Neurotherapy

Elly Hol is professor of “Glia biology of brain diseases” at the Utrecht University and professor of "Biology of glia and neural stem cells” at the University of Amsterdam. Her research is focused on the role of glial cells in brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, schizophrenia and glioma. The overall aim is to elucidate the molecular and functional changes in glia that contribute to the pathogenesis of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Her work is translational and includes studies on glial cells in human post-mortem brain tissue, in human cell models, and in mouse models for brain diseases. She is a member of Academia Europaea, member of the editorial board of Glia, chair of the scientific advisory board of Alzheimer Nederland, chair of GliaNed, director of the Neuroscience Master and PhD program of the Utrecht University Graduate School of Life Sciences, and director of education for the Division Brain at the UMCU. Dick Swaab (1944) earned his medical and doctoral degrees at the University of Amsterdam, where he became involved in brain research during his third year of medical school. He was Director of the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research from 1978 to 2005. Since 1979 he is Professor of Neurobiology at the Medical Faculty, University of Amsterdam.In 1985, Dr. Swaab founded the Netherlands Brain Bank (NBB) to serve as a source of clinically and neuropathologically well-documented research tissue. Since its founding, the Brain Bank has provided samples from more than 4,000 autopsies to 500 research groups in 25 countries. He was director of the NBB until 2005.He is Leader Research team Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Neth. Inst for Neuroscience, an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Swaab is also appointed for 2011-2017 Chao Kuang Piu Chair of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P.R. China.His major research interests focus on, sexual differentiation of the human brain in relation to gender identity and sexual orientation, aging of the brain, Alzheimer’s disease, the neurobiological basis of depression, suicide and eating disorders. He has published over 540 papers in SCI journals, authored more than 200 chapters in books, and edited more than 60 books. Swaab mentored 84 PhD students from which 16 are now full professor. He is “Companion in the Order of the Dutch Lion”, bestowed by her Royal Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. In 2008 Swaab obtained the Academy medal for his role in national and international neuroscience. Dick Swaab is author of the 2 volume monograph The Human Hypothalamus that appeared in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology series, Elsevier, Amsterdam (1000 pp) and the Dutch best seller We are our Brains (450.000 copies sold), that is translated in 14 languages. A children's version of the book (You are your brains) has also appeared in Dutch in 2013 and Russian (2014). Swaab's H-factor is 76.

• Section - Stem CellsJeffrey Macklis - Boston, USA Stem cell recruitement in the adult cortex following spinal cord injuryScott Whittemore - Louisville, USA Application of embryonic stem cells in spinal cord repairPeter Burbach - Utrecht, The Netherlands Molecular programming of stem cells into mesodiencephalic dopaminergic neuronsOle Isacson - Belmont, USA Stem cell transplantation in Parkinson diseaseRobin Ali - London, UK Retinal repair by transplantation of photoreceptorsThomas Reh - Seattle, USA Efficient generation of retinal progenitor cells from human embryonic stem cellsMaurice Curtis - Gotenborg, Sweden Discovery of a rostral migratory stream in the adult human brainMagdalena Götz - Munich, Germany Glial cells as stem cells ? a new view on reactive gliosisUrban Lendahl - Stockholm, Sweden Molecular regulation of stem cell differentiationAnders Björklund - Lund, Sweden Cell and gene therapy repair stategies for Parkinson disease Section Immunotherapy and vaccination therapy Roger Nitsch - Zurich, Switzerland Immunotherapy of Alzheimer's disease Cynthia Lemere, Boston, USA Developing novel immunogens for effective and safe Alzheimer disease vaccineFrank Baas - Amsterdam, the Netherlands Complement therapy promotes peripheral nerve regenerationPhilip Popovich - Columbus, USA T-cell and macrophage involvement in neuroregenerationHans van Noort - Rijswijk, The Netherlands Toll-like receptors in the CNS: implications for neurodegeneration and repair Section Gene TherapyAlan Harvey - Perth, Australia Gene therapy and transplantation in CNS repair: the visual systemRaymond Bartus - San Diego, USA Gene therapy for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseaseKrys Bankiewicz - San Francisco, USA AAV-AADC gene therapy for Parkinson diseaseMartijn Tannemaat - Amsterdam, the Netherlands Promoting regeneration of injured peripheral nerves and avulsed spinal ventral rootsby gene therapyMimoun Azzouz - Sheffield, UKGene therapy for ALS based on retrograde delivery of transgenes with equine LV vectorsBill Hauswirth - Gainesville, USA Cone photoreceptor targeted gene therapyPharmacotherapyIqbal Sayeed - Atlanta, USA Progesterone as a neuroprotective factor in traumatic and ischemic brain injury Stefan Gold - Los Angeles, USA Oestrogen and testosterone replacement therapies in neurologic and psychiatric disordersReinier Schlingemann - Amsterdam, the Netherlands Treatment of retinal diseases with VEGF antagonistsHans-Werner Müller - Düsseldorf, Germany Pharmacological modification of the extracellular matrix to promote regeneration of the injured brain and spinal cordYvo Roos - Amsterdamdam, the Netherlands First aid for the brain: successful reanimation strategies after strokeFabrizio Benedetti - Turin, Italy Placebo responses in neurological disordersNeuroprosthesesThomas Stieglitz - Freiburg, Germany Brain-computer interfacesGerald Chader - Los Angeles, USA Visual performance with retinal prosthesesVittorio Colletti - Verona, Italy Alternative neurosurgical approaches for auditory brain implantsRichard Normann - Salt Lake City, USA Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegiaEdward Tehovnik ? Cambridge, MA, USA Microstimulation of the visual cortex to restore visionMiguel Nicolelis - Durham, USA Control of artificial limb in monkeys: feedback by neural stimulationDeep Brain Stimulation, FES and TMSAlim-Louis Benabid - Grenoble, France Deep brain stimulation for neurological disorders: an historical perspectiveReggie Edgerton - Los Angeles, USA Potential for restoring neuromotor function via activity-dependent mechanismsVivian Mushahwar - Edmonton, Canada Intraspinal microstimulation and oscillating field stimulationDamiaan Denys - Amsterdam, the Netherlands Deep brain stimulation: obsessive compulsive disorderDiego Centonze - Rome, Italy Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex ameliorates spasticity in multiple sclerosisMechanisms of spontaneous plasticity and regenerationChristian Lohmann ? Amsterdam, The Netherlands Simultaneous imaging of morphological plasticity and calcium dynamics in dendritesCatherine Lubetzki - Paris, France Axonal signals in central nervous system demyelination: the semaphorins Massimo Filippi - Milan, Italy Magnetic resonance techniques to quantify tissue damage, tissue repair and functional cortical reorganization in multiple sclerosisHenning Voss - New York, USA Diffusion tensor imaging as a tool to study neuronal plasticity and regenerationJames Fawcett - Cambridge, UK Molecular control of brain plasticity and repair