

9.Quiztime

Weorganizedapublicquizat“AquiBaseTango”,alocalcoffeeshop.Theneuroscientistsdeveloped

thequestionsandthepublicwaschallengedtoexplorebrain-relatedthemes.Thistypeofactivityis

verypopularinCoimbraandoftenfrequentedbyyoungadults.

10.Pubtime

Researchersparticipated inthe16theditionofPubhDCoimbra.ThiseventchallengePhDstudents

fromdifferent researchareas to talkabout theirPhDprojects.Marcheditionwas centered in the

brain.

11.Movietime

During the 19th edition of our internal “Beer for Thought” event, the researchers saw themovie

“InsideOut”, inorderto inspirethemtoaddressemotionsandbrain-relatedtopics inafunnyand

simplifiedway.

12.Sleeptime

In thecontextof theWorldSleepDayonMarch15th,CNC.IBILI researcherscollaboratedwith the

PortugueseSleepAssociation(APS)topromotehealthysleephabitsaspartofahealthylifestyleand

anactiveaging.Weorganized the following initiatives:a)developmentofnewhands-onactivities

fordifferentpublics;b)ananimationaboutthebrainandsleeptoshareonline(websiteandsocial

media);c)publicevent“SleepWell,AgingWell”,thatgatheredscientists,medicaldoctors,andthe

society,withatheatreperformanceaboutSleepApneadisorder.

Ouractivitiesinvolved100researchersandreacheddirectlymorethan2400peoplefromdifferent

publicsinthefollowingactivities:schooltimeandlabtime(37schoolshaveparticipated),foodtime,

debatetime,traveltime,gametime,quiztime,pubtime,andsleeptime.

Indigitalmedia–Facebook,TwitterandInstagram-wemade76postsaboutBAW.Theradiotime

initiativereached3589peopleinoursocialmediaandthevideos“SelfieScience”reachedto13461.

Moreover,theawarenessspotfortheWorldSleepDayreached100.000peopleonsocialmediaand

1.265.780peopleontelevisionaudience.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.facebook.com/CNC.UC/

• https://twitter.com/cnc_uc

• https://www.instagram.com/cnc.uc/

• https://www.facebook.com/pg/CNC.UC/photos/?tab=album&album_id=174889280521220

0

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23. BrainFair:ScientistsandCommunity!

DatesandDuration:11/03/2019-18/03/2019

Contact:

Prof.MargaridaCastro-Caldas

iMed.ULisboa,FacultyofPharmacy,UniversityofLisbon

AvenidaProfessorGamaPinto

1649-003Lisbon,Portugal


1.NeurologicalDiseasesandAging:Research,TreatmentsandSocialSupport

Onthe18thMarchweorganizedaneventonEstrelaParishCouncil(Lisbon,Portugal).Forthatwe

invited representatives from Portuguese Patient Associations: Alzheimer’s disease

(alzheimerportugal.org)andParkinson’sdisease(parkinson.pt).Theauditoriumwastotallyfull!The

public were mainly aged persons from the Estrela Community, who were very interested in this

subject,andcertainlywilldisseminatethemessageslearned.Wedirectlyreachedabout80persons,

andindirectlymanymoreoftheirrelativesandfriends.

Posters, brain and neuronmodels and preserved brains were available for thosewhowanted to

learnmore.

FacebooklinkofEstrelaParishCouncilfortheevent:https://bit.ly/2TgyHB9

Link for the event at iMed.ULisboa site: http://imed.ulisboa.pt/news/aging-diseases-and-informal-

caregivers-by-imed-ulisboa-and-jf-estrela/

2.Scientistsgotoschools

FromMarch 11th toMarch 15th, 2019 we visited different high schools in the Lisbon area, and

interactedwithstudentsfromeducationallevel3to4.Inschools,theinvestigatorsperformedoral

presentations in parallel with audio/visual projections, focusing on one or more of the following

mainthemes,accordingtostudents/teachers’preferencesandeducationallevel:

• Components of thehumanbrain; neurons andother brain cells, their biological relevance

andhowtheycommunicate.

• Mechanisms involved inneuronalprotectionandhowwecancontributetoneuronalwell-

beingandhealthyaging.

44

Thedifferentmechanismsthatmayleadtoneuronaldeathwillalsobementioned:drugs,agingand

neurodegenerativediseases,aswellasactionstopreventneuronaldamage.

Wealsovisitedchildrenformeducational level1.Theactivitywasadaptedforyoungchildrenand

was focused on “Brain and the senses” through a guided “brain anatomy tour” using models of

humanbrainandneuronsandbraingames.

Numberofpersonsreached:around370

Overall5 researcherswere involved, togetherwithrepresentatives fromthePatient’sAssociations

and Estrela Parish Council staff, and 450 was the estimated audience reached, where about 370

werestudents(kindergartenandhighschool).

RelatedLinks

• http://imed.ulisboa.pt/news/aging-diseases-and-informal-caregivers-by-imed-ulisboa-and-jf-

estrela/

• https://bit.ly/2TgyHB9

24. TrainYourBrain


Contact:

Dr.CristianGurzu

NationalCollegeNicolaeBălcescu,BiologyDepartment

AlexandruI.Cuza182,Brăila,Romania


Theaimsoftheproject:

• PromotetheaimsoftheDanaFoundation’s;• Sharetostudents,teachersandparentstheultimateinbrainresearch;• Involvethestudentstosearchanddiscoverthebrainfacts;• Involvethestudentstolearnandcompeteintoneurosciencecompetition;• SharetopublictheBAWevent.

Thespecificactivities:

45

1. Brain facts – an exhibition of student’s posters selected from BAW publications of dana.org

website, about neurotransmitters, brain receptors, hormones and brain, smell and taste,

somatosensorysense.

2.BAWlab–aneurohistologylaboratoryitwasorganizedforyoungstudentsfrom5thgrade.They

studyunderthemicroscopethenervecells,brainstructuresandspinalcordsections.Theyhadto

drawthesectionsatamicroscopeandcomparethemwithrealimagesforrecognition.

3.Neurosetcompetition–a8theditionofliveneurosciencecompetitionforyoungstudentsabout

human brain and sense. The students have answered many questions about neuroanatomy,

neurophysiologyanddiseases.Theyappreciatedthewayofthecontestwasrunasaquickthinking

contest.

4.Brainplasticity–alectureaboutphysiologyandmolecularmechanismsofsynapticplasticity.The

lecture was organized in two parts. In the first part it was presented aspects related to brain

plasticity,synapticprocessesandmolecularmechanisms.Inthesecondpartthestudentspresented

theirownstudiesabout the roleof improvisation in thedevelopmentofcreativityand theroleof

bilingualismintheplasticityofthebrain.

5. Train your brain – studentswere tested by online programs for developing attention, workingmemoryandvisuospatialskills.

