Symposia
Symposia focus on advances or present conflicting views in rapidly developing areas or neuroscience. Top researchers are typically selected as speakers, and researchers at all career levels are encouraged to attend. Symposia will take place November 15–19 in San Diego Convention Center. Symposia taking place during Neuroscience 2025 are listed below.
View other scientific sessions being held this year.
Not Just Neurons: Pain Is Orchestrated in Partnership With Many Nonneuronal Cells — Ewan St. John Smith
Chair: Ewan Smith, PhDInstitution: University of Cambridge
Co-Chair: Cheryl Stucky, PhD
Institution: Medical College of Wisconsin
Date & Time: Saturday, November 15, 2–4:30 p.m.
Location: SDCC Rm 6A
Theme: Theme E – Sensory Systems
Activation of sensory neurons is key to the transduction of noxious stimuli and perception of pain. However, understanding of pain has moved beyond a purely neurocentric view as growing research shows that diverse nonneuronal cells and their released mediators are fundamentally involved in causing and resolving pain. This session will highlight specific key roles that different cell types play in modulating peripheral neuronal excitability across a diverse set of chronic pain conditions.
GLP-1R Agonists and Research to Treat Overeating and Substance Use Disorders — Linda Rinaman
Chair: Linda Rinaman, PhDInstitution: Florida State University Program In Neuroscience
Date & Time: Sunday, November 16, 9:30 a.m.–noon
Location: SDCC Rm 6A
Theme: Theme H – Motivation and Emotion
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists have revolutionized the therapeutic landscape of diabetes and obesity, yet their therapeutic potential extends significantly further. This symposium will highlight the current understanding of how GLP-1R agonists are accessing receptors in the brain and summarize emerging evidence for how they might be utilized to treat dysfunctional consummatory behaviors (e.g., eating disorders and alcohol and substance use disorders).
Mitochondrial Dynamics and Energy Metabolism in Neurodevelopmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders — Xinyu Zhao
Chair: Xinyu Zhao, PhDInstitution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Date & Time: Monday, November 17, 9:30 a.m.–noon
Location: SDCC Rm 6A
Theme: Theme A – Development
Mitochondria are dynamically remodeled through the balance of fusion and fission events and transported to synapses. Altered mitochondrial dynamics are increasingly linked to various brain disorders. This session will showcase recent breakthroughs in understanding the molecular mechanisms governing mitochondrial dynamics and bioenergetics in neurodevelopmental disorders, with the aim to foster collaboration and inspire new perspectives in mitochondrial biology and mental health disorders.
Cancelation of Predicted Action Consequences Across Species and Levels of Predictions — Konstantina Kilteni
Chair: Konstantina Kilteni, PhDInstitution: Karolinska Institute
Co-Chair: Cornelius Schwarz, PhD
Institution: University of Tuebingen
Date & Time: Monday, November 17, 2–4:30 p.m.
Location: SDCC Rm 6A
Theme: Theme F – Motor Systems
Distinguishing self from non-self is crucial for survival. Performance errors attributed to oneself can be corrected by using error signals to train internal predictive neural circuits. Effects caused by the external world need to be identified and learned in order to develop adequate adaptive strategies. This symposium will highlight predictive systems and their interactions, explore how to disentangle them, and examine the mechanisms of predictive signals across species and sensory modalities.
Advances at the Interface of Computational Neuroscience and AI — Leslie Osborne
Chair: Leslie Osborne, PhDInstitution: National Institutes of Health
Co-Chair: Brandon Westover, MD, PhD
Institution: Harvard University
Date & Time: Tuesday, November 18, 9:30 a.m.–noon
Location: SDCC Rm 6A
Theme: Theme J – Techniques
Computational neuroscience has advanced the understanding of the nervous system by characterizing the neural code, evaluating the capacity of neural networks, reducing the complexity of the brain and behavioral dynamics, and parsing the complex processes of cognition. AI is poised to transform our understanding of brain and behavior still further. This session will demonstrate the transformative impact of machine learning in the analysis of neural, behavioral, and clinical data.
