7:30 – 8:15: Registration – Outside of Washington Room, Hotel Roanoke [View Hotel Map]

8:15 – 8:30: Welcome and Conference Overview, Washington Room | Michael Friedlander, Ph.D.

Session 1: Neurodevelopment

8:30 – 8:55: Michelle Olsen, Ph.D., Virginia Tech | “Astrocyte Dysfunction Contributes to Disordered Breathing in Rett Syndrome”

8:55 – 9:20: Anthony-Samuel LaMantia, Ph.D., Fralin Biomedical Research Institute – Virginia Tech | “The Odds of Small Things: Polygenic Foundations and Phenotypic Variability in a Neurodevelopmental Disorder”

9:20 – 9:45: Catherine Limperopoulos, Ph.D., Children’s National Hospital | “Prenatal Origins of Neuropsychiatric Disorders: The Role of Quantitative Fetal MRI”

9:45 – 10:05: Break

10:05 – 10:30: Sharon Landesman Ramey, Ph.D., Fralin Biomedical Research Institute – Virginia Tech | “Intensive Early Interventions: Transforming Children’s Neurobehavioral Trajectories”

10:30 – 10:55: Ukpong Eyo, Ph.D., University of Virginia Health System| “Understanding Microglia as a Novel Target in Seizure Disorders”

10:55 – 11:20: Sharon Swanger, Ph.D., Fralin Biomedical Research Institute – Virginia Tech | “Synapse- and Cell-Type-Specific Dysfunction in a Dravet Syndrome Mouse Model”

11:20 – 12:30: Lunch and Keynote Speaker: Carol A. Mason, Ph.D., Columbia University | “Wiring the Eye to the Brain for Binocular Vision: Lessons from the Albino Visual System”

Session 2: Aging, Neurodegeneration, and Injury

12:30 – 12:55: Hilde Loge Nilsen, Ph.D., University of Oslo | “Base Excision Repair as a Risk Modulator of Parkinson’s Disease”

12:55 – 1:20: David Cifu, M.D., Virginia Commonwealth University Health| “Repetitive Concussions from Blast and Combat Exposure: Update from the Prospective, Longitudinal Study of the Long-term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium, 2013-2021”

1:20 – 2:05: Break

2:05 – 2:30: Steve Finkbeiner, M.D., Ph.D., University of California San Francisco | “Finding Causes and Treatments for Neurodegenerative Disease with Stem Cells, Genomics, Robotics, and Artificial Intelligence”

2:30 – 2:55: Asta Kristine Haberg, M.D., Ph.D., Norwegian University of Science and Technology | “Building Blocks of Memory Across the Lifespan”

2:55 – 3:20: Clive Bramham, M.D., Ph.D., University of Bergen | “The Arc of Synaptic Memory: From Hub Protein to Retroviral-like Capsid”

3:20 – 3:45: Michelle Theus, Ph.D., Virginia Tech | “Eph/Ephrin Regulation of Neurovascular and Neuroimmune Health in Brain Injury Across the Age Spectrum”

3:45 – 4:30: Keynote Speaker: Jan H. J. Hoeijmakers, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Principal Investigator, Global Faculty University of Cologne, and at Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology | “How DNA Damage Leads to Transcription Stress, Proteinopathies and Dementia: The Impact of Nutrition”

4:30 – 5:30: Clinical Panel | Tor Haugstad, M.D., Ph.D., Kathryn L. Holloway, M.D., Karen Johnston, M.D., M.Sc., Anita Kablinger, M.D., and Aashit K. Shah, M.D.

6:00 – 8:30: Reception at Center in the Square

8:20 – 8:30: Welcome by Michael Friedlander, Ph.D.

Session 3: Mental Health

8:30 – 8:55: Gretchen N. Neigh, Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University | “Adolescent Stress Causes Long-term Sex-specific Changes in Neural Metabolism and Behavior”

8:55 – 9:20: Shannon Farris, Ph.D., Fralin Biomedical Research Institute – Virginia Tech | “Mitochondrial Diversity at Social Synapses”

9:20 – 9:45: Jukka-Pekka Onnela, D.Sc., Harvard University | “Smartphone-based Digital Phenotyping in Mental Health”

9:45 – 10:15: Break

10:15 – 10:40: Anders Nykjaer, M.D., Ph.D., Aarhus University | “The Neurexin Receptor Sorcs1: Another Player in Autism Spectrum Disorder?”

10:40 – 11:05: Read Montague, Ph.D., Fralin Biomedical Research Institute – Virginia Tech | “Decoding Monoamine Signaling in Conscious Humans”

11:05 – 11:50: Keynote Speaker Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health, NIH | “A Framework for Precision Psychiatry: Integrating Dimensional and Diagnostic Approaches”

11:50 – 1:00: Lunch

1:00 – 2:00: Poster Talks (View Abstracts)

• “Arc Nanobodies: A New Tool for Functional Studies of Arc Protein in Neurons”
  Rodolfo Baldinotti, University of Bergen
• “The Proneurotrophin Receptor SorCS2 Interacts with Wnt Receptor Ror2 to Regulate Embryogenesis and Brain Development Across Vertebrates”
  Alena Salasova, Aarhus University
• “Visualizing Cell-Specific De Novo Translation in the Hippocampus”
  Niesha Savory, Virginia Tech
• “BDNF/Astrocytic TrkB.T1 Signaling as a Mechanism Underlying Perisynaptic Astrocyte Process Recruitment”
  Beatriz Torres, Virginia Tech
• “Predicting Post-Concussion Syndrome after Mild TBI with CNS Injury and Inflammation Biomarkers in Blood”
  Gerard Clarke, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• “Endothelial-Immune Crosstalk in the Regulation of Blood Brain Barrier Integrity Following Traumatic Brain Injury”
  Caroline de Jager, Virginia Tech
• “Identification of New Therapeutic Targets for Glioblastoma Independent of PI3K”
  Erin McDaid, Virginia Tech
• “Binary Classification of PPMI Longitudinal Samples Using Whole Blood Transcriptome Data and Age”
  Nicholas Minster, George Mason University

2:00 – 3:00: Break and Poster Viewing (View Abstracts)

Session 4: Brain Cancer

3:00 – 3:25: Eugene Hwang, M.D., Children’s National Hospital | “Immunotherapy: A Path Towards Fulfilling the Hope and Promise for Children with Brain Cancer”

3:25 – 3:50: Jennifer Munson, Ph.D., Fralin Biomedical Research Institute – Virginia Tech | “Interstitial Flow as a Driver of Glioblastoma Development”

3:50 – 4:15: Justin D. Lathia, Ph.D., Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic; Department of Molecular Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine | “Exploiting Sex Differences in Glioblastoma for Next Generation of Immunotherapies”

4:15 – 4:40: Rolf Bjerkvig, Ph.D., University of Bergen | “Deciphering Human Glioblastoma Invasion into Brain Organoids”

4:40 – 5:05: Rafael Davalos, Ph.D., Virginia Tech | “High Frequency Irreversible Electroporation for the Treatment of Malignant Glioma”

5:05 – 7:00: Poster Viewing and Dinner Reception, Hotel Roanoke

7:00: Dinner, Hotel Roanoke

8 a.m. – 12 p.m.: The Roanoke area is rich with recreational activities. To learn more, contact Carissa South, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute events coordinator, at carissas@vtc.vt.edu. Lunch will be provided.