About the Workshop
Developmental neuronal remodelling is essential for the formation of functional nervous systems across species. Remodelling involves specific elimination of existing connections, typically followed by strengthening of surviving synapses or even axon regrowth to form new, adult-specific connections. While altered remodelling has long been suspected to contribute to neuropsychiatric conditions, such as autism, schizophrenia, and ADHD, studies only recently established firm molecular similarities between such disorders and developmental remodelling. Thus, understanding how neurites are remodelled during development should provide a broader insight into the process of axon destruction and regeneration during development, disease and following injury.
This EMBO Workshop will focus on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal remodelling across different animal models and their relation to the proper function of the nervous system.
Specific topics that will be covered in this workshop include:
- What are the cell biological mechanisms and signaling pathways that control remodelling?
- Are the same pathways activated in different paradigms and across species?
- What is the role of remodelling in circuit formation and does it relate to learning and memory?
- What is the role of non-neuronal cells during remodelling?
- What is the role of neuro-neuron interactions during remodelling, and do different circuit elements remodel in a concerted manner?
- What are the mechanisms of regrowth during developmental remodelling and how do they relate to post-traumatic regeneration?
This EMBO Workshop is also supported by the DFG-funded Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), and the Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky Center. Further support comes from the Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases and the faculties of Life Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
About EMBO Courses and Workshops
EMBO Courses and Workshops are selected for their excellent scientific quality and timelines, provision of good networking activities for all participants and speaker gender diversity (at least 40% of speakers must be from the underrepresented gender).
Organisers are encouraged to implement measures to make the meeting environmentally more sustainable.
