Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences + Sorbonne University Neuroscience Summer School 2025

Sorbonne University and the IZN hosted a summer school on in the Ebernburg in Bad Münster am Stein, Germany, where master and PhD students with an interest in learning how to model human neuropathologies explored ways in which to adapt current ideas and modern technologies for their own projects.

Program and Objectives

This summer school offered a unique platform for participants to explore and integrate diverse approaches for studying human neuropathologies. The program included:

Keynote sessions by eight senior researchers, giving students unique exposure to cutting-edge research and techniques from thought leaders in the field,
Poster sessions in which all participants presented their ongoing projects,
Interactive brainstorming on integrating new and advanced techniques into the participants’ own projects, wherein participants’ in-depth discussions and experts’ advice helped push the projects to the next level,
Discussions on science and societal issues, this year with a focus on current and future approaches in science publishing, and
Networking and social activities, including with group leaders who stay the entire week, allowing for the development of personal connections between senior scientists and a more thorough mentoring

Speakers

Table

Bassem Hassan	Paris Brain Institute - Sorbonne University	Links between development and degeneration
Oliver Kann	IZN - Medical Faculty Heidelberg	Microglia-neuron interactions in neuroinflammation
Morgane Locker	Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (NeuroPSI)	Regenerating the eye: mechanistic insights from amphibian models of retinal neurodegeneration
Sara Monaco	EMBO Review Commons	Review Commons: innovation in scientific publishing through preprint peer-review
Ulrike Müller	IZN - Heidelberg University	Beyond amyloid: harnessing the physiological functions of APP for therapy
Clévio Nóbrega	IZN (collaborator) - University of Algarve, Portugal	From RNA dysfunction to cerebellar degeneration: insights from SCA2 and SCA3
Christelle Rochefort	Institute of Biology Paris Seine - NeuroSU - Sorbonne University	Deciphering cerebellar functions in autism: evidence from mouse studies
Jasmin Schmitz	ZB MED Information Centre for Life Sciences	Open science and registered reports
Pauline Speder	Pasteur Institute	Homemakers and breadwinners: glia in the neurogenic niche
Pei Chi (Peggy) Wei	IZN - German Cancer Research Center	Replication stress and clonal expansion shape brain genome mosaicism

Scientific Advisory Board

Richard Fairless (IZN - Heidelberg University Hospital), Emmanuelle Huillard (Paris Brain Institute - Sorbonne University), Thomas Kuner (IZN - Medical Faculty Heidelberg), Annarita Patrizi (IZN - German Cancer Research Center), Philippe Ravassard (Paris Brain Institute - Sorbonne University), Rüdiger Rudolf (IZN - Medical Faculty Mannheim)

Organizers

Our summer school arose out of an existing collaboration between the Sorbonne University and Heidelberg University Neuroscience Master programs, was spearheaded by the iMIND (Sorbonne University) and Neuroscience Major (Heidelberg University) Master Program Coordinators, Hélène Cheval and Victor Winter, and is funded in great part through an initiative at Sorbonne University.

Table

Hélène Cheval	helene.cheval@icm-institute.org	Paris Brain Institute - Sorbonne University; iMIND (international Master in Neurodegenerative Disease) Program Coordinator
Victor Winter	winter@uni-heidelberg.de	IZN - Heidelberg University; Master Program Coordinator: Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Systems Biology Majors
Anna Hertle	hertle@nbio.uni-heidelberg.de	IZN - Heidelberg University; IZN Coordinator