Abstracts for the NeurotechEU Reserach sympoisia - From Cells to Circuits to the Whole Brain

Tobias Rose, University of Bonn (Germany)
 

Abstract: The visual system faces a dual challenge. It must process stable features of the environment despite variation in circuits and behavior, yet remain robust to continual changes in retinal input caused by eye, head, and body movements. We use closed-loop approaches to study these two aspects of visual stability in mice during passive and active vision. In passive vision, we study long-term representational stability in head-fixed mouse primary visual cortex. Apparent representational drift may reflect genuine changes in feature encoding, but it may also arise from changes in behavioral state and gaze-related geometry. Using longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging, modular deep encoding models, and closed-loop tests of model-derived hypotheses, we dissociate feature, state, and gaze contributions to natural image responses over weeks. We find that a substantial fraction of apparent drift is explained by gaze-related variation rather than by changes in feature encoding or state-dependent modulation. These results suggest that mouse visual cortex is more functionally stable than previously thought. In active vision, we study how orienting, pursuit, and decision-making shape visual processing and spatial behavior in freely moving mice. Using closed-loop tasks with precise stimulus control, dense 3D tracking of behavior and gaze, and miniature two-photon imaging in freely moving animals, we examine how task demands shape head-eye coordination and visual processing under natural conditions.

Bio: Tobias Rose is Professor of Circuit Mechanisms of Behavior at the University of Bonn Medical Center, where he studies how stable perception, memory, and action arise from dynamic neural circuits. He studied Biology and German in Göttingen and completed his doctorate at the European Neuroscience Institute of the Max Planck Society and the University of Göttingen. After postdoctoral work at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, he led a project group at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried before moving to Bonn in 2020. His research combines longitudinal and miniature two-photon imaging, closed-loop behavioral paradigms, and computational modeling to investigate representational stability, plasticity, active vision, and memory in the mouse brain. He has contributed to visual cortical plasticity, thalamocortical circuitry, and optical physiology in freely moving animals.

Daniela Calvigioni, KI (Sweden)
 

Abstract: In this talk, I will present how defined neural circuits encode aversion and stress-related behaviors. I will first describe our identification of an Esr1⁺ neuronal population in the lateral hypothalamus projecting to the lateral habenula that drives aversive states and sexually dimorphic stress responses. I will then show how upstream inputs to this circuit gate motivated and stereotyped behavioral states. Building on this framework, I will introduce new unpublished work mapping estradiol-sensitive networks across the brain and their role in shaping emotional valence and stress vulnerability. Using circuit tracing, in vivo imaging, and causal manipulations, we uncover how hormonal states bias the encoding of emotional experiences across distributed circuits.

Together, these findings position estradiol as a key regulator of emotional brain states, linking internal physiological signals to perception, motivation, and vulnerability to stress-related disorders.

Bio: Daniela Calvigioni, is a neuroscientist, Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine fellow and Assistant Professor at Linköping University. Her research focuses on understanding how brain circuits process emotional stimuli and transition to long-lasting brain states and psychiatric disorders ( https://www.calvigionilab.org/ ).

Dr. Calvigioni established her independent research group as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, in March 2024. In the same year, she was awarded an Assistant Professor position at the Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine (WCMM) and relocated at Linköping University (LiU). Her team is part of the Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience (CSAN) within the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV).

While completing her postdoctoral training at Karolinska Institutet with Prof. Konstantinos Meletis, Dr. Calvigioni worked on the multimodal definition of brain circuits in reward and valence processing, identifying a sexually dimorphic hypothalamic-habenula circuit. She holds a Karolinska Institutet-NIH PhD, during which she conducted research across Sweden, Austria (laboratory of Prof. Tibor Harkany), and the USA (laboratory of Prof. Christopher J. McBain). Her doctoral work focused on electrophysiological, anatomical, and molecular analyses of cortical interneurons and the long-lasting effects of cannabinoid exposure during pregnancy on brain development and behavior.

Shuyang Yao, KI (Sweden)

Abstract: In this study, the authors combine the first comprehensive human brain atlas with GWAS results for psychiatric disorders to demonstrate that common genetic risk is unevenly distributed across human brain cell types. They further map these signals onto specific brain regions using omics-based analyses. Notably, for schizophrenia, the regions prioritized by omics converged with those identified through functional connectivity, pointing to potentially coherent circuit-level mechanisms.

