The tenth edition of the BRAINN Congress was celebrated in 2024, held from April 3rd to 5th, 2024, in the auditoriums of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). The event was organized by the Brazilian Research Institute on Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), a Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Center (RICD) at FAPESP.

This year, more than 180 researchers, students, and attendees participated in the event, which featured 123 submitted works. These works will be published in the Journal of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology.

International scientists lectured throughout the 3-day event. Dr. Mariana Bento, an assistant professor at the Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, discussed the use of machine learning to improve brain imaging. Dr. Matthias Van Osch, a professor of experimental cerebrovascular imaging at Leiden University in the Netherlands, presented non-invasive strategies for obtaining brain images. From Brazil, Dr. Daniel Papoti, an adjunct professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Federal University of ABC, lectured on radiofrequency coil technologies for brain imaging.

Also participating in the event were BRAINN researchers Dr. Fernando Cendes, Dr. Gabriela Castellano, Dr. Iscia Lopes-Cendes, and Dr. Lília Freire Li, with lectures on various topics in neuroscience. The presentations explored topics ranging from the panorama of genetic research in epilepsy over the past 30 years (Iscia) to brain changes post-rehabilitation training (Gabriela) and the challenges and controversies in classroom learning (Lília).

Awards

Each edition, the Congress awards students and researchers with the Best Paper Awards, in the categories “Oral Presentations” and “Poster Presentations”. Check out the list of winners of the 10th edition below:

Oral Session Winners

Undergraduate:

• Mariana L. Han (Faculdade de Medicina da USP) – Insights into Post-COVID Anosmia: unraveling neural alterations through 7T MRI and DTI analysis of olfactory pathways
• Vitor A. Oya (UNICAMP) – Seed-based functional connectivity changes in elderly subjects playing serious games

Master’s:

• Rodrigo M. C. Carvalho (Federal University of ABC) – A Novel Method to Investigate Neurodevelopment Using Ising Temperature and Graph Neural Networks

Doctorate:

• Rafael Batista João (UNICAMP) – Comparisons between traditional and brief, and ultra-brief anxiety and depression inventories in people with epilepsy

Post-Doctorate:

• Gabriel Chaves de Melo (UNICAMP) – Timing Investigation of EEG Functional Connectivity Changes During a Motor Imagery Task

Poster Session Winners

Undergraduate:

• Lucas F. Teodosio (Unicamp) – Analysis of the Neural Correlates of Problem Solving in Physics Measured with Functional Near-Infrared
• Thierry K. Alves Silva Souza (Unicamp) – Hypothalamic Changes and Post-COVID Symptoms

Master’s:

• Caetano Ternes Coimbra (UNICAMP) – Exploring the relationship between physiological and inertial characteristics in induced tremor events

Doctorate:

• Ricardo Brioschi (Unicamp) – Persistent seizures modify supra and infratentorial Gray Matter in Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy

Post-Doctorate:

• Kauê T. N. Duarte (University of Calgary) – Exploratory Prenatal Alcohol Exposure classification in infants using brain MR: 3D Convolutional Neural Networks assisted by Data Augmentation

APRIL 04TH TO APRIL 06TH, 2022

You can now submit your abstract to the 8th BRAINN Congress! Find out all the details on the event’s official website.

SPEAKERS

www.brainncongress.com

We would like to inform you that the 7th BRAINN Congress will be held virtually from the 25th to the 27th of January, 2021. For more information, please contact brainncongress@gmail.com.

The registration fee, for those who have not yet confirmed the payment, can be checked at:

https://registration.galoa.com.br/br/realm/7th-brainn/dashboard/attendee

About

The 7th BRAINN Congress will be held in Campinas, SP, Brazil, from March 30th to April 1st, 2020, with pre-congress courses from March 27th to 29th, 2020.

The BRAINN congress aims to gather researchers and students (both at graduate and undergraduate levels) working in neuroscience, neurotechnology, and related fields. The main goal is to foster stronger communication and collaborations, in order to reach high quality research standards.

The Congress is an initiative of project BRAINN (Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology), which is a Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC) of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). BRAINN congregates researchers from several areas (neurology, physics, biology, electrical engineering, psychology, computer science, physical education, among others), coming mainly from University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and from Center of Information Technology Renato Archer (CTI), which is a federal center of research and development; but also from other Brazilian institutions, such as Federal University of ABC, Federal University of São Paulo, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul; as well as some foreign institutions, such as University of Montreal and University College London.

