Seminars
Future Seminars
Prof. Simone-Shamay-Tsoory
University of Haifa
Inter-Brain Plasticity Underlies the Development of Social Connectedness
:Abstract
In recent years, inter-brain synchrony has been increasingly recognized as a fundamental mechanism underlying various forms of social connectedness during interactions. In a recent study using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) we demonstrated that inter-brain synchrony between clients and psychotherapists dynamically changes in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) over the course of psychotherapy. However, it remains unclear whether inter-brain synchrony can be actively trained and whether such training translates into increased social connectedness and empathy.
To address this question, we developed a dyadic neurofeedback platform using fNIRS to provide real-time feedback targeting the IFG. Ninety-two participants were randomly assigned into dyads and allocated to either an experimental group or a control group. The training consisted of three sessions over one week.
Results revealed that ratings of social connectedness increased more steeply in the experimental group compared to the control group. Crucially, a significant group-by-session interaction was observed in the IFG, such that the experimental group exhibited a progressive increase in IFG synchrony relative to baseline across sessions, whereas the control group showed no significant change in inter-brain synchrony. This evidence advances our understanding of inter-brain plasticity and highlights its potential applications in fostering socio-emotional well-being.
Monday, April 7th, 2025, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Omer Revah
HUJI
Using stem cells to build a model of the human cortex in vivo
Abstract:
Stem cell-derived brain organoids offer new opportunities to model human brain development and disease. However, one major drawback of these tissue cultures is that they invariably fail to properly mature when maintained in vitro. This talk will focus on our recent studies demonstrating that cortical organoid transplantation into newborn rats can be used to model late stages of human cortical development. It will show that human cortical organoids transplanted into the brain of newborn rats display advanced transcriptional, morphological and functional properties, which resemble those of postnatal human cells, and that advanced maturation enables discovery of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD)-associated neuronal phenotypes. I will also show a novel graft platform which contains both excitatory and inhibitory populations, enabling the study of complex electrophysiological NDDs cortical circuit phenotypes. Finally, I will discuss how these platforms offer new opportunities to test gene therapies in an in vivo context.
Monday, April 21st, 2025, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Past Seminars
Dr. David Zada
Institute: UCSD
:Abstract
Flocks of birds and schools of fish form large collectives to navigate and explore their environments as cohesive units. These collective behaviors emerge as a result of individual interaction rules, including short-range avoidance, long-range attraction, and alignment with nearest neighbors. While these behavioral parameters are well-defined, the neuronal circuits and genetic background that control these behaviors remain somewhat elusive. Collective movement typically emerges as animals develop and mature, requiring the study of related neural circuits not only in juvenile stages, but in adult animals as well. A promising model system for such studies is Danionella cerebrum, an emerging model for neurobiology and behavior that remains small and optically accessible throughout life, and exhibits visually-based schooling in the lab. I will present our findings identifying the developmental steps of schooling in maturing Danionella, with a focus on the maturation of social interactions and neural encoding of biological motion. I will also discuss our efforts to identify genetic mechanisms regulating collective movement in Danionella. These studies provide insight into the developmental basis of collective behavior, advancing our understanding of the neural and genetic mechanisms that enable coordinated group movement
Monday, November 11th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Chemistry Building (# 43)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Prof. Yoav Gothilf
Tel Aviv University - School of Biochemistry Neurobiology Biophysics
:Abstract
Animal fitness largely depends on its ability to perform certain behaviors and physiological processes at particular times of the daily cycle. Such temporal regulation is mainly the outcome of an internal timing mechanism known as the circadian clock. In fish, and other non-mammalian vertebrates, the pineal gland contains an intrinsic circadian oscillator that drives the circadian rhythms of its hormonal signal (melatonin), and has been considered a key element in the circadian system. Employing a dominant-negative strategy we generated a transgenic zebrafish line in which the molecular clock is selectively blocked in the melatonin-producing cells of the pineal gland. As a result, clock-controlled rhythms of melatonin production in the adult pineal gland were disrupted and the rhythmic expression pattern of the majority of clock-controlled genes in the adult pineal gland was abolished. Importantly, the amplitude of behavioral rhythms was substantially reduced, but not completely eliminated. Thus, the pineal clock plays a key role in modulating circadian rhythms of behavior, but it is not the only regulatory component. To determine the role of other tissues in the circadian clock system and the hierarchal relationship among them, we are currently employing the same dominant-negative transgenic approach to block the clock at other tissues and cell types
Monday, November 18th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Prof. Tatyana Sharpee
Salk Institute
How neural manifolds change with learning
:Abstract
Tatyana will describe results showing that neural responses in the hippocampus have a low-dimensional hyperbolic geometry and that their hyperbolic size is optimized for the number of available neurons. It was also possible to analyze how neural representations change with experience. In particular, neural representations continued to be described by a low-dimensional hyperbolic geometry as the animal explored the environment but the radius increased logarithmically with time. This time dependence matches the maximal rate of information acquisition by a maximum entropy discrete Poisson process, further implying that neural representations continue to perform optimally as they change with experience
Monday, November 18th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Omer Bar-Yosef
Sheba Medical Center
Distinct Protein Expression in Umbilical Cord Blood of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder
:Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition with high heritability. Genetic factors are associated with the autistic phenotype in 30–40% of children diagnosed with ASD. Despite substantial advances in genetic research, the precise cause of ASD remains unclear, suggesting that environmental factors may also play a crucial role. Stressors such as ischemia, maternal immune activation (MIA), and toxins have been linked to the development of ASD, either through direct effects on the brain or by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. These processes, in turn, are associated with perturbations in neuronal differentiation, potentially disrupting synaptic protein function and impairing neural circuit formation.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-surrounded nanovesicles routinely excreted by cells, containing proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and metabolites, and play a role in cell-to-cell communication. EVs mainly originate from the Golgi system, ER, or, to a lesser extent, direct exocytosis from cellular or mitochondrial membranes. The content of EVs extracted from plasma reflects physiological processes occurring in body tissues, including the brain. Thus, disrupted processes, in the brain, characteristic of ASD may be evident in their protein profiles.
