8 th International Ph. D. Symposium Berlin Brain Days Days Berlin Brain Berlin 2011 / program, curricula vitae, and abstracts curriculaprogram, vitae, Brain Days 2011 /dec. 7 – 9 Program & Abstract Abstracts Curricula The Berlin Brain Days 2011 are jointly organized schedule of the open­ of the six vitae of of the sym­ ing lecture by keynote the keynote by six Berlin-based neuroscience Ph. D. programs posium Christian lectures speakers Lüscher LANGUAGES OF Abstracts Abstracts Information EMOTION of all Ph.D. of all pre­ on the orga­ conference sented Ph.D. nizing Ph.D. talks posters programs BERLIN SCHOOL OF MIND AND BRAIN www.neuroscience-berlin.de/bbd/ Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin­Buch NATURKUNDE- MUSEUM Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, Luisenstraße 58/59, 10117 Berlin Imprint Editor Annette Winkelmann Design and Typesetting Sebastian Lehnert, www.deskism.com Original Design Holger Gerhardt Typefaces Adobe Caslon Pro and FF Meta Pro Editorial deadline 18 November 2011 Printing house Flyeralarm, Würzburg Copies 200 Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch Conference Center MDC.C ( labeled 83 on the map ), lecture hall “Axon” Robert-Rössle-Straße 10, 13125 Berlin Contents Program and Schedule 4 Opening Lecture Christian Lüscher 7 Session 1 Frank Bradke 10 Session 2 Luiz Pessoa 15 Session 3 Adrienne Fairhall 21 Session 4 Kalanit Grill-Spector 27 Session 5 Hermona Soreq 33 Session 6 Hans Markowitsch 39 Posters 45 P 1 – P12 Medical Neurosciences 47 P13 – P19 Learning and Memory 59 P20 – P25 Mind and Brain 66 P26 – P31 Molecular Neurobiology 72 P32 – P36 Computational Neuroscience 78 P37 – P39 Languages of Emotion 83 P40 – P57 External 86 Graduate Programs 104 Appendix 111 Index of Speakers and Poster Presenters 112 Public Transport 120 Orientation 121 2 Welcome to the Berlin Brain Days 2011 The Berlin Brain Days are an activity of doctoral students across several independent Berlin institu- tions. Initiated in 2005 by faculty and students in “Medical Neurosciences” (a graduate school at the Charité Medical School), it has subsequently grown year-by-year as the neuro scientific esearchr and training environment has rapidly developed within the city. The growth in the number and variety of new doctoral programs within Berlin is really quite remarkable. In 2005, the DFG research training group on “Cellular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory” was established. In 2006, as part of the Excellence Initiative for German universities, the “Berlin School of Mind and Brain” was found- ed to foster interdisciplinary research across the mind and brain sciences. The School joined the Berlin Brain Days program planning soon after and has since been tasked with the scientific program coordination. The doctoral program “Computa- tional Neuroscience” of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, now merged with the DFG research training group “Sensory Com- putation in Neural Systems”, has also been active in the Berlin Brain Days organizing team since late 2007. The Helmholtz InternationalResear ch School “Molecular Neurobiology”, established in 2007, has been a long-standing member program of the organizing group. A second and third ac- quisition of the Excellence Initiative resulted in the establishment of two Clusters of Excellence, “NeuroCur e” and “Languages of Emotion”, both with additional funding for doctoral students. They too join the meeting with posters and talks. 3 We very successfully joined our forces for the first time four years ago, and the Berlin Brain Days 2011 again are a common activity of all these programs. Students and faculty alike are highly motivated to learn about the research of neighboring programs, and the Berlin Brain Days have become an important forum for information exchange in the city. Berlin has a good tradition in fostering activi- ties in the neurosciences: the Berlin Neuro- science Forum has been organized every other year since 1997 and is a common activity of the Berlin universities and Berlin- based collabora- tive research centers and groups (Sonder forschungs­ bereiche, Forscher gruppen, Graduierten kollegs, etc.). It regularly attracts 200 neuroscientists to a small resort outside of Berlin, Liebenwalde. The next meeting of the Berlin Neuroscience Forum will take place 5 – 6 July 2012. It is in our best interest that we meet regular- ly and continue to develop Berlin as a hotspot for research across the neurosciences. With this in mind, I am convinced that we will have a very interactive and successful meeting that will result in new collaborations within the Berlin neuro- science research community. Helmut Kettenmann, Conference Chair 4 Wednesday, 7 December 2011 Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus | Luisenstraße 