S01E09 Neuroscience research for a better future

05/06/19 • 55 min

How is the neuroscience research community responding to its increasing societal importance? Why is international cooperation essential to its progress? What can an aspiring neuroscientist hope for?

FENS (Federation of European Neuroscience Societies) is an organization trying to offer answers to questions like those. Founded in 1998, FENS has since then grown into a huge network representing 22 000 scientists in 33 European countries. They facilitate knowledge exchange and application, advocate for and promote neuroscience, and provide essential training for researches, all with the purpose of understanding the brain and helping it withstand challenges.

As their executive director, Lars Kristiansen tells us more about their mission, where they see neuroscience and its role in the future, and helps us understand the progress of neuroscience. Pointing out that Alzheimer’s disease used to only be diagnosable post-mortem, he emphasizes that it is a lot of small steps that eventually make a condition less harmful and patients’ lives better. This is why, Kristiansen states, availability of all the accumulated knowledge is key to progress.
To see how FENS contributes to this availability and how you can be a part of it, we are posting links to:
- FENS neuroscience conferences: Forums of Neuroscience and Regional Meetings
- advocacy and promotion activities: Brain Awareness Week and European Journal of Neuroscience, and
- options for aspiring neuroscientists: hands-on training course programs and grants.

Kim Baden-Kristensen is the co-founder and CEO of Brain+, a digital therapeutics company that helps people with brain disorders and injuries to recover their fundamental cognitive brain functions and daily life capabilities by using an app-based cognitive rehabilitation platform, which is developed in close collaboration with patients, clinicians and researchers.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbadenk/ |
Alessia Covello is a life science IT consultant working in the field of healthcare technology implementation, and advocating for better services for people with brain conditions and learning disabilities.https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiacovello/

Topics discussed:

6:52 What is FENS? Their mission, activities, and funding
19:30 Practical advice to neuroscientists, aspiring and established
24:52 Major questions in neuroscience and why they need answers
31:51 Value chain of research and the importance of knowledge accumulation
35:23 Recent discoveries in neuroscience resulting in new treatment options
38:41 The future of neuroscience
42:53 Digital technology and neuroscience research
50:53 Take-home message

Disclaimer:
All references to products, companies, and organizations in this podcast and the article that accompanies it are it are included with the purpose to inform, rather than promot

How is the neuroscience research community responding to its increasing societal importance? Why is international cooperation essential to its progress? What can an aspiring neuroscientist hope for?

Topics discussed:

6:52 What is FENS? Their mission, activities, and funding
19:30 Practical advice to neuroscientists, aspiring and established
24:52 Major questions in neuroscience and why they need answers
31:51 Value chain of research and the importance of knowledge accumulation
35:23 Recent discoveries in neuroscience resulting in new treatment options
38:41 The future of neuroscience
42:53 Digital technology and neuroscience research
50:53 Take-home message

Disclaimer:
All references to products, companies, and organizations in this podcast and the article that accompanies it are it are included with the purpose to inform, rather than promot

Previous Episode

S01E08 “Use your brain”: On depression and neuroplasticity

What does depression do to our brain and can antidepressants help? This topic, abound with misconceptions and controversy, is becoming more relevant as depressive disorder climbs on the list of greatest health burdens.

To find out what current research is showing, Kim and Alessia talk to Eero Castren, a professor at the University of Helsinki and a principal investigator at the Neuroscience Center there. A trained medical doctor with a PhD in neuropharmacology, our guest has a remarkable resume as a researcher, including work with Bethesda National Institute of Mental Health, Columbia University, and Max Planck Institute.

His main area of expertise are neurotrophic factors - biomolecules that make neural connections possible. “Neurons,” Castren explains, “do not work alone, but as a network”, and neurotrophic factors allow establishment, maintenance, and, eventually, change of neural networks. These networks, in turn, represent all the things in our memory. Neurotrophic factors are, therefore, essential to the ability to learn and evolve - brain plasticity or neuroplasticity.