6.RomanianBrainBee-thewinnersoflocalBrainBeecompetitionwasattendthe12theditionof

nationalneurosciencecompetitionforhighschoolstudents.Localcompetitionwasheldonline.The

competitors havemany questions with topics as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurohistology

and patient diagnosis. The winner of the national competition is Covache Busuioc Răzvan, from

Alexandria and he will represent Romania at the International Brain Bee competition in Daegu,

SouthKorea.

RelatedLinks

• www.romanianbrainbee.com

25. 6thSt.-PetersburgBrainAwarenessWeek"Braininmotion"


Contact:

Dr.IrinaSukhotina

46

PavlovFirstSt.-PetersburgStateMedicalUniversity

DepartmentofPharmacology

LevTolstoystr.6/8,197022Petersburg,Russia

Tel:(7812)3387102


Co-organisers

Dr.OlgaLubashina

PavlovInstituteofPhysiology


Dr.GalinaKataeva

InstituteofHumanBrain


The events during BAW’19 explored the connection between brain and motion. The series of

lecturesandworkshopsthroughouttheweekprovidedpresent-dayknowledgeonnumeroustopics

frommovementsofanembryotothemotiondisordersthatdevelopwithage.Whilethepresenters

were top scientists, the lectures were targeted at broader audience — school and university

students,parents,patients,andgeneralpublic.

BAW-2019 had two days of plenary lectures. Opening day (Day 1) suggested basic topics as

“Movement and thought: how does the brain learn to think?” by Prof. Kornev and “Spinal

mechanismsofpostureandlocomotion”byProf.Gerasimenko.TheplenarylecturesofDay5were

formoreadvancedaudience:“Spatio-temporaldynamicsofneuronalactivityinmotorprocesses”by

Prof.Nikulinand“Fromcrawlingtouprightwalking.Locomotoroutputinthedevelopment”byProf.

Ivanenko.

Threeworkshopswerebetweenplenarydays.Eachworkshopconsistedoffourtosixtalksfollowed

bydiscussions.

Workshop “Movement disorders in children” (Day 2) for specialists and parents, presented

“Neuromusculardiseases in childrenandadolescents”byProf.Chukhlovina, “Studyofgeneralized

movements in embryo” by Prof. Palchik, “Ticks and stuttering: causes, types, approaches to

treatment”byDr.Titova,and“Movementdisordersinchildrenwithautism”byProf.Grechany.

Workshop“Cutting-edgedataonParkinsondisease”(Day3)forstudents,specialists,caregivers,and

patients consisted of “Parkinson's disease: clinical portrait, and new diagnostic criteria” by Dr.

Irishina, “200-year path: from etiology, pathogenesis and epidemiology to treatment” by Dr.

Timofeeva,“TheplaceofintestineinpathogenesisofParkinson'sdisease”byDr.Krasakov,“Modern

methods of neurosurgical treatment of extrapyramidal disorders” by Dr. Kholyavin, “Olfactory

dysfunction in differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease” by Dr. Pokhabov, and “Pathogenetic

therapyofgeneticallydeterminedformsofParkinson'sdisease”byDr.Senkevich.

Workshop“Brain/motionassistivetechnologies”(Day4)forstudents,specialists,andgeneralpublic

wasprecededbyopeningofexhibition“Assistivetechnologies:thepastandfuture” inMuseumof

47

PavlovMedicalUniversity.Thenmoderntechnologieswerepresentedwithintopics“Restorationof

brain function using neurocomputer interfaces” by Prof. Lebedev, “Interfaces brain-computer for

motorrehabilitation:opportunitiesandprospects”byDr.Shemyakina,“Walking inexoskeletonfor

patientswithchronic lesionsof spinal cord:easiermovementor rehabilitation?”byDr. Shapkova,

“FeaturesofEEGduringimaginationofmovementsinhealthysubjectsandpost-strokepatients”by

Dr.Bobrov.

Lectures of “University Saturday for school children” (Day 6,morning) were performed by young

physicians. The talks were “Gadgets and Spine: Sharing Rules” by M.D. Semenova, “Evolution of

movements”byM.D.Gavrichenko,“Suchdifferentcramps.Howtohelpandnotbeafraid?”byM.D.

Roshchina, “How does physical activity help improve cognitive function?” by M.D. Dolgorukova.

During lecturestherewerequizzeswithprizesasbooksandastickers.Allschoolchildrenreceived

postcardswithusefultipsonlecturetopics.

Movie“Thetheoryofeverything”kicked-offadiscussionwithexpertsonwhethermodernmedicine

couldhavehelped StephenHawking (Day6, evening). “Move yourbrain!” quest, a citywide race

with puzzles, ended the Week (Day 7). Tasks were hidden in historical places of the city and

associatedwiththetopic"BraininMotion".

Advertising:

The contributionof FENS andDANAwas acknowledged in printedmaterials andon aweb-site of

event (brainweekspb.org). Pavlov First St.-Petersburg State Medical University made significant

contribution to advertise BAW actions by including them to a special printed Calendar issue, and

postinganannouncementontheUniversityweb-site.Co-organising institutionsPavlov Instituteof

PhysiologyandInstituteofHumanBrainalsoputnotificationsontheirweb-sites.Insocialnetwork

theeventwasannouncedandpromotedbyBAW_spbgroup.

Statistics:

TheeventsofBAWwereattendedbyca.600 listeners (120-230daily). Theywere representedby

undergraduates(44%)andPhDstudents(3.5%)from~20institutions,aswellasadvancedspecialists

(46%). About 250 school children visited lectures in PavlovMedical University within “University

Saturdayforschoolchildren”.

Post-hoc:

Thebestlecturer(Prof.Kornev),the“Moveyourbrain!”questwinner,andauthorofthebestphoto

wereawarded.AfterBAWwereceivedalotofwarmregardsandthanksinfeedbackquestionnaires.

The video-records of lectures after proceeding will be available for all interested people on

brainweekspb.org. Post-release articles are published in newspapers “Pulse”, “Psychological

newspaper”,and“HeraldofHighSchool”.

BAWmaingoaltoshowthevalueofmovement,togiveup-to-dateknowledgeofhowmovementis

organizedinthebrain,howdisordersoccurandcanbetreated,topromotescienceasabasementof

assistivetechnologiesinmovementdisorders–hasbeenachieved.

48

RelatedLinks

• http://brainweekspb.org/

26. Thelifeofbrain


Contact:

Mrs.MarijaPetronijevic

StudentSectionoftheSerbianNeuroscienceSociety

BiologyDepartment

Sokolovobb,VelikiCrljeni,Lazarevac,11563Belgrade,Serbia

Tel:(+38164)4872014


DuringtheBrainAwarenessWeek,wedevotedourattentiontothecitizensofallages.Theyoungest

were learning about neurons, structures and connections of the brain in a simplified way. The

workshoptargetedfortheyoungestaudiencewascalled''Skyfullofstars''anditwasrealizedwith

pupilsfromthreedifferentschoolsattheCenterforthePromotionofScience.Highschoolstudents

ontheotherhand,hadtheopportunitytodiscussdepressionwiththemembersoftheSection.

