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December 2, 2023| University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon, PR

 

For the past 31 years, the Puerto Rico Neuroscience Conference has been an excellent venue of communication and interactions among students and faculty with research interests in Neuroscience. It is a one-day meeting consisting of four plenary talks by invited local and international speakers, and poster/oral presentations from high-school, undergraduate, graduate students, postdocs, and faculty.

New in the Conference:

ArsMedicina Journal

The participants of the Puerto Rico Neuroscience Conference have the opportunity to publish their abstracts in the first edition as a special supplement of the scientific journal ArsMedicina. This first issue of the journal will mark the beginning of a project that will allow scientific work to be disseminated and the entire community to be educated by the Universidad Central del Caribe. 

Mission: To provide an innovative space to exchange new knowledge in basic, clinical, and behavioral sciences in open access format.  

Vision: Publish scientific papers and disseminate health information with the highest standards of quality, excellence, and methodological rigor. 

ArsMedicina will be accepting abstracts for consideration with the understanding that had not been published or presented previously. 

NeuroArt Exhibition

PR Neuroscience is delighted to announce the NeuroART 2023, a competition with images related to neuroscience. You are invited to show the artistic world behind neuroscience!

Eligibility Criteria:

  • Each artistic work can be submitted by one or more authors.
  • The artistic work should be original scientific related images (photo, images drawings, paintings).
  • The art should be printed following the poster size criteria if applicable.

PROGRAM

8:00 AM      Registration and Poster-set-up

8:30 AM      Opening Remarks

Dr. Waleska Crespo-Rivera, President
Universidad Central del Caribe

Dr. Diana M. Fernández-Santos, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
Universidad Central del Caribe

Dr. Miguel Vélez, Chancellor

Dr. Darinel Ortiz
Co-Sponsoring Institution
University of Puerto Rico, Bayamo

Dr. David E. Rivera-Aponte, Member Organizing Committee
Universidad Central del Caribe

9:00 AM      Dr. Daniel A. Colón-Ramos

Title: “Specific configurations of electrical synapses filter sensory information to drive choices in behavior”

Yale University School of Medicine
Invited by: University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

10:00 AM    Coffee Break and Poster Section 1

Concurrent Activity: NeuroArt Exhibition

11:30 AM    Dr. Pedro A. Feliciano

Title: “Dynamic Interplay Between Hippocampal Memory Reactivation and Cortical States during Sleep”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Invited by: Universidad Central del Caribe

12:30 PM    Lunch and Poster-set-up

AFTERNOON CONFERENCE

1:30 PM      Dr. Bianca Jones Marlin

Title: “Bridging the gap between innate and learned: A parent’s role in promoting survival”

Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University
Invited by: University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

2:30 PM       Coffee Break and Poster Section 2

4:00 PM      Dr. Mark Harnett

Title: “Biophysics for Neural Computation”

McGovern Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Invited by: Ponce Health Sciences University

5:00 PM      Closing remarks and Business Meeting

Speakers

Bianca Jones Marlin, PhD
Bianca Jones Marlin, PhD

Bianca Jones Marlin, PhD is a neuroscientist and Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Cell Research at the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University in New York City. Her research investigates how organisms unlock innate behaviors at appropriate times, and how learned information is passed to subsequent generations via transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Dr. Marlin’s experimental approach combines neural imaging, behavior, and molecular genetics to uncover the mechanisms by which learning and emotion are biologically transmitted from neurons of the parent to neurons of their offspring. The resulting insights into how learned behavior in the parent can become innate behavior in the offspring promise to make a profound impact on societal brain health, mental well-being, and parenting.

Daniel A. Colón-Ramos, PhD
Daniel A. Colón-Ramos, PhD

Daniel Alfonso Colón-Ramos is the McConnell Duberg Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine, where his lab uses the nematode C. elegans to study the cell biology of the synapse during development and learning. He is also the founder of the nonprofit organization Ciencia Puerto Rico (CienciaPR), a collaborative network for people interested in science and Puerto Rico. In 2020, he was named to the National Academy of Medicine.

Mark Harnett, PhD
Mark Harnett, PhD

Associate Professor and Graduate Officer, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mark Harnett studies how the biophysical features of individual neurons, including ion channels, receptors, and membrane electrical properties, endow neural circuits with the ability to process information and perform the complex computations that underlie behavior. As part of this work, the Harnett lab was the first to describe the physiological properties of human dendrites, the elaborate tree-like structures through which neurons receive the vast majority of their synaptic inputs.

Pedro A. Feliciano Ramos, PhD

Pedro A. Feliciano Ramos, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following his graduate studies, Pedro expanded his expertise during postdoctoral training in Systems Neurosciences at MIT's Dr. Matthew Wilson's Lab. As a postdoctoral researcher, he conducted multisite and large-scale electrophysiological recordings, combined with controlled neurophysiological manipulations in freely behaving animals. During this time, he also received an F32 award. In his current role as a postdoctoral researcher, Pedro has been exploring the interactions between the cortex and hippocampus during awake and sleep states, focusing on their roles in learning and memory. His recent work has unveiled novel insights into the complex and bidirectional communication that occurs between the hippocampus and various cortical areas during sleep. This research has significant implications for our understanding of how the cortex and hippocampus collaborate to store memories in long-term storage.

Venue

University of Puerto Rico
Bayamon Campus

Carr 174 Num 170 Industrial Minillas
Bayamon, PR 00959

Sponsors

Thanks to our sponsors for making this event FREE to attend

Contact Us:

Tel: 787-798-3001 x2032

Email: [email protected]