Neuroscience R&D Technologies Conference organized by MnM Conferences, held on 3 – 4 December 2015 in Spain at the Hotel Pullman Barcelona Skipper was a huge success with global neuroscience experts attending the conference. The two – day conference presented a platform for all the stakeholders to discuss, brainstorm and find answers to the ongoing questions and challenges in neuroscience research. Presenting their latest products and solutions were organizations such as SynAging SAS, NeuroProof GmbH, NeuroCode AG, Axiogenesis AG, Nanion Technologies GmbH, Neurostar, FUJIFILM VisualSonics and Syncrosome.
Anirvan Ghosh, Vice President, Global Head of Neuroscience Discovery & Biomarkers, Roche – Switzerland kicked – off day one with his keynote presentation on ‘New trends in Neuroscience Drug Discovery’. Anirvan talking about the significance of this conference said, “This was an important meeting as it brought together leaders from industry and academia to discuss current challenges in Neuroscience drug discovery and how new technologies could contribute to potential solutions.” Echoing his thoughts, Chairperson of the conference, Georg Terstappen, Director and Head of Biology Department, Neuroscience Discovery – AbbVie, Germany said, ”The Neuroscience R&D Technologies Conference in Barcelona brought together experts in the field to discuss the latest advancements of established and new enabling technologies addressing key challenges in the field of CNS drug development. The agenda covered a broad spectrum of topics ranging from Neuroinformatics to Translational Imaging. The vivid mix of plenary talks and panel discussions with plenty of opportunities for networking completed the first edition of this new conference. Looking forward to the next number”.
Key topics of discussion at the conference included computational models informing diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases, imaging for decision making in drug discovery and translational neuroscience, using oxygen amperometry to enhance the translation of in vivo studies for neuroscience drug discovery, how the CNS adapts to new technologies and cultural inventions in health and disease and role of epigenetics in neurodegenerative disease in general and development of LSD1 inhibitors in particular. The panel discussions at the conference were a huge with many key issues and developments being discussed. This gave the attendees a chance to not only stay updated with the latest industry advancements but also look to incorporate these in their own organizations. The panel discussions covered topics such as, translational imaging technologies helping early go/no-go decisions in drug development programs, leadership perspective on the future of neuroscience research, advances in translational animal models driving neuroscience research and the big ‘Brain Research’ question – can a brain model ever be as good as data?
Supported by the European Society for Neurochemistry (ESN), Malaysian Society of Neurosciences, Parkinson Italia and Spanish Federation of Parkinson, the conference saw attendees from organizations such as Roche, Eli Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squib, University of Pompeu Fabra, Imperial College of London, Pierre Fabre, Proximagen, Stoelting, Boston Scientific, Cajal Institute, The Hebrew University, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, H. Lundbeck, University Hospital Munster and reMYND among others. Rafal Kaminski, Senior Director Neuroscience TA – UCB Biopharma, Belgium, was happy with the agenda of the conference and said, “The Neuroscience R&D Technologies Conference provided a wonderful forum to learn about the latest experimental techniques. There was a good mix of speakers and attendees with different backgrounds coming from industry and academia as well as contract research organizations. The discussions were very stimulating and engaging, providing great networking opportunities”. Riding on the huge success of the inaugural conference, MnM Conferences will be back with the second edition the same time next year.