Depression isatopicweasanationstronglyconsiderstigma,andwehopedthatwecould lift the

stigma of mental illnesses at least a bit, which was the main part of the workshop named

''Depression is a prison, be free, you have a reason''. The goal was to encourage and support

adolescents,forasuccessfulpassagethroughturbulentteenageyears.Theworkshopwasheldtwice

intheAmericanCorneratthefacilityofYouthCenterBelgrade.Wehaveenabledcolleaguesfrom

different faculties toget to know theworkof the laboratoriesat theMedical andPharmaceutical

Faculty,aswellasattheInstituteforBiologicalresearch"SinišaStanković"andtheCenterforLaser

Microscopy.Laboratorieswere in the fieldofpharmacology,neurophysiology,neurochemistryand

molecularneurobiology.

Forall citizensweorganizedanexhibition in theGalleryofScienceandTechnologyof theSerbian

AcademyofSciencesandArts,aswellasscientific -popular lectures inthementionedgalleryand

ArtGet gallery of the Cultural Center. Lectures were dedicated to microbiota, brain death,

vaccination, excitotoxicity in neurodegeneration, sleep in athletes, brain development from the

angle of the child psychiatrist, psychologists and embryologist, focal cortical diplasis, synapses,

49

neuroplasticity, adult neurogenesis, electroconvulsive therapy, the battlewith Parkinson's disease

fromthepatient'sangle.

The exhibition was devoted to the development of the brain from embryo to death both

thematicallyandspatially.

Weintroducedfertilizationandembryonicdevelopmentthroughvideoanimation,microscopicand

macroscopicpreparations.Wethendevotedonesegmenttosynapsesandprunning,asoneofthe

most important lifelong processes. We presented the synapses in 3D and 2D models, and we

explainedthetransferpathofactionpotentialusing"humantohuman" interfacedevice.Also,we

explained what is affective attachment, as well as how language development takes place. Rett

syndromeanddevelopmentaldisorders,suchasdysplasia, foundaplace inourexhibition,andwe

explained them using chromosomes and memory games. What is happening in the brain of a

teenager on a chemical level and what is getting expressed in a psychological way, we tried to

illustratewithvariouspsychologicaltests(TMTexample)and"necomimi"ears.Using3Dmodelsof

DNA, histone and illustration of experiments, we presented the importance of epigenetics in the

emotion.Intermsofemotions,itisalsothecompositionofourmicrobiome,sowetriedtopresent

its significance, aswell as the importanceof vaccination.Weansweredvisitors to thequestionof

whetherthebrainhasashelflife,butalsoadvisedhowto"exercise"andfeedyourbraininorderto

prolonge your mental wellbeing. Through the story and using 3D models of mitochondria and

neurons,wepresentedageingandneurodegenerativediseases.Wedevotedawholesegmenttothe

schizophrenia, within which we have exhibited artworks from the mental health institution that

weremadebypeoplesufferingfromthisillness.Theexhibitionwasfollowedbyillustratedposters,

andall3Dmodelsweremadebymembersofthesection.

RelatedLinks

• http://neuronauke.org/

• https://www.facebook.com/BawSrb/

• https://www.jotform.com/uploads/FENS/90765324617360/4307220847125041211/BAW2.

mp4

• https://www.facebook.com/pg/BawSrb/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1027749427412281

• https://www.facebook.com/sekcija.neuronauke/

• https://www.facebook.com/serbianneurosciencesociety/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_WzHHP0F3w

50

27. Togetheragainstdementia-BrainAwarenessWeekinBratislavaandKosice2019


Contact:

Dr.DasaCizkova

InstituteofNeuroimmunology,CenterMEMORYinBratislava,UniversityofVeterinaryMedicineand

PharmacyinKosice

Dubravskacesta9,84510Bratislava,Slovakia

Tel:(421)0254788100


People interested in brain issues havemet in CenterMEMORY in Bratislava, this year addressing

topic "Together againstDementia".Opening lecturegivenbyDr.DasaCizkova,highlightwhathas

been accomplished in neuroscience research in Slovakia, introduced BAW, its role and mission

worldwide, and the supportive role of FENS/Dana Foundation. The participants could watch

interestinglecturesaboutthebrain,memorytraining,brainnutritionandstemcells.Thepresenters

were Mgr.Veronika Režnáková, psychiatrist and psychologists Mgr. Michaela Nováková and Mgr.

SimonaKrakovskáandProf.EvaSykováwithfollowing lectures:Let'stalkaboutthebrain,Activate

yourbrainandbecomeitssculptor,Howwecantrainourbrain.Publicandstudentcouldtesttheir

own cognition by simple tests and tasks. The tests for cognitive impairmentwere presented in a

playfulformthatcaptivatedeveryoneintheroom.TheeventwasattendedbyjournalistsfromTASR

and Slovak Television and radio. Finally, theMEMORYCenter, the first preventive, diagnostic and

specialized facility for people with Alzheimer's disease, given the opportunity to explore

rehabilitation and cognitive training facilities. The second event "Together against brain diseases"

was organized together with University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice. Leading

experts in neurological brain disorders presented lectures in the field of stroke (Prof. Zuzana

Gdovinova, Assoc. Prof. Matej Skorvanek). Second section of presentations was dedicated to

veterinary medicine. Where can stem cells help? (Assoc. Prof. Dasa Cizkova), Acute cases in

veterinaryneurology (Dr.AladárMaďari,Asnoneofus are young (Dr. Jana Farbáková). During a

breaks students presented their findings via posters session. The last event was Internet photo

exhibition “Fascinating NeuroArt” announced on UVLF Facebook site showed amazing artistic

picturesfromfundamentalresearch,the6mostinspiringimageswereprized.

RelatedLinks

• http://vedanadosah.cvtisr.sk/tyzden-mozgu-2019-v-duchu-hesla-spolocne-proti-demencii

• https://www.facebook.com/uvlf.sk/photos/a.767183333398473/1993886370728157/?type

=3&theater

• http://www.ssn.sk/20321/na-slovensku-si-uz-dvanasty-krat-pripomenieme-tyzden-mozgu-

univerzity-v-kosiciach-pripravili-seriu-podujati/

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28. BrainAwarenessWeek2019:Atthethresholdofpain


Contact:

Mrs.VesnaMarijavanMidden

SiNAPSA,SlovenianAssociationforNeuroscience

Inštitutzapatološkofiziologijo,Zaloška4,1000Ljubljana,Slovenia

Tel:(00386)40904030


Co-organiser

Mrs.SaraFabjan

SiNAPSA,SlovenianAssociationforNeuroscience


SiNAPSA,SlovenianNeuroscienceAssociation,preparedthe16thanniversaryofBAWinSloveniaon

thegeneraltopicofpain.Painissuchaninterestingandmulti-layeredphenomenonthatwedecided

todedicateawholeweektodifferentaspectsofpain(physiology,psychology,neuroscience…).

