THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2022
Following countless virtual conferences during the pandemic, I was thrilled to attend an in-person conference for the first time on January 25th. The event was hosted at the prestigious Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the site of many Nobel-Prize-winning discoveries.
We were welcomed by Professor Löwe, LMB Director, who introduced several well-known Cambridge-based neuroscientists as conference speakers. I appreciated how the day was structured, with presentation topics taking us on a journey from the developing to the ageing brain. These talks discussed how studies, from animal models to clinical scans and computational biology, have helped to inform understanding of the neuronal connections formed in development and throughout life, and how and why these networks vary between individuals. The speakers explained their work with clarity and enthusiasm, enabling others to understand their research and be inspired! As a dementia research PhD candidate, I particularly enjoyed hearing neurodegeneration experts, Professor Rowe and Doctor Goedert, discuss their cutting-edge research.
Refreshment breaks provided networking opportunities with other attendees, whose work ranges from molecular biology to psychiatry. It was certainly refreshing to recognise how varied neuroscientific research is: diverse ideas and research methods are crucial to progressing our collective knowledge of our complex brains!
Elizabeth English
