The Australasian Neuroscience Society’s (ANS) 42nd Annual Scientific Meeting was held in Perth earlier this month.
Hosted in Western Australia for the first time in more than 20 years, and proudly sponsored by the Perron Institute, the theme for this year’s meeting was ‘Forging the Nexus, Crossing the Synapse’. This reflected ANS’ desire to connect researchers across the country at the nexus of neuroscience, neurotechnology and forward-thinking, and is also a nod to uniting physical distance across the Nullarbor.
ANS President Professor Janet Keast (University of Melbourne) and Conference Executive Chair Professor Hamid Sohrabi (Murdoch University) opened the conference.
The Local Organising Committee was jointly chaired by Dr Sarah Hellewell (Curtin University and Perron Institute), Dr Chidozie Anyaegbu (Curtin University and Perron Institute), Dr Stuart Hodgetts (The University of Western Australia and Perron Institute) and Associate Professor Stephanie Rainey-Smith (Murdoch University). Local Organising Committee members also included Associate Professor Jennifer Rodger (UWA and Perron Institute), Dr Li Shan Chiu (The University of Notre Dame) and Dr Belinda Brown (Murdoch University).
The three-day program included lectures, symposia, events, and oral and poster presentations spanning the breadth of neuroscience themes to showcase the exceptional work of Australasian researchers across career stages.
The international plenary lecture by Professor Tracy Bale from the University of Colorado was titled ‘Extracellular vesicles serve as dynamic cellular communicators of stress & trauma’.
Associate Professor Jennifer Rodger (head of Brain Plasticity Research at the Perron Institute and UWA) presented the ANS plenary lecture titled ‘Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for sceptics: how understanding mechanisms drives translation and innovation’.
A/Professor Rodger was also announced as the inaugural winner of the Neuroscience Education and Outreach prize.
In the Symposium ‘Characterising the fundamental mechanisms of brain stimulation’ Co-Chaired by Dr Aleksandra Miljevic (Perron Institute and (UWA), Dr Jamie Beros (Perron Institute and UWA) and Dr Jacqueline Iredale (The University of Newcastle), Dr Alex Tang (Perron Institute and UWA) presented ‘Non-synaptic mechanisms of rTMS’.
Dr Ryu Takechi (Curtin University and Perron Institute) presented a talk titled ‘Synergistic Expression of Human Apo E4 and Amyloid Restricted to the Liver: A Novel Pathway for Alzheimer’s Disease Onset and Neurodegeneration’.
In the ‘Oral Presentations: CNS injury’ session chaired by Dr Anyaegbu, Dr Jemma Keeves (Curtin University and Perron Institute) presented ‘AUS-mTBI: designing and implementing novel health informatics approaches to improve outcomes for people with mild TBI across Australia’, and PhD Candidate Emily King (UWA and Perron Institute) presented ‘Characterising maladaptive axonal and intrinsic plasticity in the sub-acute phase post stroke’.
Dr Abigail Pfaff (CMMIT, Murdoch University and Perron Institute) presented on ‘The role of LINE-1 retrotransposons in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis’.
In the ‘Data Blitz Presentations: Gut-brain axis’ session, Dr Anastazja Gorecki (UNDA, and Perron Institute alumni) presented ‘Characterising α-synuclein in epithelial cells of the gut’.
PhD Candidate Maitri Tomar (UWA and Perron Institute) presented in the ‘Data Blitz: Stimulation and Plasticity’ session on ‘Weakening of perineuronal nets following non-invasive brain stimulation’, and Maitri also won the Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith Student Poster Award.
The Istvan Tork Student Oral Award was awarded to Kady Braack of UWA.
Dr Kristin Barry (UWA) was the winner of the ECR Oral Presentation Award.
Poster presentations were also given by researchers and students including Dr May Aung-Htut, Dr Matthew Bagg, Zara van Zijl, Isabella Drew, Denise Howting, Ofir Gurfinkel, Joshua Sone, Twain Dai, Melissa Papini, André Avila, Caerwen Beaton, Jacinta Thorne, Parth Patel, Ruby Gilroy and Kinta Pinchin-Yamada, Amanda Jefferson, Grace Bliesner, Isobel T Thomas-Bland, Aidan J Murphy, Isabella Trew, Jemma Keeves, Mikayla Crompton, and Liz Jaeschke-Angi.
The annual Brain Bee Challenge was conducted on the first day of ANS and was a conference highlight. Tiffany Yi from NSW won the National Final, and 2024 WA Brain Bee winner Ekaterina Khakimullina, from Perth Modern School, placed second.
2024 International Brain Bee winner, Samuel Richards, from Rehoboth Christian College in Kenwick (Perth), inspired the competitors and assisted in the lead-up to this year’s national event.
The Perron Institute was the Bronze Sponsor for the conference, sponsoring the final lunch on Wednesday and hosting a booth in the exhibition hall, providing networking opportunities.
The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) sponsored a networking event for early to mid-career researchers. Professor Bale is President of IBRO.
Congratulations to the Local Organising Committee, presenters, attendees, volunteers and all involved.
For more information, visit ans.org.au or download the app.