Annual retreat of the Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience
Wednesday-Thursday, February 19-20th, 2014
Sde-Boker
Preliminary Program
Wednesday, February 19
08:00 – Bus leaves BGU campus for the Sde Boker campus
09:00-09:30: Arrival and Coffee
09:30-09:35: Opening remarks
09:35 – 10:10
Plenary Lecture: Prof. Christoph Bernard, Neuroscience Institute (Marseille)
Epilepsy as a Plasticity Machine
Session 1: Sensory systems – From periphery to brain networks
Chairperson – Maoz Shamir
10:15-10:45
Ronen Segev (TBD): Retinal adaptation and invariance to changes in
higher-order stimulus statistics
10:45-11:15 Tzi Ganel: On the psychophysics of visually-guided action
11:15-11:45 Lior Shmuelof: The neural correlates of motor acuity.
11:45-12:10 Praveen Kuruppath (Supervisor: Rony Azouz) Microvibrissae based
texture coding
12:10-12:35 Firas Mawase (Supervisor: Amir Karniel) Adaptation, Learning and
Consolidation of the Memory in Cerebral Palsy
12:35-14:30 – Light lunch & Poster session
Session 2: Translational Neuroscience
Chairperson – Boomy Zangen
14:30-15:00
15:00-15:30
Ilan Dinstein: Noisy brains: from cognitive function to autism and ADHD
Harker Rhodes: Genetic Polymorphisms Affecting Cognitive Performance
15:30-16:00
16:00-16:30
16:30- 16:05
16:50-17:20
After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
Oren Shriki: Probing the balance of excitation and inhibition using
neuronal avalanches: applications to neurological and psychiatric
phenomena
Michal Hirshfenkel: The ZnR acts to balance between excitation and
inhibition
Marin Jukic (Supervisor :Claude Brodsky) Overexpression of OTX2 leads
to increased fluctuations in manic and depressive like behavior in mice
Itay Hadas (Supervisor : Abraham Zangen) Attentional overload during
development: Evaluation of long-lasting neuroplastic and behavioral
outcomes
17:20-17:40 – Coffee break
17:40 – 19:40
Panel Discussion: Teaching Neuroscience: Do we need special undergraduate and
graduate programs for Brain ?
Moderator: Avishai Henik
19:40 – 20:30
Zlotowski Center Members Meeting
Agenda: Annual and financial report (Alon Friedman)
BGU School for Brain Sciences (Avishai henik)
Elections for Chair
20:45-21:30
Dinner
Fun in the local pub…
21:30
Thursday, February 20th
07:00-09:55 – Breakfast
Session 3: Novel Approaches in Neuroscience Research
Chairperson – Tammy Raviv
09:00-09:45
Plenary: Itamar Kahn (Technion): combining modalities
09:45-10:15
10:15-10:45
Ofer Yifrach: No model in mind: A model- free approach for studying ion
channel gating
Danniel Gitler: Interrogating cells with light; contemporary live cell
imaging
10:45-11:00 – Coffee Break
11:00-11:30 Tammy Raviv: Methods in image processing
11:30-12:00 Galia Avidan: Novel approaches in functional imaging
12:00-12:30 Alon Friedman: Combining modalities
12:30-13:30 – Light lunch
13:30-16:30 – Desert trip
17:00 – Bus leaves Sde Boker for BGU campus
Parallel Morning Session
Special Course on Genetic Polymorphisms Affecting Human Cognition
Course Number: 197-2-0004
Feb 02 (9:00 - 16:00; Sde-Boker)
09:00 - 10:30 Two 45 minute blocks (SERT; Mathematical definition of heritability and
G x E interactions)
10:30 - 11:00 Break
11:00 - 12:30 Two 45 minute blocks (Hermona Soreq; Cholinergic neuroanatomy;
AChE)
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 16:30 Desert trip
17:00 - 18:00 Two 45 minute blocks (Dopamine receptors and relevant neuroanatomy)
18:30-19:00 break
19:00-20:00 Lab (Distribution of datasets; Simple statistical measures of association and
linear regression analysis)
20:00 - Dinner
Feb 02 (9:00 - 13:00; Sde-Boker)
09:00 - 10:30 Two 45 minute blocks (Idan Menashe; Multiple testing and reproducibility
of genetic association studies)
10:30 - 11:30 Lab (Haplotype analysis [use of HAPLOVIEW]; Genome-wide
significance)
11:30 - 13:30 Two 45 minute blocks (Nicotinic and Muscarinic receptors)
Feb 23 (9:00 - 16:00; Ben-Gurion University, Marcus Campus)
09:00 - 10:30 Two 45 minute blocks (Avishai Henik; DBH)
10:30 - 11:00 Break
11:00 - 12:30 Two 45 minute blocks (COMT and DAT; G x G interactions and problems
created by the non-linearity of those interactions)
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 - 15:00 Two 45 minute blocks (BDNF; The haplotype structure of naturally
occurring populations; genetic evidence for positive selective pressure during
recent human evolution)
15:00 - 16:00 Lab (Population structure and Simpson’s paradox, clades and clines [use of
STRUCTURE and PCA])
Feb 24 (9:00 - 13:00; Ben-Gurion University, Marcus Campus)
09:00 - 10:30 Two 45 minute blocks (APOE; MAPT; SNCA)
10:30 - 11:30 Lab (Odds ratio and logistic analysis; Cryptic relatedness and degree of
inbreeding)
11:30 - 13:30 Two 45 minute blocks (Nicotinic and Muscarinic receptors)