Training the next generation of Neuroscience leaders

Last Thursday 15th of July, the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona held a meeting for all young researchers to help them push their careers to the next level.

The day started with an introduction from the director of the Institute, Jordi Alberch, who empathised the importance of the next generation of researchers and how it is crucial to work together to push the boundaries of neuroscience research. Furthermore, the management team explained all the resources available for them and their peers.

After this session, the short research talks started. Jordi Costa Faidella, from the group the auditory, motor, emotional and numerical brain,  moderated the following presentations: 

• ‘Auditory Threat processing’, by Judith Dominguez from the group Study of the human subcortical pathway for auditory threat processing 
• ‘Brain markers of chronic pain and depression’, by Marina Lopez-Sola, from the group Neurocognitive markers of centralized chronic pain and depression across the lifespan.   
• ‘Towards a rights-based mental health care’, by Francisco J. Eiroa from the group Sociocultural determinants of wellbeing and human rights awareness 
• ‘Statistical modeling and data analysis for neuroimaging’, by Roser Sala, from the group Statistical modelling and data analysis for neuroimaging  

Guadalupe Soria, from the group Neuroimaging in degenerative disorders  moderated the second session of short presentations, which included: 

• ‘Epitranscriptomic regulation in brain disorders’ by Veronica Brito from the group Epitranscriptomic regulation in brain disorders 
• ‘Hippocampal function in health and disease’ by Albert Giralt from the group Neural plasticity in neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases 
• ‘Neural Stem cells and brain damage’ by Daniel Tornero from the group Human neural stem cells for brain repair and disease modeling 
• ‘Translational pharmacology’ by Jordi Bonaventura from the group Remote control and imaging of neural activity 

Finally, the day concluded with the session “How to develop a successful career (and not die trying). Tips and tricks.” with Ruth de Diego (Brain mechanisms of language learning), Silvia Gines (Neuron and glia crosstalk in Huntington’s disease), David Soto (Neurophysiology of ionotropic glutamate receptors) and Josep Marco-Pallares (Brain mechanisms of learning and reward). They talked about their own scientific careers and about specific issues such as applying for an ERC, working with the industry, how to better lead teams, and most of all, they encouraged the young researchers to have faith in themselves, the best science needs the best teams and it is only believing in themselves that they will be able to achieve their maximum potential. 

We look forward to seeing what all these amazing researchers will discover in the future.