We organized a number of events and activities: Neuroscience lectures, Brain-o-theque (movie-

screenings with neuroscientific discussions), Workshops (for children, adults and elderly),

neuroscientific creative contest: Faces of pain (for primary and secondary schools), and six Local

BAW events (making neuroscience available in local Slovenian communities). The 4th Slovenian

National Day of the Brain 2019 was devoted to promotion of brain health in Slovenia. All BAW

activitieswerefreeofchargeandaccessibletoallmembersofthepublic.

According to our calculations about 2000 people joined our events in Ljubljana, about 200-300

childrenengagedinourworkshopsandcreativecontest.Ourlocaleventsalsohadmanyvisitors,all

togetherabout1000people.Ourprogrammehostedabout50different lecturers,expertsof their

fields.

On Monday plenary lectures introduced us to more complex phenomena that are related to

experienceofpain:empathy,dehumanizationandtrauma.TuesdayandThursdaywerededicatedto

clinical topics regarding pain, on Tuesday we explored what pain is, why we need it and the

subjectiveexperienceofpain.OnThursdayweventured intoexplorationofdifferentdiseasesand

52

conditions thatwenormallyassociatewithpain (headache,phantom limb,chronicpain)andabit

abouthowwetreatpain.

Wednesdaywasaveryspecialdayforus,because4yearsagoWednesdayinthe3rdweekofMarch

waspronouncedasaSlovenianNationalDayoftheBrain.Wetrytousethisdaytopromotebrain

healthandneuroscienceresearchtroughspecialfestivities.Thisyearwewereveryfortunatesince

the president of Slovenia Borut Pahor granted Slovenian BAW and SlovenianNational Day of the

BrainhisHonoraryPatronageandacknowledgedtheworkoftheSlovenianneuroscienceassociation

inpromotionofbrainhealthandcommunicationofneuroscience.

First, we started the day with lectures about hot topics in neuroscience, we talked about virtual

therapyfortreatinganxiousandstressdisorders,newwaysfortreatingHuntington’sdisease,deep

brainstimulationandotherinvasivemethodsfortreatingmentaldisordersetc.Afterthelectureswe

invited all the visitors, lecturers andorganizers for a celebrationof SlovenianNationalDayof the

Brain,wherewepreparedahealthysnackandrefreshmentsforeveryone,weunveiledthelunchof

a new Slovene website Zdravaglava.si (Healthyhead) which is one of Sinapsas projects and will

provide information aboutpreventivepractices and scientific topics in anunderstandableway for

everybody.AftertherevealwewerejoinedbyaSlovenianbandcalledČedahučiwhosupportedour

causewithanon-profitconcertincelebrationofthisspecialday.

On Friday’s roundtablewe askedourselveswhere theboundaries of pain are andwhat role does

painplayinanindividual’slifeandonthelevelofsociety.EachdayfromMondaytillFridaywealso

organizedworkshopsforadults(alltogether8)thatcovereddifferentpreventivepracticesforpain

and discussed what role pain has in our lives from different perspectives. We also organized 2

workshopsforchildrenontopicsrelatedtopain.Eachafternoonandeveningwescreenedmovies,

alltogethersix.WecalledthisBrain-o-thequesincescientistsordirectorswereinvitedtocomment

thefilminashorttalkandengagetheaudienceinadiscussion.

Everyyearwetrytofilmasmanylecturesaspossible(thelecturerhastogiveuspermission)andwe

post them online, where they are free to view. This years lectures are already available at

videolectures.net.http://videolectures.net/tedenmozganov2019_ljubljana/

Similar to the festival,weorganized a series of lectures about pain andneuroscienceoutside the

capital city (6 local areas). Our BAW event sparked a huge media interest in the brain and

neuroscience, so many different media outlets (radio, television and written news) decided to

devote time and space to the topic of brain health. Our event was therefore enriched by radio

interviews"Možganinadlani"("Braininhand")andonotherradiostations(Radio94,RadioCenter,

Radio Si) and reports on TV shows (Infodrom, Dobro jutro, Planet TV), our BAW event was also

promoted on many other radios. We also promoted events through social media and in

collaborationwithnationaland localnewspapers,TV, radio,andwithprintedmaterials inschools,

facultiesandinstitutes.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.sinapsa.org/tm

53


• https://twitter.com/Tedenmozganov

• https://radioprvi.rtvslo.si/2019/03/vsi-smo-jo-ze-obcutili-hkrati-pa-je-vsaka-unikatna/

29. MUSICANDRHYTHM.Themusicalbrain:senses,emotion,memories&rhythm

DatesandDuration:6Days

Contact:

Prof.MariaTrinidadHerrero

UniversityofMurcia

DepartmentofHumanAnatomyandPsychobiology

SchoolofMedicine

Clinical&ExperimentalNeuroscience(NICE-IMIB)

30100Murcia,Spain

Tel:(34)609441977


XVI BAW in Murcia was co-organized by the Institute for Aging, the Clinical & Experimental

Neurosciencegroup(NiCE-IMIB)&theRoyalAcademyofMedicineofMurcia.The16thweekofthe

brain, which took place from 8 to 15March at Cajamurcia Foundation (center of the city with a

capacity for 250 people), has dealt with the power of music, food, smells on our brains, on our

emotions,onourmemory.

The week starts on Friday 8th talking about women's brain and with the intervention of the

organizerMariaTrinidadHerrero(PresidentoftheRoyalAcademyofMedicineofMurcia).

OnMonday11th,BAWwasdedicatedtomusicandthehealingpowerofmusic:musictherapy.Fini

Gomeztalkedaboutmusicasanartthatmodulatesourmood,stimulatesmemoriesandallowsusto

shareemotions.Amusicalrhythmcanactivate,excite,calmorrelaxandinallthiswearenotallthe

same.Somemusicalgenresinfluenceusmorethanothers."Musicisamusicalexperiencethatcan

activateallareasofthebrainsimultaneously".Duringtheevening,acollectivemusictherapysession

wasofferedtothepublicwithclassicalmusicmelodies.Thisdayendedwithatastingdedicatedto

Murciatone,themurcian“panettone”.