Bio: Dr. Shuyang Yao is an assistant professor at Karolinska Institutet. Her research focuses on uncovering the biological mechanisms underlying severe psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, through multi-omic approaches, and translating these mechanistic insights into clinically relevant tools.

Silvia de Santis, Universidad Miguel Hernández / CSIC (Spain)
 

Abstract: Recent advances in diffusion-weighted MRI are enabling a new form of virtual histology, allowing the in vivo characterization of brain microstructure beyond traditional measures of tissue integrity. In this talk, I will present recent developments from our laboratory aimed at improving the specificity of diffusion MRI models, particularly their ability to capture signatures not only of neuronal structures but also of non-neuronal cells such as glia. Using these tools, I will show how diffusion-based microstructural markers can be used to longitudinally characterize the respective contributions of neuronal and non-neuronal components to brain tissue decline across normal ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. These approaches provide new insight into the cellular processes underlying neurodegeneration and may help disentangle mechanisms of disease progression.

Finally, I will discuss how recent advances in artificial intelligence can facilitate the translation of these techniques into clinical practice, enabling faster analysis pipelines and broader accessibility of microstructure-sensitive MRI biomarkers.

Bio: Silvia De Santis, PhD is a CSIC Tenured Researcher and Group Leader at the Instituto de Neurociencias (CSIC–UMH) in Alicante, Spain, where she leads the Translational Imaging Biomarkers laboratory. She is also Director of the MRI Unit and Chair for Spain and Portugal of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM). Trained in physics at Sapienza University of Rome, she specialises in advanced diffusion MRI methods for mapping brain microstructure in vivo. Her research focuses on developing imaging biomarkers to characterise neuronal and glial contributions to brain changes in ageing and neurological disorders. She has received several international fellowships, including a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, and the NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and has authored more than 35 peer-reviewed articles.

Kristoffer Månsson, KI (Sweden)

Abstract: In this talk, Dr Månsson will present research on neural variability as an informative marker of brain function in psychiatric disorders. Moving beyond traditional mean-based measures, he will discuss how moment-to-moment variability in neural signals can reveal mechanisms of dysfunction and serve as reliable predictors of psychiatric treatment response.

Bio: Kristoffer N. T. Månsson is an Associate Professor and clinical psychologist at Karolinska Institutet, where he leads a research group at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Centre for Psychiatry Research. His work centers on the neurobiological basis of psychiatric disorders, combining advanced neuroimaging methods with clinical approaches to identify mechanisms and predictors of treatment response.

Ravi S. Menon ,Western University / Robarts Research Institute (Canada)

Abstract: For years, neuroscientists have discarded the first few scans from every functional MRI (fMRI) experiment—those "dummy scans" captured before the MRI signal stabilizes. We found that this start-up period produces some of the strongest brain signals a scanner can capture. In certain specific applications, we show how a simple timing trick can double the detection power or cut trials in half in an event -related fMRI experiment, while also enabling the presentation or recording of stimuli without interference from the MRI scanner.

Bio: Ravi Menon is Professor of Medical Biophysics and Medical Imaging at Western University and Scientific Director of Western’s Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping (CFMM), Canada’s National ultra-high field MRI facility, which houses 3T and 7T human MRI scanners and 9.4T and 15.2T preclinical MRI systems. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for his contributions to the development and application of ultra-high field MRI techniques to structural and functional imaging with a focus in the neurosciences. He sits on many advisory boards, including the Brain Canada Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. He has received over $170M in research grants, including a $66M CFREF which he Co-Directs, as well as a recent $24M New Frontiers in Research-Transformation stream award in neurodegeneration. His research involves the development of new structural and functional MRI methods to improve our understanding of the inception and progression of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis. This work is aimed at developing novel biomarkers in animal models of disease using advanced humanized mouse models and marmoset monkeys. We use these biomarkers to establish the validity of diagnostic and prognostic indicators in human neurodegenerative disease and to assess the efficacy of therapies in preclinical and human studies. I work with a multidisciplinary team that integrates MRI approaches with advanced touchscreen behaviour, electrophysiology, optogenetics, fibre photometry and light sheet microscopy.