58 / 59 | 10117 Berlin Opening session 18.00 Helmut Kettenmann > Opening Address Stephan Sigrist > Introduction Christian Lüscher “Addiction, the dark side of learning” Annett e Grüters-Kieslich (Dean, Charité – Universitäts- medizin Berlin) Klaus Obermayer (Graduate Programs, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience) > Award of master’s diplomas and doctoral certificates 20.00 Cheese & Wine Reception (Humboldt Graduate School, Luisenstraße 56, Festsaal, 2nd floor, 10117 Berlin) 5 Thursday, 8 December 2011 Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch | Conference Center MDC.C, lecture hall “Axon”, Robert-Rössle-Straße 10 | 13125 Berlin Session 1 | Molecular Neuroscience 09.30 G ary Lewin > Introduction Frank Bradke “Cytoskeletal mechanisms of axonal growth and regeneration” 10.30 D amir Omerbasic, Kristin Stock > Ph. D. talks 11.15 Coffee break Session 2 | Languages of Emotion 11.45 Hauke R. Heekeren > Introduction Luiz Pessoa “On the relationship between emotion and cognition” 12.45 Christoph Korn, Soyoung Park, Timo Stein > Ph. D. talks 13.30 Lunch ( + coffee ) & Poster presentations ( even numbers ) Session 3 | Computational Neuroscience 15.00 Susanne Schreiber > Introduction Adrienne Fairhall 16.00 Jor ge Jaramillo, Anne Porbadnigk, Vinzenz Schönfelder > Ph. D. talks 6 Friday, 9 December 2011 Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch | Conference Center MDC.C, lecture hall “Axon”, Robert-Rössle-Straße 10 | 13125 Berlin Session 4 | Mind & Brain 09.30 Phi lipp Sterzer > Introduction Kalanit Grill-Spector “Re-thinking the functional organization of human high-level visual cortex 10.30 F atma Imamoglu, Karin Ludwig, Fernando Ramirez > Ph. D. talks 11.15 Coffee break Session 5 | Medical Neurosciences 11.45 Andreas Meisel > Introduction Hermona Soreq “Micro-RNAs in the interface between inflammation and neurodegeneration” 12.45 Odi lo Engel, Michael Kintscher, Katyayni Vinnakota > Ph. D. talks 13.30 Lunch ( + coffee ) & Poster presentations ( odd numbers ) Session 6 | Learning & Memory 15.00 Jörg Geiger > Introduction Hans Markowitsch “Memory and brain: neuropsychology, neurology, and psychiatry” 16.00 Gü rsel Çalışkan, Jakob Gutzmann, Chia-Ling Chang > Ph. D. talks 16.45 Improv Comedy ( while evaluation for “Best Talk” and “Best Poster” goes on ) 17.15 Award of “Best Talk” and “Best Poster” 20.00 BBD Party Bar Babette, Karl-Marx-Allee 36, 10178 Berlin www.barbabette.com 7 OPENING LECTURE Wednesday, 7 December 2011 18.00 Christian Lüscher Addiction, the dark side of learning Opening Helmut Kettenmann Address Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch Chair Stephan Sigrist Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin 8 Opening Lecture : Christian Lüscher Christian Lüscher Dept. of Basic Neurosciences, Medical Faculty, University of Geneva, Switzerland mail [email protected] web www.addictionscience.unige.ch Current Positions Full Professor at the Dept. of Basic Neurosciences (NeuFo), Medical Faculty, University of Geneva Attending at the Neurological Clinic (Médecin associé), Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland Professional Activities 2010 Visiting Scholar, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 2003 – 2009 Associate Professor at the NeuFo department, University of Geneva 1999 – 2007 Attending in neurology (Chef de Clinique), University of Geneva 1999 – 2003 SCORE A recipient (Assistant professor) at the Dept. of Physiology & Pharmacology, Unige 1996 – 1999 Visiting postdoctoral fellow, Dept. of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco (R. A. Nicoll) 1995 / 96 Postdoc, Institute of Physiology, University of Berne (H.-R. Lüscher) 1994 / 95 Intern, Neurology, HUG, Geneva (Th. Landis) 1994 Postdoc, Institute of Physiology, Univ. of Berne (E. Niggli) 1993 / 94 Intern, Neurology, Inselspital, Berne (C. W. Hess) Opening Lecture : Christian Lüscher 9 Christian Lüscher Addiction, the dark side of learning Dept. of Basic Neurosciences, Medical Faculty, University of Geneva, Switzerland We will discuss the hypothesis that addiction is a form of pathological learning driven by the excessive increase of dopamine in the reward circuit ultimately leading to the loss of behavioral control. This process, while systematically engaged after exposure to drugs, only leads to compulsion in persons with increased vulnerability. The early hallmarks of this process are are various forms of drug-evoked synaptic plasticity. 10 SESSION 1 Thursday, 8 December 2011 09.30 Frank Bradke Cytoskeletal mechanisms of axonal growth and regeneration 10.30 Damir Omerbasic Kristin Stock › Ph. D. talks Introduction Gary Lewin Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch Chair Jan Walcher Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch Session 1 : Frank Bradke