The Brain Conferences are high-level scientific meetings, where up to 150 experts on a given topic meet in a lively and intimate environment.
‘No hidden agendas, no holding back: striving for a vibrant atmosphere in which open discussions are even more important than exposing the audience to data slides.’
Started by FENS in 2012,the conference series was a co-production with the European Science Foundation, ESF.
Starting in the spring 2014, the Lundbeck Foundation has been FENS’ new partner for these prestigious conferences.
The partnership allows FENS to organize two Brain Conferences annually, at least for the next 5 years. The Brain Conferences will be placed in Denmark and each spring edition of the Brain Conferences will be linked to the subject of the previous year’s prize winners.
Inherent to the agreement between FENS and the Lundbeck Foundation, each year 40 slots with an approximately even distribution between the two annual conferences are reserved for Danish scientists. These slots will be distributed directly by the Foundation.
A committee of internationally renowned scientists each year selects the topics of the two conferences. The committee aims to rotate subjects across the various neuroscience fields as much as possible, always keeping the highest scientific standard and focus on excellence.
A small selection of international leaders are invited to present their latest data and, more importantly, to highlight and discuss their current views and news on the topic. Senior as well as junior scientists can join in, subject to selection. This sounds exclusive, and so it is, but without excluding anyone: those that can truly contribute to the chosen topic are admitted to the conference up to the maximal number of participants. The idea is that every participant really contributes to the overall exchange of information and ideas, for instance by presenting a poster or joining in the discussions.
Due the COVID-19 virus the Brain Conferences 2020 are postponed to 2021.
19-22 April 2020: Rungstedgaard, North of Copenhagen, Denmark. Co-chairs: Constantino Iadecola, Weill Cornell Medicine, USA and Timothy Murphy, The University of British Columbia, Canada . Stroke is an age-related medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain results in cell death, and is the second cause of mortality worldwide. While the disability associated with stroke can be devastatingly clear, why stroke occurs and how it kills the brain is less apparent. At this Brain conference, leading experts from both basic and clinical science will present advances that contribute to a deeper mechanistic understanding of stroke, including fundamental questions around: 1) risk factors: from single genes to holistic factors such as the microbiome, 2) the molecular pathobiology of stroke and the pathogenic role of immunity and blood-brain barrier breakdown, 3) neurovascular reorganization and re-wiring of connections after stroke damage, 4) the long term sequelae afflicting stroke survivors and the relationship between stroke and dementia, and 5) strategies to reduce the burden on stroke, ranging from prevention and acute therapy, to promoting functional recovery. A deeper mechanistic insight into these critical events will lead to new treatments and hope for those at risk and/or affected by stroke.
21-24 June 2020: Rungstedgaard, North of Copenhagen, Denmark. Co-chairs: Erin Schuman, MPI Brain Research, Germany and Giovanna Mallucci, University of Cambridge, UK. The morphology and complexity of neurons provides unique challenges for the maintenance and modification of the neuronal transcriptome and proteome in the cell body and at synapses. In this meeting, we will explore how neurons regulate RNA molecules and protein synthesis and how these mechanisms represent vulnerabilities for various neurological diseases.