As the name implies, project BRAINN focuses on basic science research on neuroscience, coupled with the development of technologies that can assist in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of neurological diseases, mainly but not restricted to, epilepsy and stroke.

The 7th BRAINN Congress is open to attendants from any research groups that have an interest in exchanging information and experiences with BRAINN participants.

Pre-congress courses will be announced shortly.

Organization

Organizing Committee

• Clarissa Lin Yasuda – Medical Sciences School, UNICAMP
• Fernando Cendes – Medical Sciences School, UNICAMP
• Gabriela Castellano – Institute of Physics Gleb Wataghin, UNICAMP
• Li Li Min – Medical Sciences School, UNICAMP
• Marcio Luiz Figueredo Balthazar – Medical Sciences School, UNICAMP

Executive secretaries

• Andréa Ismara de Araújo Ruas
• Lilian Cristina dos Santos Costa Capelli
• Sônia Neves Romeu Silva

Scientific Committee

• Adriel Santos Moraes
• Ana Carolina Coan
• Barbara Henning Silva
• Brunno Machado de Campos
• Carlos Alberto Stefano Filho
• Cláudia Vianna Maurer Morelli
• Diogo Coutinho Soriano
• Elayne Dias
• Gabriela Castellano
• Harlei Leite
• Leonardo Abdala Elias
• Leticia Rittner
• Luciana Pimentel-Silva
• Marcio Luiz Figueredo Balthazar
• Mariana Pinheiro Bento
• Marina Alvim
• Mateus Nogueira
• Rachel Guimarães
• Raphael Fernandes Casseb
• Rodrigo Secolin
• Sara Regina Almeida
• Sarah Negreiros de Carvalho
• ​Thiago Junqueira Ribeiro de Rezende

April 29th 2019  | originally published at Agência FAPESP

Maria Fernanda Ziegler | Agência FAPESP – Researchers in Australia are developing implantable electronic devices for patients with epilepsy. The goal is to predict seizures, identify the pattern of seizure frequency, and even release medications to prevent further episodes. The devices are not yet marketable, but some of them are already being tested in humans.

Epilepsy affects about 1% of the world’s population, and yet it is still shrouded in stigma and mystery. In it, for some genetic or environmental reason, a group of brain cells becomes extremely active, to the point of making the electrical signals completely disorganized. This mismatch often culminates in loss of memory and convulsions.

“Epilepsy is not a rare disease and has many effects on people’s lives. Therefore, the patient needs to know that it is an electrical problem in the brain that can be predicted, monitored and treated. This takes away all the mystery of the disease which, to the unhappiness of patients, is shrouded in ignorance and superstition”, said Australian scientist Mark Cook, a professor at the University of Melbourne and director of the Department of Neurology at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Australia.

The researcher participated, in April, in the 6th BRAINN Congress, at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). The event was conducted by the Research Institute on Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN) – a Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (CEPID) funded by FAPESP.

In his speech, Cook presented the new devices that, according to him, could give greater quality of life to people with epilepsy in the future. He also talked about the latest results of his research on patterns of seizures in patients with the disease.

“Each patient has a specific pattern [of seizures] – we have already proven that. Imagine, then, being able to predict when you will have one of those episodes? People could protect themselves by staying home and being accompanied, rather than engaging in some risk activity on that particular day”, Cook told Agência FAPESP.

The new devices are aimed primarily at anticipating the onset of a seizure and are being developed by the Bionics Institute through a partnership between the University of Melbourne and St. Vincent’s Hospital. The institute has donations and funds, such as the one received on the television program The Shark Tank Miami (USA) – in which Cook competed and won in a special edition on epilepsy in 2015.

Prediction

“There are two ways to detect a seizure. In one of them, it is possible to read the brain signal and detect the electrical signature that occurs before it happens. Another way is to monitor the seizures for a certain period and identify a pattern. As soon as this pattern is established, the prediction becomes very accurate”, he said.

In the first case – detecting brain electrical signals -, implantable devices that can deliver drugs are being developed. One of them was implanted two years ago in a patient in Australia, who has so far responded well to the treatment.

Researchers are also developing an equipment with implantable electrodes to apply electroshock treatment – which is another way of treating epilepsy, besides medications and surgery – but there is still no human test prediction.

