Day 3 - MicroRNA Monday

Usually Mondays are the worst. But, not today!! It's SFN!!!

There were quite a few microRNA posters I attended today. In case you might not know what they are, here's a quick synopsis of what microRNA are --

microRNA (miRNA) are short strands of RNA that modulate protein expression. To give you an analogy if proteins are lights in a room, miRNA are the dimmer switch. They don't turn the light on or off, but they help ensure that the light isn't too bright, or too dim. 

Here were the highlights of today's events ---

Morning session

1. Minano-Molina (C45) - Found that miR-92-3p, miR-181c-5p, miR-210-3p modulation in Alzheimer's transgenic mice.

2. Edler (C20) - Abeta and tau pathology increases with age in chimpanzees. Studies in primates are becoming rare - for ethical reasons. This study was done with primate brains donated by zoos and research institutions.

3. Bicca (C20) - TRPA1 levels in AD mice are changed - possibly via a response to oxidative stress.

4. DeVito (Z26) - This was my favorite poster of the day. 142-3p involvement in a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis. They found that 142-3p knockout mice show reduced symptoms associated with the mouse model of MS. The target for this miRNA was the mRNA coding for GLAST (glutamate aspartate transporter). They also found that anti-miR-132 - administered via an osmotic mini pump) help reduce symptoms in the MS mouse. I enjoyed that their group covered the miRNA work from basic, in vitro predictions, all the way to in vivo administration of the miRNA. 

Lunch -

None. Not happy about it. Still.

Afternoon session

I presented my poster all afternoon. It was D25 - microRNA298 -  a dual regulator of proteins involved in Alzheimer's Disease.

SFN Banter

Met some people I have been interacting with on twitter. Remembered that I am incredibly socially awkward in large groups. Also, very jealous of those people who are able to walk up to strangers and engage them in conversation. You know - extroverts.

What did you enjoy about your Monday at SFN?

Day 2 of SFN - Crashing helmets on Stampede Sunday

Stampede Sunday, as I like to call it, was as packed as it is each year. 

There was lots of cool science to talk about and cool scientists to talk about it with. Here with the highlights ---

1. Hendrix (DD56) – Her aim was to raise awareness for her local “brain awareness day”. She was able to do by promoting via social media and designing flyers. She also talked about having visited Capitol Hill and talking to policy-makers about the changing funding climate. Basically, Ms. Hendrix is an advocate for both neuroscience and neuroscientists. We need more people like her. Follow her @RDHendrix.

2. Brager (DD38) – a fellow blogger, her poster showed that cryotherapy increases both the amount as well as the quality of sleep in athletes. Sleep remains an underappreciated area of neuroscience and I saw some other cool work looking at sleep disruption in rodent models. Brager’s work was particularly fascinating because it was in athletes; something many of us ex-athletes can appreciate. Basically - those ice baths are really, really important for recovery. And, if possible, a cryo chambers is even better. 

3. Whitesall (D31) – Working at the Allen Institute, Ms. Whitesall’s work looked at Default Mode Network (DMN) in the mouse brain. In recent years, the idea of the Default Mode – essentially, the baseline of your brain activity – has become apparent. It makes for both interesting science, as well as interesting science fiction. Whitesall’s work hypothesizes that the brain regions comprising the DMN may be one of the first to perturbed in Alzhiemer’s Disease. She will test whether this is true in an AD transgenic mouse line.

4. Kawarabayashi – Looking at tg mice models, they found that PrPc, Abeta mono and dimers, Fyn, NMDA, GSK3beta and pTau all localized in lipid rafts! This ties in both the possible involvement of lipid rafts in AD, as well as seemed to support the amyloid hypothesis.

5. Graham (C87) – Western diet in APP/PS1 mice increases A-beta load and TREM2 activation. TREM2 is the new baby in the AD field, and there will be a lot of work on it. And, as for western diet, STOP BEING SUCH FATTIES, YOU GUYS. And, by you, i mean, me.

