4Th Caribeglia Symposium Organized by Drs
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“Glial Interactions and Brain Experiments” 4th CaribeGLIA Symposium Organized by Drs. Skatchkov, Eaton, Inyushion and Cubano Molecular mechanisms of neuron-glia interactions in vivo and in vitro January 29-31, 2015 San Juan/Bayamón, Puerto Rico UNIVERSIDAD CENTRAL DEL CARIBE 4th CaribeGLIA Minisymposium 9:30 – 9:55 Registration 9:55 – 10:00 Opening Remarks – Dr. Serguei Skatchkov Session 1 Moderator – Aixa Rivera, M.S. 10:00 – 10:25 Dr. Serguei Skatchkov Polyamines and Brain Signaling Universidad Central del Caribe 10:30 – 10:55 Dr. Liliya Vitanova Membrane Receptors in the Retinal Glia of Lower Medical University Sofia, Bulgaria Vertebrates (Immunofluorescent Study) 11:00 – 11:25 Dr. Min Zhou mGluR3 activation regulates TWIK‐1 membrane The Ohio State University expression in hippocampal astrocytes 11:30 – 11:55 Coffee Break with Posters Session 2 Moderator – Yomarie Rivera, M.S. 12:00 – 12:25 Dr. Colin Nichols “OCT substrate specificity: Implications for glial Washington University School of Medicine polyamine uptake” 12:30 – 12:55 Dr. Ulyana Lalo Age‐related changes in neuroglial communication in The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK neocortex: implication to synaptic plasticity 1:00 – 1:55 Lunch Session 3 Moderator – Kimberleve Rólon, B.S. 2:00 – 2:25 Dr. Timothy Hendricks Is astrocyte diversity determined by a InterAmerican University, Bayamón developmental genetic program? Campus 2:30 – 2:55 Dr. Victor Arvanian Search and neutralize the glial scar‐related Northport VAMC and Stonybrook inhibitory factors in damaged spinal cord to University improve transmission and function 3:00 – 3:25 Dr. Maria Remedi KATP channels: Linking metabolism to excitability in Washington University School of Medicine diabetes and epilepsy 3:30 – 3:55 Coffee Break with Posters Session 4 Moderator – Miguel Méndez, B.S. 3:55 – 4:25 Dr. Alexander Mongin Glial volume‐regulated anion channels in health and Albany Medical College disease: New molecular insights on swelling‐ activated and agonist‐induced release of gliotransmitters in astrocytes and microglia 4:25 – 4:55 Dr. Robert Zorec How Botulinum neurotoxin and dnSNARE pepsides University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia affect single exocytotic fusion in astrocytes? 5:00 – 5:25 Dr. Alexei Verkhratsky Astroglial reparation as a way to brain longevity. The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK 5:25 – 5:30 Closing Remarks – Dr. Serguei Skatchkov Serguei Skatchkov Seminar Title: Polyamines and Brain Signaling Biography: Serguei N. Skatchkov, the organizer of the CaribeGLIA symposium, is the Director of the Integrative Center for Glial Research in Puerto Rico and Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology, School of Medicine, Universidad Central del Caribe (UCC), Bayamon, PR, USA. He obtained his rank of Distinguished Research Professor in 2011 after remarkable achievements in glial biology and teaching at the UCC. He studied chemistry, biology, biophysics and physiology at the Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) State University (LGU), received his PhD degree in Biophysics there in 1990. He have started his research on phototransduction in rod and cone photoreceptor cells and on the role of Müller glial cells in retinal potassium homeostasis in 1979 together with Drs. A.V. Dmitriev, K. A. Bykov and V.I. Govardovsky (his name was spelled Sergey N. Skachkov in his earlier articles). After visiting (1992-1993) the Institute of Brain Research at Leipzig University, Germany (C/O Dr. Andreas Reichenbach) and collaborating at the Institute of Neurobiology in Puerto Rico (C/O Dr. Richard Orkand during 1993-1996), he decided to permanently reside in the Caribbean and started his research group focused on “Polyamines and Glial Signalling“ at the UCC, School of Medicine, in Bayamón, PR, USA. In 2007 he with his colleagues was awarded the Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS Office) for the discovery of a new function of glial cells as light cables. In 2009, he was appointed as full professor at the Universidad Central del Caribe. From 2009-2013 he has collaborated as the Expert Visiting Scientist for the International program “EduGLIA” being associated with Drs. Alexej Verkhratsky, Andreas Reichenbach, Eva Sykova, Arthur Butt, Menachem Hanani, Frank Kirchhoff and many others. He has given more than 60 oral presentations internationally and has obtained several grants. He has been an invited reviewer for such journals as PloS ONE, PloS Biology, Cell. & Mol. Neurobiol., J. Neurosci. Lett., NeuroReport, J. Neurosci. Res., Cell Death & Disease (Nature Publishing Group) and others. He is a co-author of several reviews and book chapters on glial cell function and pathology and his research addresses the ionic, molecular and