54

OnTuesday12th,itwasacustomaryevening:"Love&sex".ThepsychiatristsFranciscoToledoand

Carlos Garcia Brinon talked about it. The original question was: can love responses be found in

science?Psychiatristshaveshownthatthestagesoffallinginlove,lackofloveandsexualdesireare

abrain issue. Love is, ineffect, a stateof transientdependence thatdependsondopamine. Inall

this,it’snottheheart.Loveisinthebrain.

Wednesday 14th opened with an interactive game: the myths of the brain. 4 doctoral students

collected some curiosities and false myths about the brain and proposed them through a web

platform.

LaterCarlosEscobarspokeoftheartofimprovisingjazzmusic.Improvisingmeanshavinganideain

the brain and expressing it through an instrument. It is a dynamic moment that leads to an

immediatedecisiononwhatsoundstogotouseinaliveinterpretation.Theeveningendedwithan

improvisationofjazzmusic.

OnThursday,peopleenjoyandlearnaboutflavors,regardingtotastesensationandvisually.Dowe

allhavethesameperceptionofaromaticsubstancesandflavors?Ordoeseachofusperceivethem

differently?

Ana Moreno explains what happen when we ingest a food: we immediately have a gustatory

perception that depends on the gustatory buttons that communicatewith the brain. The taste is

relatedwith the senseof smell and sight, and itwasdemonstrated throughanexperiment: some

volunteersfromthepublictastedadrinkwithtweezersthatdidnotallowthemtosmellit.Eachof

themhadadifferentperceptionofthedrink,andnobodycouldidentifyit.Inthesecondpart,there

hasbeentalkedaboutNeuromarketing.Whathappensinthebrainwhenwehearsomesmellsand

listentomusic?DuringtheconferenceVictoriaCava(aflamencoartistplayingwithhergroup)was

subjected to the EEG and her neurometric responses were detected while she smelled some

fragrancesandwhileperformingwithhergroupinaflamencoperformance.

This Neuromarketing tool allows people to see in the screen themeasurements of brain activity

expressed by attention, interest and cognitive effort. The artist was also subjected to the GSR

sensors(galvanicskinresponse)todetectheremotionsduringthemusicalperformanceandwhile

feelingsomeodors.

Thefinaleveningdealtwiththethemeof"healthyfoodsforthebrain:emotionandprevention".At

thecenterofattentionwerefourfoods:bread,tomato,oilandIberianham.Thethemeofhealthy

eatingwascarriedoutbythreeleadingcompaniesinSpain.

"Eatwelltokeepyourbrainhealthy"-Inparticular,JulianCastillospokeaboutthebenefitsofextra

virgin olive oil: there is a link between oil consumption and greater cognitive ability (improving

cardiovascular situation). Finally, a demonstration of Neuromarketing was made by Prof Babiloni

fromRomeSapienzaUniversity.WemeasurebrainactivityandemotionalresponsethroughtheEEG

infrontofthesmellandtasteofIberianham.

55

Morethan250peopleattendedeveryAfternoonandmanywaitingoutside.Additionally,thatweek

weexplain thebrain to teenagersandaswell theNeuroclubofMurciawasactivecelebrating the

BAW.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.um.es/documents/1995586/10366887/XVI+Semana+del+Cerebro+en+Murcia+

%281%29.pdf/2634228a-150d-4ced-b6f6-57cc379853c4

30. Neuromascletà:MeetingNeuroscientistsintheStreetduringFallasFestival

DatesandDuration:13/03/2019to19/03/2019

Contact:

Dr.LuciaHipólito

UniversityofValencia

Avda.VicenteAndrésEstellés,46007Valencia,Spain


Co-organiser

Mrs.YolandaCampos-Jurado


Thisyear,theprojectinvolvedtheuseofthepublicspace(thestreet)duringFallasFestivaltoexhibit

outreachpostersfromthedifferentNeurosciencelabsbasedinourregion.15labsparticipatedwith

their posters. We also had a poster explaining the use of animals in biomedical research. This

exhibitionwaspostedfrom15thto17thofMarchattheFallaPlazadeJesúsinValencia.Moreover,

on the 16th evening we celebrated our “outreach poster session”, where investigators from the

different labs, showed and explained to the public their research. We obtain in total about 100

visitorstothispostersession.Moreover,wereleasedafreejournalthatcollectedtheinformationof

thelabsthatparticipatedinourexhibitionandinthetalks.Finally,4neuroscientistsgavetalkstothe

audience in a prepared area in the street. The topics of the talks were addiction, brain changes

inducedduringmaternity,neuralstemcellsanditspotentialuse intreatmentofCNSdiseasesand

behaviourchangesinducedbydiseases.Thespeakerswereverywellreceivedbytheaudienceand

actually the audience participated by asking interesting questions to the speakers. To finalize the

event children blew up air balloons to recreate the sound of fireworks,which are very similar to

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neuronal recordings. In thiswaywealsocaptured theattentionofkids thatpreviouslyvisited the

posterexhibitionwithaguide.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.uv.es/uvweb/unidad-cultura-cientifica-innovacion-catedra-divulgacion-

ciencia/es/novedades/fallas-muestran-investigacion-valenciana-neurociencia-

1285899375231/Novetat.html?id=1286069281974

• https://twitter.com/Neuro_mascleta

• http://ruvid.org/wordpress/?p=46461

31. BAW2019attheDepartmentofExperimentalandHealthSciencesofPompeuFabra

University


Contact:

Mrs.MariCarmenCebrián

PompeuFabraUniversity

DepartmentofExperimentalandHealthSciences

Aiguader88,08003Barcelona,Spain

Tel:(34)933160916


TheDepartmentofExperimentalandHealthSciences (DCEXS)ofPompeuFabraUniversityoffered

several activities within the Brain Awareness Week 2019, which included conferences and

demonstrations aimed at students, workshops aimed at teachers, and a social media campaign,

among others. We had activities that reached across disciplines and age groups. The specific

activitiesorganizedareexplainedbelow:

DCEXSresearchersreachedoutto localschools inordertobringhighschoolanduppersecondary

students closer to their research activity in neuroscience, taking part in an initiative from the

EducationInstituteoftheBarcelonaCityCouncil.Localstudentswereabletomeetresearchersand

discoverwhatitmeanstobeaneuroscientistandwhyitisimportanttostudythebrain.

Andrés Ozaita, principal investigator at the Neuropharmacology group offered the talk "Cannabis

andbrain”,attheMonlaueducationcenter,inwhichheexplainedthebiologicalbasesoftheeffects

57

ofdrugs.FernandoGiráldez,Groupleader intheDevelopmentalBiologyGroup,gavethetalk"The

five senses: neurosciences, art andphilosophy" in twodifferent schools (Institut Secretari Coloma

andInstitutMoisèsBroggi).Hepresentedhowthebrainperceivestheworldandhowneurosciences

helpusaddress classicalproblemsofartandphilosophy.Moreover,AdrianaCastro, researcherat

theNeurobiologyofBehaviourgroup,alsovisitedaschool(FEDACAmilcar)inordertopresenther

research in neuroscience. In this school we also offered a Play Decide activity about

Neuroenhancement,adynamicactivitythatallowsstudentstogainbasicknowledgeonthetopicto

beabletopresenttheirpersonalvisionandbuildadebatefilledwithethicalconcerns.

