This report was written by Dr. Kotaro Furusawa, Dr. Takayuki Hashimoto, Dr. Yi-Yuan Huang, Dr. Irena Lovcevic & Dr. Shota Murai.
Summary
Date: December 17, 2024
Venue: Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS), Pisa, Italy
The first joint international symposium was held at the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) in Tuscany, Italy, to promote academic exchange and international collaboration between IRCN and SNS. The symposium was held in the historic lecture hall of the Palazzo della Carovana, a building with over 460 years of history, where we can feel the long history of academic activities. Both IRCN and SNS are world-renowned for their research in neuroscience. The symposium brought together researchers at different career stage from diverse fields and presented studies on both humans and animal models, as well as basic and clinical neuroscience, providing an opportunity for fruitful cross-disciplinary discussions.
Highlights
During the lectures, three themes related to neurodiversity—(1) plasticity and perception, (2) interoception and computation, and (3) novel etiologies and treatments—were presented by representatives from Italian research groups and IRCN. In particular, the talks from Italy began with a presentation by Professor Tommaso Pizzorusso, who talked about whole-brain analyses of perineuronal nets, which are essential structures involved in plasticity. This was followed by a wide range of topics, including functional changes in the human brain’s visual system investigated using 7T MRI, the impact of cochlear implants in individuals with congenital deafness, the effects of high-fat diets on brain function, methods for estimating state spaces dynamics of neural activity, and brain function in the creatine deficiency syndrome. In addition to these talks, there was a poster session on related studies, which elicited lively discussions with local researchers and explorations of possible collaborative projects.
Before and after the lectures, participants visited four research institutions—San Cataldo Hospital-CNR, SNS, the University of Pisa, and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna—guided by local researchers. At CNR, the IRCN researchers toured clinical facilities featuring MRI and PET scanners, as well as setups for cell biology/physiology studies including fluorescence microscopes. Remarkable establishment at CNR is the Brain Gym, intervention-based research facility providing group-based cognitive activities and exercises for older adults with mild cognitive impairment, which already shows amazing results for reversing the cognitive decline. This allowed gaining insight into dementia intervention research in Italy, a country experiencing an aging population rate similar to Japan, but also a country with comparable number of centenarians (especially at Sardinia) to Japan (Okinawa). At SNS, the stately buildings once used by the order of knights are now home to a learning environment, which left a strong impression on students’ diligence. Moreover, at the University of Pisa, they were able to see the study once used by Giuseppe Moruzzi—a pioneer in sleep research—along with historic collections of books. Finally, a visit to Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna showcased bioengineering research involving robotics and biosensors. Through these tours, participants gained a deep appreciation for Pisa’s rich history of research and its current innovative works.
Outcomes and Feedback
Through our visit to Pisa—long recognized as a major hub of research since the time of Galileo—we gained firsthand insight into the passion of local researchers and the diversity of their work. These qualities resonate with IRCN’s commitment to integrating multiple research fields. Indeed, the presentations spanned a wide range of topics, from child developmental studies to intervention experiments with adult clinical populations, as well as physiological research on rodents and insects. Despite this diversity of talks, certain aspects—such as the focus on neuronal plasticity, parvalbumin neurons, energy landscape analysis, and predictive coding—bridged disciplinary and national boundaries, suggesting ample opportunities for future collaborations. For example, several early-career IRCN researchers were particularly interested in Professor Paola Binda’s work on how human brain responses changed progressively following short-term monocular deprivation. They had discussions with Professor Binda and her team towards potential new investigations collaborating with animal studies and computational models. Building the connections made during this visit, we hope to continue strengthening ties with researchers in Pisa and contribute to advancing research in both Japan and Italy. Additionally, discussion with Professor Davide Bottari, IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, and his team, focused on research with infants and children, particularly children with congenital hearing loss and provided an opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas in conducting research with infants and young children between his lab and IRCN research with infants.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Drs. Michela Fagiolini, Tommaso Pizzorusso, Michele Emdin, Paola Binda, Maria Concetta Morrone, Eleonora Russo, and everyone from SNS, CNR, the University of Pisa, and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna for helping to organize this symposium.