6. Brkic (C86) – Omega-3-Fatty Acids have beneficial effects on brain of AD mice – by reducing amyloid plaque burden. There was recently a longitudinal study that determined that fish oil showed no benefit for cognition in AD patients. Brkic informed me that she thought that study was done with patients who has advanced AD, and therefore, an amelioration of symptoms would have been lost in the noise of progressed neurodegeneration. I agree with her. Most AD therapies should be looking at helping decelerate the pathology in mild cognitive impairment patients, in my opinion.

7. Colello (C91) – This was my favorite poster of the day. Their group decided to address the issue of the g-forces experienced by helmet to helmet collisions in football players. They posit doing so by placing repulsive magnets in the helmet of players. This would lead to the generation of a repulsive force that would reduce the g-forces. Their proof of concept suggests that they are able to reduce g-forces (measured by accelerometers) in a rig where they are essentially crashing two helmets together. This is fascinating work! And, a perfect example of how invention often come from people who cross disciplines.

Lunch

All the places close by were closed! Stampede Sunday is the worst. I ate a sandwich from a grocery store. It was awful.

Afternoon sesh

I spent the entire time presenting the boss-man's poster.

What were your highlights from today? My poster is tomorrow (Afternoon session, D25). Stop by and say hi!

Day 1 - Soccer in the morning, Neuroscience all afternoon

I started the day early, in order to attend a couple of networking sessions and to watch soccer, in peace, on my laptop. Luckily, the team I support - Manchester United - won comfortably, which ensured that I was in an amicable mood all day.

While watching United play, I met Dr. Ferchmin, who informed me that he has been attending SFN conferences since the mid-70s. And, that's pretty neat. He must have watched, first-hand, some of the breakthrough work, particularly in the mid-90s - when neuroscience hit it's first boom.


Morning session
The official "kickoff" ceremony for SFN this year was a lecture by Judge Jed (his name is suspiciously similar to Judge Dredd)

Judge Jed? Dredd? Jredd?

Judge Jed Rakoff discussed the relevance and somewhat uncomfortable relationship between neuroscience and the judiciary. He cited the history of eugenics, Freudian idealogies, lobotomies, etc. to underline the necessity for a skeptical look at what neuroscience tells us.

Personally, I believe that Judge Rakoff may have conflated some history that is more relevant to psychology than it is to neuroscience, but his overall point is still valid. Science is not a perfect machine. Things that we consider to be true today, may be experimentally precluded in 5 years. However, the necessity to commit to neuroscience - as a self-correcting discipline - is essential. And, I think Judge Rakoff did a commendable job of reiterating that fact. Especially, since he was sitting in a room of neuroscientists - who would not have been pleased to hear him tear down their life's work!

Lunch

Overpriced, overrated.

Afternoon session
I was excited to run in to my friends from the On Your Mind podcast on the way to the poster session. Kathryn and Liam are two Canadian neuroscientists who started this podcast about 2 years ago. The podcast starts with a discussion about current topics in neuroscience, and ends with a discussion of an interesting neuroscience paper. They often have great guests who bring their own interests to the table, thereby increasing the list of topics covered. I highly recommend you check them out.

In between limping through poster sessions, I found the following posters worth highlighting (I apologize if I misspelled any of your names; my handwriting is horrible) ---

1. Teneka Jean-Louis (#B90) - Prostaglandins impair APP glycosylation. The Post-translational modification of APP, in my opinion, is an area of research that requires much more understanding. As, many of you are aware, APP is the protein from which A-beta is excised.

2. Caverly (#B93?) - While they did not manage to address their primary hypothesis, they found that buffering A-beta does improve memory in Alzheimer's transgenic mice. ONE FOR THE AMYLOID HYPOTHESIS!

