#2 – Lennart Verhagen & Nanditha Rajamani – 06/30/2023
On Friday, June 30th 2023 (6PM CET / noon ET), we will have the pleasure of hosting Lennart Verhagen & Nanditha Rajamani for an in-person event in Berlin. Not only will we hear about science, but we may also get a glimpse of the inspirational thinkers behind it!
In-person sessions in Berlin will take place at the Lecture Hall of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (Haus 6, Philippstraße 13, 10117 Berlin). Get some appetizers, grab a beverage (all on us!) and come enjoy a science apéro (served in the seminar room within the same building) with the speakers prior the talks (from 5:15 PM).
Register here to participate in the event (so we can order enough appetizers / beverages, and avoid any waste)!
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About the headliner speaker: Dr. Lennart Verhagen is an integrative neuroscientist, developing ultrasonic neuromodulation tools for basic research and clinical application at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior in the Netherlands. He chairs the international expert group for safety and standards of ultrasonic neuromodulation in humans.
Title of headliner talk: “A new wave in neurotechnology”
Abstract: To understand and treat the brain we need an integrated approach of theory, measurement, and intervention. This last component – the need for tools to modulate the human brain – has proven particularly challenging. Current neuromodulation techniques are already changing the world but remain invasive or restricted to the surface of the brain. Focused ultrasound has the potential to overcome these limitations. We can now use low-intensity ultrasound to safely stimulate deep brain structures – such as the amygdala, basal forebrain, and thalamus – with high precision. We can modulate excitability, induce plastic changes, interfere with cognitive computations, and temporarily suppress clinical symptoms such as tremor. In all studies, our focus is on optimizing efficacy and safety, minimizing confounds, and laying the strongest possible foundations for a new neurotechnology in humans.
About the opening speaker: Nanditha Rajamani is a talented PhD student at the Network Stimulation Laboratory within the Department of Neurology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin under the supervision of Andreas Horn. Driven by her engineering background, broad areas of interests include personalisation and symptom-specific approaches to neuromodulation therapy. Her current projects include developing mixture models for improved deep brain stimulation based treatment in Parkinson’s disease. She aims to tailor these models to a patient’s individual symptom profile by recombination and weighting of symptom-specific therapeutic networks.
Title of opening talk: “Toward Symptom-Specific Connectomic Deep Brain Stimulation”