The Neurophysiology of Naturalistic Behavior in Mammalian Brains — Nachum Ulanovsky
Chair: Nachum Ulanovsky, PhDInstitution: Weizmann Institute of Science
Date & Time: Tuesday, November 18, 2–4:30 p.m.
Location: SDCC Rm 6A
Theme: Theme G – Integrative Physiology and Behavior
Over decades, we’ve advanced understanding of how mammalian brains process information in lab-based tasks. However, many studies restricted natural movements, reducing ecological validity and generalizability. This symposium presents research on natural behaviors in freely moving mice, bats, marmosets, and humans using advanced neurotechnologies. By measuring neural activity alongside sensory, motor, spatial, and cognitive variables, these studies reveal novel brain mechanisms across species.
Glia and the Matrix: New Frontiers in Synapse and Circuit Function — Lindsay De Biase
Chair: Lindsay De Biase, PhDInstitution: David Geffen School of Medicine At UCLA
Co-Chair: Anna Victoria Molofsky, MD, PhD
Institution: University of California- San Francisco
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 19, 9:30 a.m.–noon
Location: SDCC Rm 6B
Theme: Theme B – Neural Excitability, Synapses, and Glia
The space between central nervous system (CNS) cells is filled with a complex protein-sugar meshwork known as the extracellular matrix (ECM). Despite evidence that the ECM plays essential roles in regulating synaptic function and neuronal excitability, with key consequences for behavior, the brain ECM remains vastly understudied. This session will highlight the dynamic nature of the brain ECM and delve into critical roles that CNS glial cells play in ECM remodeling to shape synaptic and circuit function.
Neurovascular Landscapes: Technologies and Breakthrough Discoveries — Oliver Bracko
Chair: Oliver Bracko, PhDInstitution: University of Miami
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 19, 9:30 a.m.–noon
Location: SDCC Rm 6DE
Theme: Theme D – Neuroimmunity, Neurovasculature, and Neural Injury
Advances in in vivo imaging and cerebrovascular disease are tightly connected. This symposium will highlight new advancements in in vivo imaging technologies and their impact on cerebrovascular disease. Specifically, the speakers will focus on new developments in Ultrafast fluorescence, awake multiphoton, 2P- widefield localization-OCT, and intrinsic optical imaging of the neurovascular unit and how they contribute to understanding vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID).
Computational Approaches to Understand Emergence of Human Brain Dynamics Across Spatial and Temporal Scales — Satu Palva
Chair: Satu Palva, PhDInstitution: University of Helsinki
Co-Chair: Dimitri Van De Ville, PhD
Institution: Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 19, 2–4:30 p.m.
Location: SDCC Rm 6B
Theme: Theme J – Techniques
Complex emergent dynamics across spatial and temporal scales sustain cognition, behavior, and their variability. Yet, mechanisms giving rise to and constraining these dynamics at the individual level are poorly understood. This symposium will highlight recent advances in computational frameworks and new techniques that enable a better understanding of the emergence of multi-scale brain dynamics including graph signal processing and network decomposition methods, brain criticality, and digital brain twins.
High-Order Thalamic Nuclei in Behavior — Randy Bruno
Chair: Randy Bruno, PhDInstitution: University of Oxford
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 19, 2–4:30 p.m.
Location: SDCC Rm 6A
Theme: Theme E – Sensory Systems
Decades of thalamus research have focused intensely on the function of first-order sensory nuclei that transmit sensory information to the cortex. However, sensory cortical areas are reciprocally connected with high-order thalamic nuclei, the functions of which have been elusive. This session will present work across multiple modalities — audition, somatosensation, and vision — as well as frontal decision-making of the mouse, suggesting new ideas regarding roles in cognitive state and learning.
