NEWS
-
Published on
Nathalie Ginovart – Translational Research Using Neuroimaging
Nathalie Ginovart uses neuroimaging as a research tool to investigate mental disorders and as a way of bringing the clinical and fundamental worlds closer together. Nathalie Ginovart started by studying biology before continuing with a master’s in pharmacology followed by a M.Phil. in integrated biological systems – which is when her interest in the brain began to deepen. “I was exposed to studies on epilepsy, depression and schizophrenia. I soon wanted to do neuroscience so I could have a better understanding of the brain mechanisms involved. The brain seemed to me to be like a black box that wasn’t very accessible.” A thorough training combined with a passion for the brain meant that Nathalie decided to undertake a doctorate in neuroscience at the University of Lyon in France.
-
Published on
Empowerment: Three Questions for Bita Moghaddam
Bita Moghaddam is a full professor at Oregon Health and Science University where she holds the Chair of the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience. In the past 26 years, she focused her research on the modeling aspects of psychiatric disorders. Last March, she participated in the Synapsy-LWiN career lunch with students of the Department of Basic Neurosciences of the University of Geneva and took time to answer our questions about gender bias in academia.
-
Published on
Radio show with Marie Schaer
Every Friday, the CQFD swiss radio show receives a scientist to talk about his or her work and research. The 6th of September 2019, the journalist Adrien Zerbini invited Marie Schaer, Synapsy member, professor at the University of Geneva, and head of the Centre de consultation spécialisé en autisme (CCSA) of Geneva. One hour to discover Marie Schaer and talk about eye tracking techniques, Early Start Denver Model program and brain imaging in the field of autism spectrum disorders. Radio show CQFD – RTS la 1ère >
-
Published on
Early social contingencies impairment
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social and communication deficits, repetitive behaviors, and restricted interests. Literature shows that atypical neural processing of social visual information contributes to impaired social cognition. However, evidence for early developmental alterations in neural processing of social contingencies is scarce since most studies have been conducted in older children and adults. The group of Marie Schaer, Professor of Neurosciences at the University of Geneva and member of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Synapsy, aimed to investigate alterations in neural processing of social visual information in children with ASD compared to age-matched typically developing peers. To this aim, they used a combination of high-density EEG and eye-tracking in 2–5 years children. Schaer’s experimental approach is unique and results were published last week in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. They suggest that impairments in brain regions involved in processing social contingencies are present from an early age in ASD.
-
Published on
Grant from the National MD-PhD program for Dr. Michel Godel
The MD-PhD national program grants allow eleven young doctors engaged in research to complete a doctorate in natural sciences, public health, clinical research or biomedical ethics at a Swiss university. Applications for an MD-PhD grant were evaluated in two stages: among the 22 applications pre-selected this year by the local MD-PhD Commissions, the National Commission of Experts proposed to support 11 young researchers. The subsidies cover the salary of the beneficiaries for a period of two to three years. They are financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Swiss Cancer Research (KFS) and the SAMS for a total amount of more than 2 million Swiss francs. Michel Godel, Synapsy clinician-scientist from UNIGE is among the recipients of the 11 grants awarded to young physicians engaged in research by the National MD-PhD program. He will work with Synapsy PI Prof. Marie Schaer, in the Department of Psychiatry at UNIGE, on the project: Early deviations in auditory neuroprocessing development as prodromal neurobiological markers for Autism Spectrum Disorders
-
Published on
Joint NCCR Synapsy – IRCN “22q” Workshop, Jul y 6-7, 2019, Tokyo, Japan
This past weekend, a joint NCCR Synapsy-IRCN workshop took place University of Tokyo. Several Synapsy PIs from UNIGE attended and presented their research (Profs. Alexandre Dayer, Stephan Eliez, Marie Schaer, Camila Bellone, Alan Carleton).