The Institute for Neuroscience has held the 2nd Workshop of the Neurobiology of Pain and Inflammation Scientific Program

2 de October de 2023

• More than twenty experts from the national and international scene have shared the latest advances in axonal degeneration and regeneration mechanisms.

The scientific program Neurobiology of Pain and Inflammation from the Institute for Neuroscience (IN), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), has organized the scientific workshop ‘Inflammation, Degeneration and Regeneration in the Peripheral Nervous System’. This is the program's second meeting and was held on September 28 and 29 in the IN Assembly Hall, located in the Santiago Ramón y Cajal building on the Sant Joan d'Alacant campus.

These meetings aim to establish and consolidate networks between different research groups, both national and foreign, that work on this topic of great clinical relevance since peripheral nerve injuries are very common and are associated with significant functional disability. More than 70 researchers at different stages of their professional careers participated in the meeting.

During the meeting, more than twenty experts from research centers in different parts of the world shared the latest advances in axonal degeneration and regeneration mechanisms, as well as the fundamental role of glia in axon repair mechanisms. In addition, the interaction between the immune system and the nervous system and its role in demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and other pathologies, was discussed.

Likewise, PhD students from the IN had the opportunity to present their doctoral thesis work. In this regard, Félix Viana de la Iglesia, director of the Neurobiology of Pain and Inflammation Scientific Program, points out that: “These types of initiatives represent a great opportunity for young researchers to present the results of their latest research to high-level academic experts”.

On behalf of the Institute of Neurosciences, there were presentations by the researchers Jorge Fernández Trillo and Francisco Peralta, both from the Sensory Transduction and Nociception laboratory, which Viana directs together with Elvira de la Peña and Ana Gomis; Víctor Meseguer, who co-leads the Ocular Neurobiology laboratory; Hugo Cabedo, who directs the laboratory Molecular control of axonal myelination, and Andrés Fuentes, from the same laboratory; Francisco Gracia, from the Cell Plasticity in Development and Disease group, led by Berta López Sánchez-Laorden and Ángela Nieto; and Chiara Nappi, who belongs to the Wiring and Function of Somatosensory Circuits laboratory, led by Francisco José Taberner.

Throughout the two days, prominent speakers took part, such as Matthias Endres (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany), who works on neurotoxicity of the peripheral nervous system induced by anticancer compounds; Michael Coleman (University of Cambridge, UK), an expert in the molecular mechanisms of axonal damage, and its implication in different pathologies; Carlos Matute, elected president of the Spanish Society of Neurosciences (SENC) and director of the Neurobiology Laboratory in Achucarro, Basque Center for Neuroscience (Vizcaya); or Laura Calvo, whose research at the Institute of Neurosciences of Castilla y León and the University of Salamanca focuses on glia cells; among others.

The researchers from the Institute of Neurosciences Elvira de la Peña, José Antonio Gómez Sánchez, Alerie Guzmán de la Fuente, and Francisco José Taberner completed, together with Félix Viana de la Iglesia, the organizing committee of this scientific meeting.

The organization of this workshop has been possible thanks to the support of the Institute for Neurosciences, the 'TRILOGY' and 'CORNER2' projects of the PROMETEO Program of the Generalitat Valenciana, the companies Fisher Scientific, QUIMA (Química y Medio Ambiente S.L.), Leica, the spin-off of the UMH science park Prospera Biotech, and the pharmaceutical company Grünenthal.

More information on the attached program (PDF file).

Source: Instituto de Neurociencias CSIC-UMH (in.comunicación@umh.es).