To monitor seizures in order to identify patterns, devices have been developed to be inserted under the scalp or behind the ear (such as cochlear implants for the deaf).

“We realized that, if we could count the seizures reliably, it would be possible to identify each patient’s monthly, weekly, or daily patterns. This would make it safer for patients to perform everyday activities and avoid embarrassment”, said the researcher.

Based on comprehensive databases (from the SeizureTracker and NeuroVista applications), Cook and his team identified striking periodicities between one seizure and another. According to the study, more than 80% of patients had one-day intervals between seizures. Cycles of one week or three weeks or more have also been observed.

“Understanding these patterns can have significant implications for managing people’s lives and predicting crises. Typically, patients are encouraged to write journals or use cell phone applications to track the seizures. However, this has proven to be very imprecise, as seizures can cause memory loss and unconsciousness. Many times, the patient does not realize that there was a small lapse”, Cook explained.

Much more accurate than the journals, implantable devices can be used for a long time, making it possible to cross information with external conditions that may be related to seizures, such as temperature, air humidity or even stress, food and medication. Clinical testing for this device should begin in the second half of 2019. According to Cook, all devices were designed for the study of epilepsy cases, but could also be used for other conditions, such as controlling the blood sugar of diabetics, for example.

Pre-congress mini-courses

April 06th to 08th 2018

• Registration NOT INCLUDED in Congress registration
• Registration charge: R$ 10,00 – Direct payment via cash or check can be made at the Laboratório de Neuroimagem (Magnetic Resonance Department, second floor of the Hospital de Clínicas at UNICAMP) from 8:30am until 04:30pm, for secretaries Sônia and Lilian.

BRAINN VR Symposium – Virtual Reality and Neurofunctional Recovery

• Coordinator: Alexandre Brandão
  Date/Time: 06/04/2018 – 9:00 to 17:00
  Place: Incamp Auditorium – Technology Center
• Maximum number of students: 20

Acquisition and processing of NIRS data

• Coordinator: Rickson Coelho Mesquita
  Date/Time: April 06 and 07
  Place: Medical Physics Lab (HC)
• Maximum number of students: 16

V Workshop of the Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine – Free registration.

• Coordinator: Iscia Lopes-Cendes
  Date/Time: 07/04/2018 – 9:00 to 13:00
  Place: Salão Nobre (FCM)
• Maximum number of students: 100

PROGRAM

Click on the image to see a bigger version

April 13th, 2017     By Ricardo Schinaider – Redação WebContent

Controlling robots using animal brains may seem like science fiction, but it was a topic that interested Nathalia Peixoto as early as graduation.

Nathalia studied Electrical Engineering, but her curiosity and fascination with other areas of knowledge led her to explore several laboratories at Unicamp, where she studied. From March 27 to 29, 2017, Nathalia returned to the University to participate as a guest speaker at the IV BRAINN Congress. In an interview for the RICD´s website, she told us a bit about her career and highlighted the fundamental role that interdisciplinarity has in Academics.

INTERDISCIPLINARITY IN THE CENTER OF STUDIES

“I did scientific initiations in Mathematics, Biology and even in Linguistics“, recalls the scientist. “I was interested in everything. I would take my bicycle and ride through all the institutes. And I believe that these experiences gave me a different view than that a person who, for example, did only scientific initiation in Electrical Engineering. ”

I was interested in everything. I would take my bicycle and ride through all the institutes.

Researcher Nathalia Peixoto, one of the invited scientists at the 4th BRAINN Congress

Among all the areas that she played with, Nathalia chose Biomedical Engineering to take her Master’s degree. The choice came not only from the desire to unite brains and machines, but also because “there are a lot of neurological problems still unsolved, and I thought that Electrical Engineering could help bring some clarity to many of them,” she recalls.

In her Master’s project, the researcher used engineering tools to study models of migraine. Thus, the interdisciplinarity that marked her graduation continued to accompany her career, both in the doctorate at USP and postdoctoral at Stanford, and today it continues to be present in her research laboratory at George Mason University, in the United States. The research lines addressed by the laboratory are varied, but always seek to find a link between electrical engineering and neuroscience.

“I develop projects with my students related to voice-controlled wheelchairs, measurement of neurotransmitters in the brain and study of addiction: how to form and whether it is possible to get rid of it by electrically stimulating the brain,” says Nathalia.

