New transnational collaboration to target circuit dysfunctions in Parkinson´s disease

2021-10-26

A large collaborative project focused on understanding and treating dysfunctions of cortico-basal ganglia circuits in Parkinson´s disease (PD) has been awarded 35 million DKK from the Lundbeck Foundation. Angela Cenci Nilsson, coordinator of MultiPark, leads one of the three included research teams. Her group, the Basal ganglia pathophysiology, will conduct studies in animal models providing a basis for the development of novel approaches to non-invasive circuit modulation. Read more here

SWEBAGS conference and membership meeting

2021-09-07

– Save the date and call for participation 

The 17th of December SWEBAGS will organize a one day Conference “Basal ganglia-disinhibited ” in conjunction with our membership meeting. Due to uncertainties with the covid situation, we will host this event online this year and hope we can start meeting again in-person next year. Please mark this day in your calendars and join us for an interesting day with posters, presentations and keynote lectures. We welcome you all to prepare abstracts for submissions for oral presentation or posters. The deadline for submissions is 30th of September and more information will be available at our website later on. 

More information and link for submission will be made available here. https://swebags.ebrains.se/events/swebags-conference-2021/

Conference format:

2 invited keynote lectures

Selected talks from submitted abstracts — preference given to younger scientists. 

Breakout rooms with disinhibited discussion on selected topics. 

We have posted a few topics for the breakout sessions.  Please vote on those and if you do not like any of those, please suggest your own topic. If your topic receives enough votes it will feature in the program. 

EBRAINS on the ESFRI 2021 roadmap

2021-07-01

EBRAINS the research infrastructure that HBP have developed over the years, has now been included into the ESFRI Roadmap 2021. This marks an important milestone for EBRAINS and a recognition of its sustainable scientific value and high quality and it will also give EBRAINS a new boost and help to position it as the go-to platform for scientists involved in brain research.

ESFRI, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, pursues a fundamental mission: to develop the scientific integration of Europe, to strengthen its international outreach, and to provide Europe with the most up-to-date Research Infrastructures, responding to the rapidly evolving science frontiers, also advancing the knowledge-based technologies and their extended use. One of the core objectives of ESFRI is to ensure that excellent scientists have access to Europe’s best research infrastructures irrespective of borders.

Research infrastructures included into the ESFRI Roadmap go through a thorough evaluation and selection procedure, taking both scientific excellence and implementation rigor into account. Being part of the ESFRI roadmap means that EBRAINS belongs to the list of the best European Research Infrastructures.

Summer webinar break

2021-11-22

Thank you all that have participated in the webinars this spring. We are very happy with the great turnout both nationally and internationally! we will now take a summer break from the webinars and restart again after the vacations with once more a very strong line up. e.g.

* Andrea Kühn, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
* Peter Dayan, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
* Jonathan E. Rubin, Univeristy of Pittsburgh
* D. James Surmeier, Northwestern University

Until then you can review the old webinars in the webinar archive or suggest whom we should invite in the forums.

We are also planning for an SWEBAGS combined membership meeting and internal conference December 17 more information to come but save the date.

Decoding subthalamic neurocircuitry in motion and emotion – vacant PhD position!

2021-11-22

Vacant PhD position in Neurobiology – Neurocircuitry analysis at Uppsala University.
Look at this link for information and how to apply:
https://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/join-us/
Deadline May 20.
Please use the Varbi system to submit your application, as specified.
You can also look at this link for more information about our research:
https://www.iob.uu.se/forskning/jamforande-fysiologi/mackenzie-lab/

Welcome with your application!
Topic Link: https://swebags.ebrains.se/forums/topic/phd-position-neurobiology-at-uppsala-university/

New publication: Experimental investigation into the role of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in motor control using optogenetics in mice

2021-03-09

Authors: Adriane Guillaumina, Gian Pietro Serra, François Georges, Åsa Wallén-Mackenzie

illustration of experimentation

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is critical for the execution of intended movements. Loss of its normal function is strongly associated with several movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease for which the STN is an important target area in deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy. Classical basal ganglia models postulate that two parallel pathways, the direct and indirect pathways, exert opposing control over movement, with the STN acting within the indirect pathway. The STN is regulated by both inhibitory and excitatory input, and is itself excitatory. While most functional knowledge of this clinically relevant brain structure has been gained from pathological conditions and models, primarily parkinsonian, experimental evidence for its role in normal motor control has remained more sparse. The objective here was to tease out the selective impact of the STN on several motor parameters required to achieve intended movement, including locomotion, balance and motor coordination. Optogenetic excitation and inhibition using both bilateral and unilateral stimulations of the STN were implemented in freely-moving mice. The results demonstrate that selective optogenetic inhibition of the STN enhances locomotion while its excitation reduces locomotion. These findings lend experimental support to basal ganglia models of the STN in terms of locomotion. In addition, optogenetic excitation in freely-exploring mice induced self-grooming, disturbed gait and a jumping/escaping behavior, while causing reduced motor coordination in advanced motor tasks, independent of grooming and jumping. This study contributes experimentally validated evidence for a regulatory role of the STN in several aspects of motor control.

Read the full article at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006899320305849?via%3Dihub

Inauguration of SWEBAGS

2021-01-20
illustration of newletter for inauguration

Join us at the inauguration the 22nd of January when Anders Björklund and Sten Grillner will give their honorary lectures.

15:00 Opening and Welcome
15:20 Honorary lecture: Anders Björklund, Senior Professor, Lund University
16:00 Honorary lecture: Sten Grillner, Senior Professor, Karolinska Institute
16:40 Discussion

Event page

Inauguration Poster