cellular mechanisms of glial cell behavior and signaling using different models and techniques. The main questions his work addresses are: (i) What are the mechanisms of light propagation in glial cells? (ii) How do glia but not neurons accumulate polyamines? (iii) How do polyamines function as new glial mediators? (iv) Why do interneurons and pyramidal cells respond differently to polyamine signals released from glia? (v) How do glial polyamines modulate neuronal networks and (vi) how does polyamine homeostasis participate in trauma, diseases and aging in CNS? His work is supported by grants from NIH (NINDS, NIGMS, NIMHD). Address: Serguei Skatchkov, PhD Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Physiology, School of Medicine, Universidad Central del Caribe, P.O. Box 60327, Bayamón, PR 00960-60327, USA E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; Web: http://www.uccaribe.edu/research/?page_id=1260 Alexej Verkhratsky (coming Jan 24-31) Seminar Title: Astroglial reparation as a way to brain longevity Biography: Professor Alexei Verkhratsky, MD, PhD, D.Sc., Member of Academia Europaea, Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Member of Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia of Spain, graduated from Kiev Medical Institute in 1983, and received PhD (1986) and D.Sc. (1993) in Physiology from Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Kiev, The Ukraine. From 1990 to 1995 A. Verkhratsky was Head of Laboratory of Cellular Signalling in Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology. In 1992 - 1995 he also was a Deputy Director of the International Centre of Molecular Physiology, Kiev, The Ukraine. Between 1989 and 1995 he was visitor scientist in Heidelberg and Gottingen, and between 1995 and 1999 he was a Research Scientist at Max Delbrück Centre of Molecular Medicine in Berlin. He joined the Division of Neuroscience, School of Biological Sciences in Manchester in September 1999, became a Professor of Neurophysiology in 2002 and served as Head of the said Division from 2002 to 2004. From 2007 to 2010 he was appointed as a visitor professor/Head of Department of Cellular and Molecular Neurophysiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of Check Republic. In 2010 A. Verkhratsky was appointed as a Research Professor of the Ikerbasque (Basque Research Council), in 2011 as a Honorary Visitor Professor at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan and from 2012 he acts as Adjunct Scientific Director of the Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience (Bilbao, Spain). Prof. A. Verkhratsky is editor-in-chief of Cell Calcium (since 2000), and was an editor-in-chief of Membrane Transport & Signalling - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (2009-2014), Receiving Editor (neuroscience) of Cell Death & Disease (2009) and member of editorial boards of Pflugers Archiv European Journal of Physiology, Journal of Molecular & Cellular Medicine, Acta Physiologica (Oxford), Acta Pharmacologica Sinica (2005), Glia (2008), Purinergic Signalling (2010), ASN Neuro (2010), Neurosceince Bulletin (2011). He delivered more than 200 international invited lectures and seminars. Prof. Alexei Verkhratsky is an internationally recognised scholar in the field of cellular neurophysiology. His research is concentrated on the mechanisms of inter- and intracellular signalling in the CNS, being especially focused on two main types of neural cells, on neurones and neuroglia. He made important contributions to understanding the chemical and electrical transmission in reciprocal neuronal-glial communications and on the role of intracellular Ca2+ signals in the integrative processes in the nervous system. Many of A. Verkhratsky’s studies are dedicated to investigations of cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration. A. Verkhratsky was the first to perform intracellular Ca2+ recordings in old neurones in isolation and in situ, which provided direct experimental support for “Ca2+ hypothesis of neuronal ageing”. In recent years he studies the glial pathology in Alzheimer disease. He authored a pioneering hypothesis of astroglial atrophy as a mechanism of neurodegeneration. Scientometry: Prof Verkhratsky authored and edited 11 books and published more than 300 papers and chapters. His papers were cited ~11000 times, H-index 61 (ISI, 2014). Webs:http://www.ikerbasque.net/alexei.verkhratsky; http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/people/profile/?alias=verkhratskya; http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/alexej.verkhratsky/publications Address: Alexei Verkhratsky, MD, PhD, Dr. Sci. Professor of Neurophysiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK E-mail: [email protected] Ulyana Lalo (coming, Jan 29-Feb 1) Seminar Title: Age-related changes in neuroglial communication in neocortex: implication to synaptic plasticity.