BRINGING THE ORGANIC TO THE ROBOTIC WORLD

The idea of ​​controlling robots using brains – a concept that is always present in Nathalia’s curious mind – is the basis of one of her most interesting projects, which has gained increasing attention in the media.

The scientist and her research group work on the development of autonomous robots with biological components that can be used in high-risk situations for humans – such as in accidents involving radioactivity, chemical elements or the chance of an explosion.

“To develop this model, the first step is to extract a mouse´s brain and place it in a solution with adequate temperature to keep it active,” explains Nathalia. “Then we insert a part of the brain in a kind of computer chip, where we can stimulate it and measure the cell´s response.”

The first electrical stimulus applied to the brain is mild, and the reaction of the neurons is weak. The second electric stimulus is extremely strong. A few minutes after the strong stimulus, the weak stimulus is applied again. This time, however, the reaction of the neurons is quite different.

One of the advantages of this bioelectronic interface is that the robot would be completely autonomous, that is, it would not depend on the internet or GPS systems to work.

“The response is about 10 times more intense when compared to the first stimulus,” says Nathalia. “This shows that cells can remember a specific stimulus. We want to prove that we can use this ability of the brain to make it recognize and remember a number of patterns and eventually use it to control a robot. One of the advantages of this bioelectronic interface is that the robot would be completely autonomous, that is, it would not depend on the internet or GPS systems to function. ”

PROMOTING STUDIES ABOUT ALZHEIMER

Plaques are formed when pieces of beta-amyloid protein cluster. Small clusters can block signaling between cells at the synapses. They can also activate the cells of the immune system that cause inflammation and destroy deficient cells. Source: Alzheimer’s Association. Source: Alzheimer´s Association

The researcher points out that with only one mouse, it is possible to obtain 50 fractions of the brain and, consequently, to control 50 different robots. This procedure, which allows a large number of samples to be obtained from a single animal, is also attractive for research that seeks to test drugs against neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Nathalia’s own group has already used this approach to evaluate, for example, the protective effects of turmeric in Alzheimer’s Disease.

The experiment consisted of adding beta-amyloid protein plaques (a characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease) in the solution containing part of the brain of a mouse. In some solutions, turmeric has also been added. The result showed that brain cells from turmeric-containing solutions took longer to undergo the neurodegenerative effects of beta-amyloid plaques. The possible implications of this finding are enormous, specially for Alzheimer´s patients, and continue to be explored by the group.

NEW RESEARCH, NEW PARTNERSHIPS

For the future, the researcher intends to continue linking engineering and neuroscience for the development of new robots and the study of neurological diseases. In addition, she also wants to start collaborations with BRAINN. For Nathalia, the RICD has the ideal interdisciplinary environment for the development of projects in these areas.

“Here we see physicists talking to neuroscientists, neuroscientists talking to engineers, engineers talking to doctors and so on,” the scientist said.

“Therefore, I believe that BRAINN offers this opportunity for interdisciplinarity to bloom, something that today is critical for doing research,” concludes Nathalia.

October 7th 2016

To learn more about the Brainn Congress, please click here.

Mouse over the section below to read the abstracts, published in the latest edition of the Journal of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology. Click on the center of the section to go fullscreen, and hit ESC to exit.

The 3rd BRAINN Congress will be held in Campinas, SP, Brazil, from April 11th to 13th, 2016, with pre-congress courses on April 8th to 10th 2016.

The BRAINN congress is a meeting which aims to gather researchers and students (both at graduate and undergraduate levels) working in neuroscience, neurotechnology, and related fields. The main goal is to foster stronger communication and collaborations, in order to reach high quality research standards.

The Congress is an initiative of project BRAINN (Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology), which is a Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC) of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). BRAINN congregates researchers from many areas (neurology, physics, electrical engineering, psychology, among others), coming mainly from University of Campinas – UNICAMP and from Center of Information Technology Renato Archer, which is a federal center of research and development; but also from other Brazilian institutions, such as Federal University of ABC, Federal University of São Paulo, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, among others; as well as some foreign institutions, such as University of Montreal and University College London, among others.

As the name implies, project BRAINN focuses on basic science research on neuroscience, coupled with the development of technologies that can assist in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of neurological diseases, mainly but not restricted to, epilepsy and stroke.

 The 3rd BRAINN Congress is open to attendants from any research groups that have an interest in exchanging information and experiences with BRAINN participants.

The pre-congress courses will be announced shortly.