George Mason University, USA

Title: From Neuron Classification to Spiking Neural Network Simulations: A Neuroinformatics Approach to Data-Driven Computational Models

Abstract: Neuroscience textbooks describe the brain as a massive network of spiking neurons with complex dynamics. Neural circuits, the story goes, are largely defined by the connectivity between axons, reliably propagating all-or-none action potentials up to very distant targets, and dendrites, integrating synaptic inputs into local arbors. In such conceptual model, short- and long-term activity-dependent plasticity continuously alters synaptic strength, but a fixed neurotransmitter identity determines signal type (e.g., excitatory vs. inhibitory). Are these ingredients sufficient to explain the emergence of cognition? If additional details are required, which ones exactly? This keynote aims to illustrate a strategy to tackle such fundamental questions for the hippocampal formation, which plays a core role in episodic memory and spatial navigation. I will demonstrate that a systematic recognition of neuronal diversity is the key to connect the dots of disparate experimental data into a coherent quantitative framework to explore the relationship between synapses and behavior.

Biography: Giorgio A. Ascoli received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Neuroscience from the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy, and continued his research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, to investigate protein structure and binding in the nervous system. He moved to the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University in 1997, where he is Distinguished University Professor in the Bioengineering Department and Neuroscience Program. He is also founder and Director of the Center for Neural Informatics, Structures, & Plasticity, a transdisciplinary research group that includes biologists, physicists, psychologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and physicians. Dr. Ascoli is founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuroinformatics and an editorial board member of several other international journals. He serves on the advisory board of numerous scientific organizations and is Past President of the Potomac Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Ascoli contributed to the establishment of the fields of computational neuroanatomy and neuroinformatics. His own laboratory investigates the relationship between brain structure, activity, and function from the cellular to the circuit level. Dr. Ascoli’s research was described in textbooks and in the national press, and his 2015 book “Trees of the Brain, Roots of the Mind” was published by MIT Press. He received the 2012 Outstanding Faculty Award of the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia and was elected AIMBE fellow in 2022. Dr. Ascoli won the Beck Presidential Medal for Excellence in Research and Scholarship as well as the NIH/FASEB DataWorks!Challenge ‘Distinguished Achievement Award’ in 2023.

University of Oxford, UK and Aarhus University, Denmark

Title: Whole-brain Modelling: Cartography of Eudaimonia and Flourishing In the Human Brain

Abstract: In order to survive, the brain must constantly extract, predict and recognise the essential spacetime features of complex environments. This distributed computation of information relies on having a hierarchy of optimal information transfer across the whole brain at the lowest possible metabolic cost. Suboptimal brain orchestration has been linked to mental illness, yet the fundamental principles of brain orchestration over fast and slow timescales are still not well understood. I will show how significant progress has been made using whole-brain modelling of neuroimaging data using new frameworks based on stochastic thermodynamics and turbulence. A series of studies have already furthered our understanding of human flourishing using data from experiments including music, food, social interactions, meditation and psychedelics. Overall, this new evidence has given rise to a deeper understanding of experiences that can give rise to both flourishing and suffering, providing meaning and purpose to life, and may eventually help to find novel ways to rebalance the brain in neuropsychiatric disorders.
Further reading:
Deco G. & Kringelbach M.L. (2025) Whole-brain modelling: Cartography of the dynamics of mind. OUP, in press.
Kringelbach M.L., Sanz Perl Y. & Deco G. (2024) The thermodynamics of mind. TICS, 28:568-81
Kringelbach M.L., Vuust P. & Deco G. (2024) Building a science of human pleasure, meaning-making and flourishing. Neuron, 112 (9), 1392-1396

Biography: Professor Morten L Kringelbach is the founding director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing at Linacre College, University of Oxford, UK. He is also a Principal Investigator at Center for Music in the Brain, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His prizewinning research has helped elucidate the brain systems driven by hedonic and eudaimonic stimuli such as, for example, infants, food, psychedelics and music. He has published fourteen books, and over 400 scientific papers, chapters and other articles and his research features regularly in newspapers, magazines, radio and television.

The University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy

Title: The Human Brain Wasn’t Built in a Day: The Building Blocks of Psychiatric Risk Trajectories

Abstract: Psychiatric treatments continue to focus on symptom categories instead of the biological mechanisms that produce them. Progress toward more effective interventions depends on clarifying how mental disorders develop and how genetic risk interacts with biological and environmental influences. The current research program investigates genetic risks associated with highly heritable disorders such as schizophrenia and how these risks unfold across the lifespan. We examine how genes, environmental influences, and developmental timing (G×E×T) interact to shape brain function and behavior. The central hypothesis is that genetic risk affects specific biological pathways, which determine how a disorder manifests, progresses, and responds to treatment. We test this hypothesis by integrating large-scale, multimodal data from over 100,000 individuals. Using genome-wide association studies, polygenic scores, and pathway-specific genetic indices, we link genetic variation to biological mechanisms through analyses that used brain imaging, post-mortem transcriptomics, and induced pluripotent stem cells. Our findings indicate that biological markers of psychiatric risk emerge long before clinical symptoms. Signs of genetic risk for schizophrenia can already be seen in early childhood, influencing cognition even before measurable brain changes. In adolescence, these genetic influences are associated with brain connectivity during a period especially sensitive to environmental effects. Genetic vulnerability is also linked to personality traits that increase the likelihood of being bullied, contributing to early psychotic-like experiences. At the neural level, this pathway involves dopamine-related genetic variation associated with altered striatal function. These findings highlight how genetic risk interacts with development and experience, offering new targets for interventions that foster resilience.

Biography: Dr. Giulio Pergola is a biologist with expertise in neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, and computational genomics. His research sits at the intersection of functional genomics and neurogenetics, focusing on how genetic and environmental factors shape brain function and individual differences. He models brain development to translate genetic and postmortem molecular findings into insights on the biological mechanisms underlying schizophrenia and potential new treatments.
His PhD focused on the role of the thalamus in human cognition. He is a founding member of the TANGO consortium, dedicated to improving thalamic neuroimaging, and continues to contribute innovative work to the field, recognized through invited talks, journal reviews, and competitive grants. Recent achievements in this area include a consortium article in Nature Reviews Neuroscience (Segobin, S. et al., 2024) and two articles accepted by The Journal of Neuroscience and Biological Psychiatry.
A major focus of his work is the hypothesis that risk genes for psychiatric disorders converge within gene co-expression networks and drive systems-level brain patterns. His article in Neuron (Borcuk, C. et al., 2024) showed that schizophrenia risk involves thousands of genes via co-expression pathways, pointing to novel drug targets.
Since 2021, he has been an Associate Professor at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, and since 2022, an Investigator at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD), where he leads research on linking molecular biology to brain circuitry and behavior in schizophrenia. He also holds an academic appointment at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Pergola has published over 100 scientific articles, with more than 3,000 citations and an H-index of 29 (Scopus). He ranks in the top 1% on ResearchGate in Psychiatry for his career stage, and has received multiple early-career awards, including the Research Excellence Award by the Schizophrenia International Research Society, delivered over 20 invited talks, and presented widely at international conferences.

Brain And SIgnal Research and Analysis (BASIRA) Laboratory, UK

Title: Brains and AI: A Two-Way Journey

Abstract: Brains and artificial intelligence (AI) are converging through a two-way exchange: network neuroscience informs new learning paradigms, while AI models increasingly help decode and generate brain connectivity. Graph-based learning provides a shared formalism for this convergence, capturing both neural and computational architectures within a unified framework. This keynote will highlight recent conceptual leaps in graph neural networks (GNNs)—progressing from unification to reasoning and ultimately to cognification, where cognitive principles are directly embedded into GNN learning. Together, these developments outline a path toward interpretable, robust, and brain-aligned AI that simultaneously advances network neuroscience. By integrating principled graph learning, cognition-aware generative modeling, and unified training across sensory and cognitive domains, we move closer to AI systems that mirror the organization and function of the human brain.

Biography: Islem Rekik is the Director of the Brain And SIgnal Research and Analysis (BASIRA) laboratory (http://basira-lab.com/) and an Associate Professor at Imperial College London (Innovation Hub I-X). She is the awardee of two prestigious international research fellowships. In 2019, she was awarded the 3-year prestigious TUBITAK 2232 for Outstanding Experienced Researchers Fellowship and in 2020 she became a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow under the European Horizons 2020 program. In 2025, she was the recipient of the prestigious “Tunisian AI Award” from the Tunisian AI Society (𝗧Λ𝗜𝗦), recognizing Top AI Pioneers and was featured in the I-X news as well as the Realites magazine. Together with BASIRA members, she conducted more than 100 cutting-edge research projects cross-pollinating AI and healthcare —with a sharp focus on brain imaging and network neuroscience. UG and PG Students under her supervision received 24 highly competitive academic honors, grants and awards. She is also a co/chair/organizer of more than 34 international first-class conferences/workshops/competitions (e.g., Affordable AI 2021-22, Predictive AI 2018-2024, Machine Learning in Medical Imaging 2021-24, WILL competition 2021-23). She delivered 40+ invited keynotes, talks, seminars and lectures including prestigious international conferences (MICCAI, CVPR, ISBI, Wellcome trust). She is a member of the organizing committee of MICCAI 2023 (Vancouver), 2024 (Marrakesh) and South-Korea (2025). She will serve as the General Co-Chair of MICCAI 2026 in Abu Dhabi. In addition to her 160+ peer-reviewed publications in top journals including IEEE TPAMI (IF: 20.8) and BMJ (IF: 93), she is a strong advocate of equity, diversity and inclusiveness in AI and research. She is the former President of the Women in MICCAI (WiM), and the co-founder (and now former President) of the international RISE Network to Reinforce Inclusiveness & diverSity and Empower minority researchers in Low-Middle Income Countries (LMIC).