In this talk, Castren pays special attention to the effects of depression on neuroplasticity, especially on BDNF - a particularly important factor. He discusses findings on antidepressants and provides some advice on how to fight depression. Besides depression treatment, Castren also tackles new developments in treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, as well as stroke. Non-patients are not forgotten - our guest tells us about how to keep our brains plastic and make memory stronger.

Kim Baden-Kristensen is the co-founder and CEO of Brain+, a digital therapeutics company that helps people with brain disorders and injuries to recover their fundamental cognitive brain functions and daily life capabilities by using an app-based cognitive rehabilitation platform, which is developed in close collaboration with patients, clinicians and researchers.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbadenk/
Alessia Covello is a life science IT consultant working in the field of healthcare technology implementation, and advocating for better services for people with brain conditions and learning disabilities.https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiacovello/
Topics discussed:

4:57 - What are neurotrophic factors? How are they relevant for learning?
13:00 - Neuroplasticity and age
15:37 - TIPS: Can we influence the activity of neurotrophic factors and how?
19:38 - New treatments for Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s dementia, and Parkinson’s disease
23:34 - Causes of deficiency in neurotrophic factors - genetic and other
26:40 - Drugs that stimulate production of BDNF - study of antidepressants
36:08 - TIPS: How to make depression treatment truly effective? Advice on physical activity and other ways to deal with depression
41:45 - Brain plasticity and depression
43:50 - Other uses of antidepressants (e.g. stroke)
45:38 - Common misconceptions about antidepressants
48:30 - Take home messages

Disclaimer:
All references to products, companies, and organizations in this podcast and the article that accompanies it are included with the purpose to

Next Episode

S01E10 The science of brain training? Issues and challenges in brain health

What does it mean to have a healthy brain? Is brain training possible and how?

Instead of focusing on a particular topic, in this episode Kim and Alessia discuss brain health in general - how we know if we possess it, what we need to protect it from, and most importantly, how to take good care of it.

A long-time brain health enthusiast and an entrepreneur in the domain of digital healthcare for brain disorders, Kim has a lot to share regarding the topic - current statistics on most common brain diseases, the mechanisms behind neuroplasticity, as well as health tips that apply to the brain.

Special attention is paid to the solutions to the problem of brain health that digital health technology can offer. Namely, Kim Baden-Kristensen is a co-founder and CEO of Brain+, a digital therapeutics company that developed an app-based cognitive rehabilitation platform in collaboration with health and education institutions, like the Copenhagen Center for Rehabilitation of Brain Injury and the Copenhagen University. In this interview, he describes the Brain+ approach to cognitive training and other areas in brain-related healthcare, and lays out how it is rooted in current neuroscience.

This is the first half of a two-part interview - the next episode focuses on which changes in our lifestyle can improve brain health.

Kim Baden-Kristensen is the co-founder and CEO of Brain+, a digital therapeutics company that helps people with brain disorders and injuries to recover their fundamental cognitive brain functions and daily life capabilities by using an app-based cognitive rehabilitation platform, which is developed in close collaboration with patients, clinicians and researchers. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbadenk/ |
Alessia Covello is a life science IT consultant working in the field of healthcare technology implementation, and advocating for better services for people with brain conditions and learning disabilities. https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiacovello/Topics discussed:

3.43 Introduction to the podcast
6.43 What made Kim start Brain+
- 10.58 The power of neuroplasticity
17.02 The general problematic of brain health
22.37 Finding the technological solution to the brain health problems - the mission of Brain+
- 25.48 Brain+ Games
- 27.12 Brain coach, offered by Brain+
31.14 What does it mean to have a healthy brain?
35.30 Brain training - the importance of lifelong learning

Disclaimer:

All references to products, companies, and organizations in this podcast and the article that accompanies it are included with the purpose to inform, rather than promote or advertise. The podcast authors do not receive financial compensation for any of these references.