INVITED speakers

László Acsády, HUN-REN Institute of Experimental Medicine   

László is a system neuroscientist interested in the structure and function of the thalamus and thalamocortical loops.  His research over the past two decades has focused on the non-sensory thalamus and demonstrated that thalamus consists of highly heterogeneous microcircuits differing in the composition of its inputs. The data showed that inputs arising from variable sources, having distinct types of terminals and transmitters are integrated in a region selective manner. Thus, far from a simple canonical relay the core concept of thalamus is the variable forms of input integration. 

László's vision which leads his research is that proper understanding of cortical functions and dysfunctions can only be achieved by deciphering region specific communication between cortex and thalamus. During his research he pay's special attention to rodent primate comparison.

Talk Title: Why So Smart? – Region specific neuronal computation in rodent and human thalamus

Abstract: TBC

Andreas Horn, University of Cologne

Andreas received an MD from Freiburg University and a PhD from Charité Berlin. He is the Schilling Professor for Computational Neurology and inaugural director of the Institute for Network Stimulation at the University Hospital Cologne. He is further affiliated with the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics at Mass General Brigham in Boston. 

His lab studies how focal neuromodulation impacts the human connectome to refine clinical treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders. A key question is which networks should be modulated for improvements of specific symptoms – in disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Depression, or Alzheimer’s Disease. Further, the lab develops methods to segregate the human connectome into functional domains by combining brain stimulation with functional and diffusion-weighted MRI.

Talk Title: From Connectomic Deep Brain Stimulation toward the 'Human Dysfunctome’

Abstract: Brain disorders manifest along a spectrum of symptoms that involve disruptions in mood, cognition, or motor function. These symptoms originate from dysfunctions of specific brain circuits and may hence be seen as ‘disorders of the human connectome’, or ‘circuitopathies’. However, exactly which circuits become dysfunctional in which disorder remains elusive. Moreover, it remains unclear which circuits map to which specific symptoms. Invasive and noninvasive brain stimulation methods are applied to focal points in the depth or on the surface of the brain. However, their focal application leads to network effects that are distributed along brain circuits across the entire brain. By nature, applying brain stimulation is a causal intervention that engages specific brain circuits: If an intervention leads to symptom improvements, we may suspect that the modulated circuit was causally involved in these symptoms.  

In this talk, I will review the effects of deep and superficial brain stimulation onto the human connectome. We will cover results in diseases ranging from the movement disorders spectrum (Parkinson’s Disease, Dystonia, Essential Tremor) to neuropsychiatric (Tourette’s & Alzheimer’s Disease) and psychiatric (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Depression) diseases. I will also demonstrate how findings in seemingly different diseases (such as Parkinson’s Disease and Depression) could be transferred to cross-inform one another and how the same method may be used to study neurocognitive effects, such as risk-taking behavior or impulsivity.

Michael Hornberger, University of Southampton

Michael is the Professor of Applied Dementia Research at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine. His research is particularly focused on cognition, neuroimaging and devices in preclinical and clinical dementia populations.  

Michael is originally from Germany but gravitated soon to the UK, where he did his PhD at University College London, followed by positions at the University of Cambridge, the University of New South Wales and the University of East Anglia. Michael arrived at the University of Southampton in 2025. In his free time, he likes to go long-distance cycling and running, as well as practising passionately, though badly, Yoga.

Talk Title: Thalamic changes in preclinical and clinical dementia

Abstract: Many people are not aware that the thalamus is one of the earliest regions involved in dementia and that it can contribute significantly to the symptomology. In this talk I present some of our research findings showing how the thalamus is differentially affected across different dementias. We will further explore, which thalamic nuclei are particularly vulnerable for different dementia pathophysiology's and how thalamic changes impact on disease symptomology.

Elisabeth Kaufmann, LMU Munich 

Session details to follow.

Anneke Alkemade, University of Amsterdam 

Session details to follow.

Session details to follow.