Register today for this event organized by the Canadian Optogenetics and Vectorology Foundry (COVF). It will provide an overview of the field of genetically encoded fluorescent sensors with historical perspectives followed by workshops that include practical considerations in design, screening and applications of these tools for neuroscience. There will also be a discussion on the ethical and regulatory aspects surrounding the potential use of optogenetics tools in humans.
We are happy to announce that a recording of the satellite meeting “New avenues pursued by the Canadian Neurophotonics Platform/Optogenetics & Vectorology Foundry” presented at the 14th Annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting August 26th, 2021 is now available on the Neurophotonics youtube channel.
Check out the recording here:
Due to technical difficulties during the recording, the first talk by Antoine Légaré and Vincent Boily entitled ‘Whole brain Ca2+ imaging in the zebrafish’ was not recorded. We apologize for the inconvenience
Note: All times refer to Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Thematics of the 2021 edition:
NEW AVENUES PURSUED BY THE CANADIAN NEUROPHOTONICS PLATFORM/OPTOGENETICS & VECTOROLOGY FOUNDRY
11:00 WELCOME: Yves de Koninck (CERVO Brain Research Center, Université Laval)
SESSION 1: Invertebrates and lower vertebrates. Chair: Ed Ruthazer
11:10 Antoine Légaré and Vincent Boily (Paul De Koninck’s lab, Université Laval) Whole brain Ca2+ imaging in the zebrafish
11:40 Tomoko Ohyama (McGill University) Optogenetic and connectome approaches for mapping of small brain circuit
12:10 LUNCH BREAK
SESSION 2: Human cells & tissue. Chair: Reza Sharif
13:45 Tom Durcan’s lab, MNI, McGill University Nguyen-Vi Mohamed: Microfabricated disk technology: rapid scale up in midbrain organoid generation Ghislaine Deyab: Characterizing Patterns of Neural Activity in Midbrain Organoids as a Model for Parkinson’s Disease
13:15 Pierre Marquet (Université Laval) Digital Holographic Microscopy: a high-speed label-free technique to resolve neuronal network activity
14:15 COFFEE BREAK
SESSION 3: Rodents (slice work and whole-animal). Chair: Paul De Koninck
14:45 Stephanie Borgland (Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Calgary) Optogenetic stimulation of lateral hypothalamic orexin inputs to the VTA activate dopamine neurons in a circuit-specific manner to drive reward-seeking
15:15 Jean-Claude Béique (U. Ottawa) Integrated computational, electrophysiological and optical frameworks to study synaptic and network dynamics
15:45 SHORT BREAK
SESSION 4: Non-human primates and human disease models Chair: Martin Parent
16:00 Keith Murai’s lab (RI-MUHC, McGill University) Jean-Bastien Bott: Calcium imaging: From mice to non-human primates Keith Murai: Imaging Astrocytes in Marmosets
16:30 Marja Sepers and Ellen Koch (Lynn Raymond’s lab, UBC) Using in vivo optogenetic sensors to elucidate cortico-striatal dysfunction in mouse models of Huntington’s Disease
17:00 SHORT BREAK 3
PANEL DISCUSSION (10 min each followed by discussion): Open science Chair: Yves De Koninck
17:15 Adrien Peyrache (McGill University) NWB pipeline for mini-scope data
17:30 Jeffrey LeDue (University of British Columbia) Enabling Collaborative Neuroscience Research: the UBC Dynamic Brain Circuit cluster’s Databinge forum
17:45 Marie-Eve Paquet (Université Laval) Viral vectors – Discovering novel AAVs in the context of Open science
18:00 Ted Fon (The Neuro – McGill) Open Science as a Mission Enabler at The Neuro
18:15 Panel Discussion
19:00 Networking events (1 breakout room per session)
Three episodes of Playing With Marbles are now available wherever you listen to your #podcasts. In this season of Playing With Marbles, you’ll hear from the 2019 recipients of Brain Canada’s Platform Support Grants – a funding program for research teams that are creating and/or enhancing centralized shared resources to increase access to equipment, expertise, data, and protocols across research networks.
Hear Yves De Koninck in Episode 1: Nature’s hard drive (around 15:20)
Congratulation to Jean-Nicolas Simard who wins a training offer by the ThéCell. ThéCell (http://www.reseauthecell.qc.ca) is a network which promote translational research in Tissular, Cellular and Genic Therapies in the Quebec province. The training constitute in 5 courses from the catalog of the Advanced Therapies Training Institute (CATTI) of CellCan which is specialized on practical aspect of works in clean room. The CellCan (https://www.cellcan.com) mission is to improve the quality, safety and feasibility of cell and gene therapy in Canada through optimal manufacturing practices. The training is specifically focused on the Biopharmaceutic manufacturing of Cellular and Tissue technology.
Jean-Nicolas Simard is working with Marie-Eve Paquet as Quality Leader on the Vectorolgy Core and acts as Chief Operating Officer of the COVF.
Congratulations to Jeffrey LeDue from the NeuroImaging and NeuroComputation Centre at UBC for the 2021 Scientific Platform Award from the Canadian Network of Scientific Platforms (CNSP)!
Watch Jeff’s presentation in the first 10 minutes of this session of the 2021 Scientific Platforms Meeting
Congratulations to Annie Castonguay, who wins the 1st prize of the Research Professionals Excellence Awards 2021, given by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé.
Annie Castonguay holds a PhD in neurological sciences from Université de Montréal and carried out her postdoctoral training in neurobiology at Université Laval with financial support from the FRQS.
A research professional in the laboratory led by Professor Yves de Koninck since 2011, she was involved in training and following up with nearly 70 students and postdoctoral trainees in a range of fields, including physics, engineering, mathematics, biology and chemistry.
Every year, she contributes to several grant proposals, organizes neurophotonics summer schools and seminars and liaises with national and international collaborators. In the laboratory, she developed highly original imaging approaches to capture co-transporter functions and improve current microscopes.
Very early on, she took an interest in the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion and their application in research environments. Highly committed, Annie Castonguay has followed nearly 20 training courses and taken part in a number of roundtables on the topic, leading her to identify a series a concrete measures to ensure better quality of life, recognition and integration for everyone in the workplace.
The ‘Frontiers in Neurophotonics Highlights’ will take place on every Tuesday of November (Nov 2 – 30, 2021) at 11 am Quebec time (EST); with short presentation blitz (4×10 mins + questions) for 1 hour total. The last ‘round table’ event will take place on Nov. 30 from 11am – 1 pm Quebec time (EST).
This event will take place virtually via Zoom. Participation is free of charge, but registration is mandatory
Grad students, post-docs, and research professionals/coordinators are all invited to participate in the contest and submit their short (10 mins) video capsules to the Frontiers in Neurophotonics selection committee prior to Oct. 1st, 2021.