A workshop on writing for general audiences was organized with personalized one-to-one

corrections, aimed at PhD students. The workshop organized jointly by the DCEXS, the Science,

CommunicationandSocietyStudiesCenter (SCS-UPF)andtheBarcelonaBiomedicalResearchPark

(PRBB),hadasitsmainobjectivetoprovidethedoctoralstudentswithtoolstoexplaintheirresearch

toanon-expertaudience.Inthepracticalpart,theparticipantsbegantowritedisseminationarticles

about their research.Theyaddressed issues suchaspublichealth,neurobiology,bioinformaticsor

nanomedicine, the researchers conducting research on neuroscience were specially invited to

attend.YouwillbeabletoseetheresultingarticlespublishedsooninEl·lipseandourblogBiomedia

Channel.

Throughout the week, we used socialmedia to disseminate the brain research conducted in our

Department.We shared information about the neuroscientistswork using #BrainAwarenessWeek

and#BrainWeek

Finally, we offered a workshop aimed at schoolteachers about how the experimental animal

Zebrafishcanbeused instudents’projects. Itwasorganized jointlywiththeBarcelonaBiomedical

ResearchParkanimal facility. Eight teachersattended thecourse,whichwasgivenby researchers

and technicians from the animal facility. One of themain areas discussedwas focused on brain-

relatedtopics,suchasthestudyofdrugeffectsinthebrainortheresearchonneurologicaldiseases

likefetalalcoholsyndrome.Themaingoalwastoprovideusefultools fortheteachers inorderto

fosterstudents’interestinresearch.

RelatedLinks

• https://twitter.com/UPFbiomedia/status/1105140356671246336

58

32. BrainAwarenessWeek2019attheHospitalNacionaldeParapléjicos:explorersofthe

damagedandhealthynervoussystem


Contact:

Dr.HugoVaraRivera

HospitalNacionaldeParapléjicos

FincalaPeraledas/n,Edificioinvestigación,45071Toledo,Spain

Tel:(925)247700Ext47276


Co-organiser

Dr.ManuelNietoDíaz

HospitalNacionaldeParapléjicos


The Brain Awareness Week at the Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos (National Hospital for

Paraplegics,HNP).March11-15,2019.

1.PopularScienceTalksforUniversityStudents:

On Monday afternoon, two opening talks to the Brain Awareness Week were given at the Aula

Magna of the Castilla-LaManchaUniversity (UCLM) in Toledo. Dr.OscarGómez, professor at the

UCLM, gave a lecture on the neurobiological mechanisms of addictions, and Dr. Juan Aguilar,

researchteamleaderattheHNP,discussedaboutthelimitsofthebrainandhowthe“futurebrain”

will be. The audience was composed mainly of college students that participated raising many

questionstothelecturers.

Theactalso servedas the institutionalopeningof theBAWactivities in thecityofToledo,by the

UCLMDeputy Rector for Research and Science Politics,Dr. JuliánGarde,whoopened the session

andclaimedtheimportanceofpopularizingtheresearchconductedintheUCLMandtheHNP.The

HNPmedicaldirector,DrJuanCarlosAdau,alsowelcomedeveryonetotheBAW,pointingoutthat

“science isnotsomethingstrangeand far,but isclose toour livesandbelongs tousall”and that

“everythingisinthebrain,fromthewayweunderstandourselvestothewaytogetoutofacrisis”.

2.SecondaryschoolsvisittheResearchUnitoftheHNP

251studentsfromsecondaryschoolsvisitedtheresearchfacilitiesoftheHNPfromMonday11thto

Friday15th.Duetothehighnumberofapplications,36additionalstudentsweregivenappointment

tovisittheHNPonthe28thofMarch.ThevisitsstartedwithanintroductorytalkbyteamleaderDr.

EduardoMolinaonthedistinct featuresofscientificresearch intheHNP.Then,thestudentswere

guidedthrougheducationalitinerariesconceivedtoexplainhowresearchprojectsaredesignedand

developedandhowtheobtainedresultscan improvethe lifeofSCIpatients.Most laboratoriesof

the Research Unit, as well as research support facilities (Microscopy, Magnetic Resonance,

ProteomicsandCytometry)wereinvolvedandthestudentsweregiventheopportunitytointeract

59

withthepersonnelandwithsomeexperimentaltechniques.Theitinerariesintroducedthestudents

tothefollowingtopics:

1. Fatigueinspinalcordinjury(SCI).

2. Electricalstimulationcanhelpuswalk.

3. MicroRNAstorepairthespinalcord.

4. Stemcelltherapies.

5. WhathappensafteraSCI?Canwepromoteregeneration?

6. BiomaterialsforSCItreatment.

Thescientificactivitieswerecomplementedwithashortguided-tourthroughthehospitalfacilities

toshowthestudentsthebasicsoftheHNPstrategicgoalswaswellaspatients’thedailyroutines.

Finally, students meet a group of young SCI patients (of approximately their age) under the

supervisionoftheHNPpsychologistDr.CarmenFernándeztoprovidethestudentswithapositive

insightonhowtomanageSCIcircumstancesonthereallife.

Feedbackfromstudentsandtheirteacherswashighlypositive.Studentsenjoyedthevisitandgave

their opinions about the different parts of the itineraries. Besides the scientific topics, theywere

gratefulfortheconversationwithSCIpatients.Ontheotherside,teachersrecognisedthevalueof

thevisittotheHNPforthestudentstolearntheimportanceofresearchandtopreventSCIintheir

future.Theyencouragedustogoonwiththeorganizationofpopularscienceactivitiesforstudents.

3.ScientificsdiscussSCItherapieswithpatients

AnopenroundtablewasheldonMarch14th,withresearchersDr.DanielGarcía,Dr.ÁngelArévalo

andDr. EduardoMolina bringing up to date the discoveries on SCI treatments. About 40 people,

comprising SCI patients and relatives, attended the discussion and raised questions that were

answeredindepthbytheexperts.