3. Bachsetter (#B109) - Microglia in human AD brain are very different - in terms of morphology and biomarkers. This is important because we often tend to treat microglia as one homogeneous population. And, their group shows that they are not.

4. Harach (#C27) - This was my favorite poster of the day! They suggest that our gut microbiota may play a role in generating AD pathology. They are not sure of the mechanism, but, they believe that it is related to inflammation.

5. Moore (#D12) - They found that athletes with a history of concussion exhibited alterations in EEG signature. While this is not surprising, they found that these abnormalities extended longer than the recommended "Grace period" for athletes. Therefore, it's possible that when we tell athletes that they need to take 2 weeks off after a concussion, that may NOT be long enough.

6. Kitko (DP02) - Using quantum dots as a way to improve in vivo visualization. I'll admit, I didn't quite understand the details of this, but it definitely looked cool! One for the biophysicists.

7. Moses (G27) - Addicts who performed well on a memory task, seemed to have a better ability to abstain from drug relapse. A bit paradoxical to me - I always assumed that memory triggers would be a key reason behind drug relapse, and therefore, a reduction in memory recall would be beneficial to treating addiction. Goes to show - our intuition isn't always correct, and mine wasn't in this case.



What did YOU enjoy today? Let me know if you'd like for me to stop by your poster/symposia tomorrow. Enjoy your Saturday in Chicago!

Day 0 - Arriving in Chicago

My lab-mate, Baindu and I left Indianapolis about 4PM and, on our way, Baindu introduced me to some new Justin Beiber music. Yes, I listened to Justin Beiber. Does that make me a Belieber? Speaking of music, Beach House's new album just dropped today. If you haven't listened to Beach House before, do yourself a favor and check them out. Start with the album "Bloom".

We got to Chicago just in time for stand still traffic. We drove past McCormick Place on our way to our hotel, and we marveled at the size of it. After navigating the insane traffic, we checked into our hotel, only to find out that wi-fi isn't free.

In 2015.

It's 2015.

Wi-fi should be free.

In 2015.

So, here I am, in the lobby of our hotel, where fellow neuroscientists sit around me - complaining about the lack of Wi-Fi. Also, it's 2015.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. The day will start early , and I'll plan on getting to the conference about 8AM. No, I'm not an over-achiever; I just want to squeeze in a professional session before I watch soccer on my computer from 9AM-11AM.

You know, using the free wi-fi that McCormick Place provides.

After that, I'm going to shuffle between a few Nanosymposia on Alzheimer's Disease: Experimental therapies, and a few interesting posters on TBI and AD.

What are you guys going to visit tomorrow?

Welcome, fellow neuroscientists!

It is my privilege to welcome you to my blog. I am looking forward to experiencing the SFN meeting with all of you. I would love to talk to you about your research at the meeting. Please let me know the date and time of your poster, and I'll stop by and blog about it!

About my blog: My aim is to explain the basic tenets of Alzheimer's to a non-scientific audience. I feel as though I'm learning as I go along. Your feedback would be appreciated, of course. You can follow the blog updates at @AlzBlog101 

About me: I am a 6th year graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Debomoy Lahiri at IU School of Medicine. My research looks at the microRNA regulation of proteins implicated in the pathology of Alzheimer's Disease.  You can find me on twitter at @NipunChopra7

During the meeting: I aim to have daily summaries of exciting posters/symposia. I will tend to focus on Alzheimer's and Chronic traumatic encephalopathy/Traumatic Brain Injury - as those are my areas of interest. But, I am genuinely fascinated by all things neuroscience. So, please let me know if you'd like for me to stop by and chat with you.


Posts so far have been ---

1. Introduction
2. Key terms in AD
3. The insidious beta-amyloid
4. The tangles of tau
5. Taking pictures of your brain - guest post from Joey Contreras

Thanks for stopping by! And, I hope you bookmark this page. Thank you to the SFN committee for selecting my blog as one of the featured blogs at the meeting.