Upcoming VIB conferences on neurotechnologies and microbiology

VIB has two conferences coming up: Neurotechnologies on 27-29 September and Emerging Applications of Microbes on 7-8 December, both at KU Leuven. Hurry to sign up for the former: The deadline is 14 September.

New technologies that integrate neurobiology and nano-scale engineering offer unique insights into the functioning of brain circuits. These cutting-edge neurotechnologies, the focus of the Neurotechnologies conference, are essential in understanding the fundamental questions posed by neuroscience.

The symposium will focus on neurotechnologies for research and neuroprosthetic applications. The event opens on Tuesday evening with a keynote address by Jocelyne Bloch of Lausanne University Hospital and Grégoire Courtine of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology on spinal cord gateways that restore functions in patients with neurological disorders. It is followed by a reception at Leuven’s beautiful city hall.

The following two days feature internationally renowned speakers, including:

    • Kobi Koffler of the University of California San Diego on 3D-printed biomimetic scaffolds for spinal cord injury repair
    • Sergiu Pasca of Stanford University on constructing and deconstructing the human nervous system, from stem cell to assembloids to in vivo circuits
    • Nadine Gogolla of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich on defining emotional states through behavioral and neuronal correlates in mice
    • Cynthia Chestek of the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery on neural interfaces for controlling finger movements

 

Other topics include imaging and electrophysiological approaches, cell and tissue engineering and neuroethics. The conference also includes panel discussions and poster sessions. It is possible to register for the conference until 14 September.

This is the second edition of Neurotechnologies, following the edition of 2018, hosted by Cell Press and Nerf. VIB is organizing the conference this year together with Nerf, in partnership with Cell Press.

Emerging Applications of Microbes

It’s also the second edition of this VIB conference focused on the latest discoveries and applications of microbiology. The field is moving exceptionally fast, in part because it can take full advantage of the new developments in microscopy, computational biology, synthetic biology, biomaterials and single-cell technologies.

The new breakthroughs and technologies in microbiology not only allow a better understanding of microbes and life in general, they also open new routes in applied and industrial microbiology. This conference is specifically aimed at the links between the newest insights and applications.

Session topics at the conference include:

  • Applications in agriculture in mitigation of climate change
  • New tech for microbial synthetic biology or applications
  • Applications in Human Health
  • Micro-organism as a source of novel biomaterials
  • Applications in circular economy

Among the many speakers are Irina Borodina of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability in Denmark, Andy Goodman of the Yale Microbial Sciences Institute and Huifeng Jiang of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology.

The early bird deadline for registering for Emerging Applications of Microbes is 28 October.

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