4.HNPresearchersvisitprimaryschools

ResearchersMartaZaforas,Dr.MarinaBenito,Dr.JulianaRosa,andDr.TeresaMuñozfromtheHNP

visited115kids(agedfrom5to6yearsold)fromtwopublicprimaryschoolstoshowthemhowthe

brainprocessessensoryinformation.Forthisactivity,researchersperformedashortplay,followed

bytheconstructionoftheirownbrainhelmetusedtoidentifythebrainareascorrespondingtoeach

sense. Inaddition,kidsand teachers learned thatbrainsneed tobeexercised in thesamewayas

other parts of the body. The overall experiencewas absolutely rewarding, and kids and teachers

enjoyedaninstructiveandfunnytimetogetherwiththescientistsfromourInstitution.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.jotform.com/uploads/FENS/90765324617360/4306276444232782244/Video%

20semana%20cerebro%204.mp4

• http://www.infomedula.org/?p=3610

• https://www.facebook.com/neuroproteccion.medula.espinal/posts/2310938755849907

• https://twitter.com/HnpSai/status/1106112623446290437

60

• https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6512339837306040320

33. Freepubliceveninglectures,posterexhibitionandguidedtoursattheAnatomical

MuseumpresentingthetopicsofBasel'sBrainResearch


Contact:

Prof.NicoleSchaeren-Wiemers

UniversityofBasel

NeuroscienceNetworkBasel

Birmannsgasse8,4051Basel,Switzerland

Tel:(+4161)2070220


Co-organiser

Dr.CatherineAlioth

UniversityofBasel

NeuroscienceNetworkBasel

TheNeuroscienceNetworkBaselorganizedaprogramduringtheBrainAwarenessWeek(BAW) in

Basel(March17toMarch24)consistingoffivepubliceveninglecturesfollowedbyQ&Asessions,a

poster exhibition at the venue and guided tours through a special exhibition at the Anatomical

MuseumofBasel.

Publiceveninglectures

ResearchersinneuroscienceoftheBaselareapresentedtheircurrentresearchtopicsandresultsto

thepublicontopicssuchashowthebraindecodeswordsandnumbers,onsensoryperceptionand

behavior,onhowthebraincontrolsmovements,onlifestylephysicalactivityandthebrainandon

theimpactofstressonthebrain.Theeveninglectureshighlightedhottopicsrangingfrommolecular

neurobiology to neuropsychology, thus covering many different research areas in modern

neuroscience. The audience much appreciated the broad range of topics from basic research to

appliedandclinicalresearch.Thepublicdemonstratedtheirgreatinterestinthesetopicsbyasking

manyquestionsafterthetalksandengaginginalivelydiscussion.Intotalwewelcomedover2'300

attendees! Itwas very satisfying for the speakers to present theirwork to a full lecture hall (see

61

photo 1). Some persons attended more than one lecture! It was a particular pleasure to be

congratulatedbysomepeoplewhoattendedtheeveningtalksoftheentireBrainAwarenessWeek

andtobeaskedwhennextyear’slectureswilltakeplace!Thelectureswerefreeofchargeandthe

speakerswerenotremunerated.

PosterExhibitionintheentrancehallofthevenue

Nineresearcherspresentedtheirresearchonaposter.Thiswasanattractiveadditionalplatformto

obtain information about current research for the attendees of the lectures, before or after the

evening lectures (seephoto2).Topicsof theposterswere forexample“Glia cells in thebrain” to

“Neuronvariability”,“Influenceofexpectationsonperception”,“Autism”,“Sleep”and“Mechanisms

ofneurodegeneration”.

GuidedtourattheAnatomicalMuseum

Group leaders of the NNB offered special guided tours through the current exhibition at the

Anatomical Museum entitled “Mysterious Brain: Do sports make us clever?” On a daily basis, in

groups of around twenty persons, researchers explained the posters and exhibits and discussed

topicsofinterest(photo3and4).

Thisyear’spopularityoftheBAWinthepublicwasononehandcertainlyduetothechoiceoftopics

andexcellent speakers.On theother handwe are convinced that the FENS financial supportwas

veryhelpful,becauseitallowedustohaveamoreextensiveadvertisementcampaign.Wewouldlike

toexpressourhugegratitudetotheFENS!

March28,2019

CatherineAliothandSimoneGrumbacher,onbehalfofProf.NicoleSchaeren-Wiemers

RelatedLinks

• https://www.neuronetwork.unibas.ch/brainweek19

• https://www.facebook.com/Neuroscience-Network-Basel-124257454451418/

• https://twitter.com/NNBtweet

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/neuro-network-basel-1b764415a/

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34. OurBrainEventsinGreaterIstanbulKocaeliRegion


Contact:

Prof.IsilKurnaz

GebzeTechnicalUniversity

MolecularBiologyandGenetics

CayirovaCampus,41400Gebze,Kocaeli,Turkey

Tel:(0090535)5764081


In this year’s event, faculty members from Gebze Technical University (Molecular Biology and

Genetics),YeditepeUniversityHospital(DeptRadiology),BoğaziçiUniversity(InstituteofBiomedical

Engineering) and Sakarya University (Faculty of Education) have visited 2 nurseries, 3 different

elementaryschoolsand1secondaryschool,andreachedatotalofalmost400students.

Asusual,inthisnow-traditionalactivity,facultymembershadgivenabriefpresentation(5-10min,

dependingon the levelof students)on their researcharea, includingbrain imaging,neuroscience,

neurobiology, and learning; they have talked to students about "neurons" (with their "hair" or

dendrites, and their "arms" or axons), role-playing as neuronal networks within classroom, and

demonstratingwithaninteractivehome-madetoyneuron.

We discussedwhat brainmeans to us, its neural composition and how it helps uswith our daily

activities. Brain imaging systems and their usage in certain conditionswerementioned. Students

had a chance to see how the brain can be “fooled” by optic illusions. They were given various

activities at specific stations such as juggling, optical illusions, exploring brain model and so on.

Activitysheets,capsandbrain-shapederasersweregiventothechildren.Sloganthatwonlastyear’s

competitionwasusedinthisyear’stheme.

The activities were shared on social media, mainly on our lab’s Facebook page

(https://www.facebook.com/AxanLab), laboratory website (https://axanlab.com/outreach/) and

twitter accounts (@isil_aksan), TUBAS (Neuroscience Society of Turkey) Brain Awareness Week

Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BeyinFarkindaligiHaftasiBAW/), Facebook pages of

partnerschoolsorsciencecenters.

Alsothisyearforthefirsttime,ouractivitywasinterviewedonIzTV,athematicTVshow,andour

interviewonFENSBAWactivitiesandgoalswasairednationally.

