Young Neuroscientists Gather in Bern for the 6th Annual Early-Career Researchers Symposium

August 16, 2024 – University of Bern

The 6th Annual Early-Career Researchers Symposium, held on August 16, 2024, at the University of Bern, brought together 80 early-career neuroscientists from Switzerland for a day of presentations, workshops, and networking. The event featured 10 talks from PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, 32 poster presentations, and a keynote lecture "Your Brain on Sleep!" from Professor Antoine Adamantidis, who outlined his research career and described the impact of sleep circuits on memory and cognition.

Showcasing Emerging Neuroscience Research

The symposium highlighted a range of research topics in neuroscience across Swiss universities. Alexander Tesmer from ETH Zurich won the Best Talk Award for his presentation on how orexin neurons mediate temptation resistant voluntary exercise. Benjamin Combes, from the University of Zurich , received the Best Poster Award for his work on spinal cord perfusion impairments in the M83 mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Workshops: Enhancing Skills and Awareness

Three interactive workshops were held:

  1. Pitch Perfect: Mastering Your Communication Skills (Dr. Barbara Hellermann) – Focused on improving researchers’ ability to communicate research ideas effectively.

  2. Practical Tips for DeepLabCut Markerless Tracking (Niels Poulsen) – Provided hands-on guidance for using DeepLabCut software for tracking animal behaviour.

  3. Gender Bias in Swiss Faculty Hires (Prof. Tania Barkat) – Addressed gender disparities in academia and strategies for promoting equality.

This event was supported by the Swiss Society for Neuroscience. A special thanks goes also to our sponsor Roche, which featured a lecture on research in the company, Nikon for sponsoring the Best Talk Award, ANTneuro and Microsynth for their financial support, and Prof. Thomas Nevian and the University of Bern for providing the venue.

Looking Ahead

The 7th Annual Early Researcher Symposium is set to take place in Lausanne on 6th February 2025, promising further opportunities for young neuroscientists in Switzerland to connect, share, and advance their research. It will be followed by the Swiss Society for Neuroscience annual meeting on 7. February 2025.

Text written by Junchao Hu (ySSN)