Neurodevelopment, brain disorders focus of meet

T'puram: The latest progress in neurodevelopment and brain disorders will be the focus of the 43rd annual meeting of Indian Academy of Neurosciences (IAN), being hosted by Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (BRIC-RGCB) at Kovalam from Oct 29 to Nov 1.The conference will see top scientists and domain experts from leading institutions in India and abroad addressing the delegates. The meet is packed with deliberations on research trends, technology and translational research in the field of neurodevelopment and brain disorders. Dr Stéphanie Baulac of Paris Brain Institute (ICM), France, will deliver the keynote address on ‘Brain Mosaicism in Epilepsy and Cortical Malformations' on the opening day. Dr B N Gangadhar of Nimhans, Bengaluru, will make the Prof B K Bachhawat Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award Lecture on ‘Neurobiological Evidence for Yoga in Depression.'Dr Suvarna Alladi, Nimhans; Dr Ratna Sircar, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA and David Belin, University of Cambridge, UK, are among the prominent speakers on the second day.Dr Jee Hyun Kim, Deakin University, Australia; Dr Ila Fiete, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and Dr Sheffali Gulati, AIIMS, New Delhi, will be among the speakers on the third day.Dr Tomomi Shimogori, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Tokyo, Japan and Dr Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, IIT-Madras, will deliver the plenary talk on the concluding day.A host of research papers will be presented on all four days, mainly on themes including glia in brain development and disorders, mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disorders, memory systems and mechanisms, motor control and coordination, neural repair and regeneration, precision medicine in brain disorders, advances in neuroimaging, and circuits, synapses and plasticity.