RelatedLinks

• https://www.facebook.com/AxanLab

• https://axanlab.com/outreach/

• https://www.facebook.com/BeyinFarkindaligiHaftasiBAW/

63

35. Brain,BehaviourandBeyond

DatesandDuration:Wed13thMarch

Contact:

Dr.AndrewYoung

UniversityofLeicester

DepartmentofNeuroscience,Psychology&Behaviour

LancasterRoad,LE19HNLeicester,Leicestershire,UnitedKingdom

Tel:(0116)2297111


“Brain, Behaviour & Beyond”was held at the University of Leicester onWednesday 13thMarch,

hosted by the Department of Neuroscience, Psychology & Behaviour. Linked to the Dana

Foundation’sBrainAwarenessWeek(11-17March),theeventformedpartofaworldwidecampaign

to increase awareness of brain research. Two sessionswere held in theGeorgeDavis Centre for

Medicine,eachcomprisingshorttalks,followedbydemonstrationsandposterswithaccompanying

refreshments. Theafternoonsessionwasaimedatschoolstudents,whiletheeveningsessionwas

aimedatthegeneralpublic.

TheafternoonstartedwithatalkfromDrBenWarren,describingresearchonhowinsectshear,and

how this can help us understand human hearing loss. He demonstrated coding of auditory

informationbyplayingrecordingsofelectricalsignalsinlocustauditorynervesduringpopularmusic

andaskingtheaudiencetoguesswhatsongwasbeingplayed.ThiswasfollowedbyatalkfromDr

Annemieke Apergis-Schoute about obsessive-compulsive disorder: she presented some recent

findingsshowinghowdeepbrainstimulationcanalleviatesymptoms.Finally,Dr.JaimeMcCutcheon

discussedhow thebrain helps animals to find food, focusing particularly on theneurotransmitter

dopamine. The talkswere followed by a less formal time, accompanied by refreshments, during

whichthegueststookpartindemonstrations,visitedpostersandtalkedtothescientists.

The evening session began with Professor Elizabeta Mukaetova-Ladinska reviewing the latest

evidenceontheinfluenceofdietonwellbeing,andhowdietaffectsneuronefunctionandcognitive

performance. Next, DrMervyn Thomas gave an insight into nystagmus, an eye disease involving

involuntary movements of the eyes, and discussed recent improvements in diagnosing and

treatment. Again, this was followed by demonstrations and posters, and opportunity to meet

scientistsinformally,accompaniedbycheeseandwine.

64

Demonstrationsexploredmanyaspectsofbrainorganisationandactivityandvisitorsexperienced

for themselves phenomena related to brain function. “Ophthalmology” demonstrations, showed

howopticalcoherencetomographyandelectrooculographyenableustostudyretinalstructureand

eye movements: visitors could look at their own retina and their record eye movements. In

“Neuroscienceof illusion”visitorstookpart inpsychologyexperimentstestingvisionandattention

and learned the sciencebehindhow thebrain canbemisledusingoptical and cognitive illusions.

“Molecular basis of taste perception” tested whether people were 'super-tasters' – a greater

sensitivitytobittertaste,duetogeneticallydeterminedtypeofbitterreceptorsonthetongue.This

simpleexperimentillustratesbothhowtasteisperceivedandhowitisaffectedbygenetics.

Electrical signalling in nerve cells is critical to transmission of information, and “Seeing signals

controllingmuscles”enabledvisitors tovisualiseelectrical signals inarmmuscleswhen they lifted

objects. Complementing this in “Stimulate locust neurones” visitors ‘tickled’ a locust and saw

electrical responses of motor neurons controlling ‘kicks’ of the hind legs. By using fluorescent

markersindevelopingzebrafish“Seeingneurones”enabledvisitorstoseeneuronesinlive1-dayold

fish under a microscope, and learn how these techniques help understand human

neurodevelopment.“Learningwithworms”showedexperimentswithPlanarianflatworms,looking

at mechanisms of animal learning, which apply also to mammals, including humans. “Animal

research” demonstrated how animals used in research are cared for: staff from the Preclinical

Research Facility showed research on improving housing, husbandry and care of experimental

animals, and answered visitors questions on the use of animals in research. In addition, posters

presented mainly by postgraduate and undergraduate students outlined current research in

psychology,neurophysiology,neurochemistryandbehaviour.

Visitors took full advantage of the opportunity to chat to presenters, identified by “Ask me a

question”badges,andagreatdealoflivelyandenthusiasticdiscussionensuedoncurrentresearch

andmanyotheraspectsofbrainfunction.

Evaluation

Theprimaryaimoftheeventwasinformingvisitorshowresearchhelpsunderstandbrainfunction,

and develop new treatments for diseases involving brain dysfunction. During the afternoon, 233

schoolstudentsattendedrepresenting16schoolsfromthelocalareaandfurtherafield,andinthe

evening156peopleattended,ranging inage fromearly teenstooctogenarians.Feedbackshowed

thatmostpeoplefoundtheevent interestingand informative(>90%agreed).Comments included;

“Fun, informative and engaging”; “Fantastic”; “Very well run”; “Brilliant and inspiring”; “Very

organised - the lectureswere excellent”; “Practical, interesting, informative”; “Just keep up good

work”.

A secondary aim was to give early-career scientists the opportunity to present to non-specialist

audiences. Undergraduate students, postgraduate students and early-career post-doctoral

researchers took part by helping with organisation, presenting posters and/or helping with

demonstrations.

65

RelatedLinks

• https://www2.le.ac.uk/institution/dbs/forms/brain-awareness-report

• https://www2.le.ac.uk/institution/dbs/outreach-and-public-engagement/brain-awareness-

week-2019

36. Otherwaysofcommunicating:AphasiaandBrainAwarenessWeek


Contact:

Mr.FinnBeames

Oedipa

12EquianoCourt,BaldwinsGardens,EC1N7AELondon,UnitedKingdom

StreetAddressLine2:


The event was held at the Communication Clinic at UCL's Division of Psychology and Language

Sciences, with an audience of 40-50 people made up of members of the public, service users,

academicsandartists.

Duringtheevent,creativeworkwassharedfromthedevelopmentofanewoperawhichwillexplore

people's experiences of aphasia throughmusic and storytelling. Leading up to the event, various

participantshadworkedondifferentelementsoftheopera,andthesewereexhibitedtothepublic.

Materials on display included descriptions of stories by people with different types of aphasia;

images depicting scenes in the opera manipulated to fit descriptions of them by people with

different types of aphasia; original artworks inspired by the creative process and the relationship

betweenmusic and language in thebrain, and audio recordings of peoplewith different types of

aphasia.

An introductionwasgiventothepubliconthenatureofaphasia,andthiswasthenfollowedbya

creativeandparticipatoryworkshopledbyanartistandanoperasinger.Everyonewasencouraged

toexploretheirvoices,thephysicalityofsingingandemotion.

'Introducing you to your brain' flyers were distributed to everyone who attended, and everyone

sharedtea,coffeeandcaketodiscussBrainAwarenessWeek,theirownrelationshipwiththeirbrain

and,inparticular,aphasiaandthebrain.

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RelatedLinks

• https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/communication-clinic/2019/05/22/aphasia-opera-performance/

baw 2019 report - fens.org files/baw/baw 2019 report.pdf28. brain awareness week 2019: at the...

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