YSS24YSS2408:15 – 09:00 Registration
09:00 – 09:15 Welcome Words from ISTA President
09:15 – 10:15 Varun Venkataramani – The cancer neuroscience of brain-tumour networks
10:25 – 10:45 First Set of Parallel Talks
10:45 – 11:30 Coffee Break + Posters
11:30 – 12:30 Fabrizio de Vico Fallani – Network neuroscience for brain-computer interfaces
12:40 – 13:00 Second Set of Parallel Talks
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:00 Manon Sabot – Novel climate spaces: keeping sight of both the forests and the trees
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break + Posters
15:30 – 16:30 Ileana-Cristina Benea-Chelmus – New avenues in classical and quantum science using integrated photonics
16:30 – 17:30 Round Table – The future of research and development: trends and technologies
17:45 – 18:00 Closing Words
18:00 – 20:00 Social Gathering
Varun Venkataramani
Glioblastomas are among the most aggressive and therapeutically resistant brain tumours, characterized by their integration into complex neuron-tumour networks. This talk will explore how glioblastomas form intricate multicellular networks. These networks not only facilitate robust functional communication across the brain but also significantly contribute to tumor growth and therapy resistance. Establishing and utilizing Cancer Neuroscience-driven technology platforms, this presentation will detail how glioblastoma cells integrate into neural circuits, with glutamatergic and cholinergic neurons playing a pivotal role in promoting tumour invasion and growth.
Fabrizio de Vico Fallani
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) offer transformative potential for neurorehabilitation, communication, and cognitive enhancement. However, their effectiveness is limited by an incomplete understanding of how brain networks encode complex cognitive functions and adapt to BCI interaction. In this keynote, I will explore how network neuroscience, which models the brain as a complex web of interconnected nodes, can be leveraged to enhance BCI technologies.
Manon Sabot
Ecosystems worldwide are facing unprecedented threats from climate change. On land, increases in the intensity, frequency, and duration droughts and heatwaves could drive future mass forest die-back. Whilst alarming, this risk incurred by forests is challenging to assess. Fortunately, ecologists and plant ecophysiologists have spent the past decades setting up ecosystem observatories, roaming the field, and experimenting on plants in greenhouses, thus amassing a trove of empirical observations. In this talk, I will discuss how we are now exploiting these data to highlight behavioural patterns shared by different tree species, rule out old hypotheses that appeared right for the wrong reasons, propose more coherent holistic theories, and identify areas in need of continued research. My examples will draw on observations recorded at a variety of scales, from the leaf to landscape level, and take you through different ecosystems on different continents.
Ileana-Cristina Benea-Chelmus
Modern communication, computing and sensing technologies rely on developing miniaturized solutions that allow combining the best of optical and microwave domain. Terahertz technologies, spanning increased frequencies from 100 GHz to 10 THz, are critical for providing larger bandwidths and faster switching capabilities, but their development presents significant challenges. A promising approach is to generate, modulate and detect terahertz signals by leveraging on the telecom frequency band, which offers laser sources with minimal phase fluctuations and optical detectors that operate at the fundamental quantum limit, ultimately providing exquisite noise performance. Developing such technologies is instrumental for metrology, for example in quantum sensing. In this lecture, we will explore how the latest integrated photonic platforms can combine the best of photonics with the best of electronics. We will conclude by imagining tomorrow’s hybrid circuits with applications in classical and quantum realms by surpassing current technologies in sensitivity, power-efficiency, versatility, and complexity.