Monday, December 2nd, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Maya Maor-Nof
Technion
Mechanisms governing neuronal and axonal degeneration
:Abstract
The most common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a GGGGCC repeat expansion in the C9orf72 gene. We developed a platform to interrogate the chromatin accessibility landscape and transcriptional program within neurons during degeneration. We provide evidence that neurons expressing the dipeptide repeat protein poly(proline-arginine), translated from the C9orf72 repeat expansion, activate a highly specific transcriptional program, exemplified by a single transcription factor, p53. Ablating p53 in mice completely rescued neurons from degeneration and markedly increased survival in a C9orf72 mouse model. p53 reduction increased survival of C9orf72 ALS/FTD-patient-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived motor neurons. Together, this demonstrates a neurodegenerative mechanism dynamically regulated through transcription-factor-binding events and provides a framework to apply chromatin accessibility and transcription program profiles to neurodegeneration.
Monday, December 9th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Prof. Kobi Rosenblum
UOH
Anterior-Posterior Insula Circuit Mediates Retrieval of a Conditioned Immune Response in Mice
:Abstract
Monday, December 16th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Ori Plonsky
Technion
Predicting human choice
:Abstract
Monday, December 23rd, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Prof. Oded Behar
HUJI
Glial Dynamics in Neurological Trauma and Disease: From Semaphorin Signaling to Pediatric Gliomas
:Abstract
Monday, December 30th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Prof. Yaniv Assaf
TAU
Evolution and plasticity of the Brain connectome
:Abstract
Monday, January 6th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Alex Davidov
BGU
Limbic-Related Neurofeedback to Improve Emotional Regulation under Military Stress
:Abstract
Monday, January 13th, 2024, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Ido Tavor
TAU
Relating Activity and Connectivity in the Learning Brain
:Abstract
Brain activity while performing tasks is closely related to connectivity. Using machine learning we show that connectivity patterns obtained from resting-state scans predict individual differences in brain activation in healthy individuals and psychiatric patients. We further demonstrate that models can be generalized across datasets sites MRI vendors and age groups suggesting that it may be possible to train a model using publicly available datasets and test on smaller ‘boutique’ datasets. Next we show that task-activation maps predicted from functional connectivity can be used to predict individual traits. Therefore predicted task-activation may serve as a novel representation of connectivity that may enhance brain-behavior associations. Finally activity and connectivity are not fixed but undergo modifications following learning. In a series of studies we examined the relations between task-activation and functional connectivity and the predictability of the former from the latter in the learning brain. Participants underwent scans before and after either a piano training or a sign-language course. We show learning-induced modifications in connectivity and activity and their associations with one another and with performance. We conclude that connectivity and task-induced activity may share a common neural representation and that connectivity may play a mechanistic role in brain activity and behavior
Monday, January 20th, 2025, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Prof. Uri Ashery
TAU
Title
:Abstract
Monday, January 27th, 2025, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Rotem Botvinik-Nezer
HUJI
Understanding and enhancing placebo effects: from mechanisms to personalized treatments
:Abstract
Placebo effects demonstrate the powerful influence of beliefs on health outcomes, yet their underlying mechanisms remain only partially understood. In this talk, I will explore how placebo effects shape pain perception, how treatment beliefs are shaped, and how personalization may enhance placebo responses. By integrating insights from neuroscience, cognitive science, and computational modeling, I aim to deepen our understanding of placebo mechanisms and explore novel ways to harness them for improved treatment outcomes.
Monday, March 24th, 2025, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
Dr. Lior Mayo
TAU
Targeting Brain-infiltrating myeloid cells in neuroinflammation
Monday, March 31st, 2025, at 12:10 p.m.
In Auditorium 015, the Nano Building (# 51)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Gad Vatine
Tel: 08-6495229
Email: vatineg@bgu.ac.il
