Thousands of non-coding (nc)RNAs have been identified with functions in processes, such as translation regulation and RNA processing. Different classes of ncRNAs exist, including microRNAs, circRNAs and tRNAs, some of which are enriched in the nervous system and neural cells. This webinar discusses some of the functions of these ncRNAs in the developing and adult brain and highlights how their deregulation contributes to brain trauma and disease. Webinar organised by the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET) on the SfN digital platform, Neuronline.

Opinion article produced by FENS-Kavli Scholars (FKNE), and published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN).

Article by Alicia Puscian, Kevin Kenna, Marina Vidaki.

In this article, we’ll share cultural themes that arose among our personal experiences moving from Europe to the United States. Our intent is to empower you to make a more informed choice about where to take this next step in your career.

Material produced under the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET) umbrella, published on Neuronline.

What is psychedelic microdosing and why are people doing it? Where does all the hype about it come from and most importantly, does it actually work? So many questions that currently remain unanswered.

Highlights of the difficulties shared among all PhD students while discussing personalized strategies and coping mechanisms to deal with adversity (EJN article)

A webinar focusing on topics relevant for senior postdocs and newly appointed PIs who want to start their own lab. Organised by the FKNE and the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET) at FENS Forum 2018.

Organised by the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence (FKNE) and hosted by the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET), the event focus on topics relevant for senior postdocs, newly appointed and mid-carrier PIs. The approached themes include: how to get a first PI position, selection of team members, application and management of funds, the mid-career gap, early and mid-career mobility, and coping with stress while balancing life with career.

Neuroscience is an exciting and vibrant field, but building an academic career is not always easy. What are critical success indicators? Which tools help talented young neuroscientists conquer the challenges? In this NeuroView, we discuss instruments and steps that can help people progress through the ranks.

Talk by Dr Javier de Felipe, Polytechnic University of Madrid

The appearance, expansion and differentiation of a highly complex multi-laminated cortex, the “neocortex” is a fundamental event during the evolution of the mammalian telencephalon. This cortical region is the most human part of the nervous system because it is the brain structure whose activity is directly related to the emergence of those capacities that distinguish humans from other mammals. Thanks to the neocortex we can perform such extraordinary and highly complex tasks as writing a book, composing a symphony or inventing the computer. Yet, what is special about the human cerebral cortex is a longstanding question in neuroscience. Fortunately, at present, there are methods that allow us to examine human brain organization and function at a level of detail similar to or even greater than that we can obtain with animal models. In this talk, I will emphasise how the application of these methods has shown that the human cerebral cortex displays clear species-specific variations in cortical microstructure and that it is likely that as more detailed studies are carried out on human cortical circuits, we will discover many more differences at the genetic, molecular, structural, and physiological levels between humans and other species. Thus, not only does the increase in size, and therefore in complexity, of our brains seem to be responsible for our higher or more abstract mental abilities but also, the specialization of our cortical circuits appears to be critical.

A webinar about the broad landscape of European neuroscience networks. Organised by the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET), hosted on Neuronline.

Opinion article produced by FENS-Kavli Scholars (FKNE), and published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN).

Article published in Neuron

Malfunctioning of neuronal circuits and peripheral systems (e.g metabolism, immune or microbiota) underlie aspects of psychiatric disorders. One of the major challenges in neuroscience is understanding the mechanisms and temporal dynamics of such changes within discrete neuronal connections, or within precise peripheral players. Such understanding can reveal new therapeutic strategies and refine existing ones.

Webinar organised by the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET), hosted on Neuronline.

Talk by Yoko Wang, The University of Adelaide

Since we were born, we have shared our life with millions of tiny little buddies in our gut. These tiny little buddies, or the gut microbiota, play important roles in regulating the gut-brain axis. In recent years, research in this field has rapidly grown, increasing our understanding on how gut microbiota communicate to the brain and influence our health. In this talk, we will unbox the amazing world of the microbiota-gut-brain axis – learning about their history, the current progress and future directions.

The Corpus Curiosum series was produced with the support of FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET)

Talk by Dr Paco Calvo, University of Murcia

Bored of classroom-based education? Tired of getting lost and spacing out? Fed-up being stuffed with somebody else’s knowledge; the type of “knowledge” that you are simply expected to parrot the day of the exam, then wait for your grades which mean…. nothing really? Welcome to the Hippocampus-Fattening Farm, the educational system you have been raised in since Primary school, all the way into college, and beyond! My aim in this talk is to promote forms of learning based on trying o “know less” and think outside the box more. I shall illustrate how this can help propel creativity in the discussion of plant intelligence in the (neuro)cognitive sciences, robotics and AI.

The Corpus Curiosum series was produced with the support of FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET)

Talk by Folu Oyefeso, Loma Linda University

The human brain is a complex network of cells with special functions to control how we interact with the world. Within the brain, these cells are grouped into areas responsible for thinking, moving, sensing, among many other things! However, it is notoriously difficult to study the human brain directly and so scientists use animal and two-dimensional cell culture models to learn more about it. Recently, trained teams of cell biologists and neuroscientists have begun to generate three-dimensional brain organoids, which are small clumps of tissue containing the same types of cells we see in the brain. These tissues can model specific brain regions (e.g. cortex) and diseases (e.g. Zika virus infection or Parkinson’s disease). In this session, we’ll discuss how these models have been used and how they could be used in the future.

The Corpus Curiosum series was produced with the support of FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET)

Despite a long historical relationship between science and philosophy, scientists today tend to see philosophy as very different from, and indeed even antagonistic to, the scientific endecour.

Opinion article produced by FENS-Kavli Scholars (FKNE), and published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN).

Opinion article produced by FENS-Kavli Scholars (FKNE), and published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN).

Opinion article produced by FENS-Kavli Scholars (FKNE), and published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN).