From July 10 to 12, the International Summer School “Neuro-Speep as a Complex System” was held with the help of the Research Medical Centre, SSU, in-person and online.
The school was organised as part of the RSF megagrant, implemented in the Smart Sleep Laboratory, SSU. It was attended by eminent scientists from nine countries, including Belarus, China, Germany, Sweden, England, Greece, and Finland. They participated online.
The International School is dedicated to new trends in the study of neural networks as a complex system using interdisciplinary methods, modelling, and machine learning approaches, as well as innovative technologies for the treatment of brain diseases during sleep.
The conference was held as part of three sections – Interdisciplinary approaches in the study of the sleeping brain and lymphatics, Fundamental sleep research, and Clinical and experimental neurophysiology.
The summer school was opened by Chair of the Interdisciplinary Center of Sleep Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Thomas Penzel. He thanked Chair of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology, SSU, Oksana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya for the opportunity to participate in the summer school and hoped to continue cooperation.
‘The purpose of our conference is to discuss the progress in the study of regenerative brain functions and learn about current trends in neuroscience with leading Russian scientists and international colleagues,’ she said. ‘The main thing for us is to get a new impetus for further research and to continue the development of our pioneering ideas. SSU scientists were the first in the world to discover the lymphatic system in brain tissues and proposed methods of its stimulation. The university strives to receive new grants, the emergence of new technologies, and new cooperation. This year, our method of photostimulation of lymph vessels will be used on patients with Alzheimer's disease. The clinical research will be carried out by Sechenov University under the leadership of the President of the Russian Society of Sleep Medicine Mikhail Poluektov. The smart cap will become the world's first technology for non-invasive cleansing of brain tissues during sleep from beta-amyloid. We expect that such an impact will seriously slow down the development of the disease and strive to make the smart sleep gadget accessible to everyone.’
In her report, Oksana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya presented the latest achievements of the SSU Research Medical Center and advanced discoveries of Russian scientists – photostimulation of the lymphatic system of the brain during sleep to remove brain waste.
The presentations were also made by Professor of the Moscow Center of Neurology Alla Salmina, Professor from the University of Oulu Teemu Myllylä, Associate Professor of Huazhong University in Wuhan Tingting Yu, Professor of Humboldt University in Berlin Jürgen Kurths, Head of the Medical Research-to-Education Centre, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Alexander Kalinkin, Head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology of Sleep and Wake, the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity of Neurophysiology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Dorokhov, an employee of Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics Dongyu Li, Professor at the University Clinic of Zurich Felix Scholkmann, an employee of the Research and Technology Foundation – Hellas Maria Farsari, and others.
During the two days of intensive work, the scientists discussed such topics as Optical technologies of skull clearing, Active brain and sleep environment, Can lack of sleep cause high blood pressure?, Pathophysiology of sleep disorders, Sleep EEG and aging, and many others.
As part of the summer school programme, fifteen poster presentations of twenty-five young scientists were presented, among which the lecturers selected the three best posters based on the assessment of creativity, clarity of presentation of the scientific results. and their relevance.
The excursions to the sights of Saratov and a visit to the Smart Sleep Laboratory, SSU, were organised for guests from other regions and countries.
All the participants of the conference received the certificates. The reports delivered at the school will be published as articles in The European Physical Journal: Special Topics. Read the programme of the summer school here.
