CNS Injuries and Repair

Karolinska Institutet

Why doesn't the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) regenerate while many other tissues do? Which cutting-edge technologies and models are most effective for studying CNS repair? What regenerative strategies can be designed to rebuild such a complex tissue? Led by renowned experts from the Karolinska Institutet and featuring distinguished international speakers, this course will delve into the intricacies of how the CNS responds to injury at a cellular and molecular level, as well as the most advanced research into regenerative therapies ranging from stem cell-based to gene therapies.

 In 2024 invited international speakers will cover the following topics: Seth Blackshaw (John Hopkins, USA) reprogramming approaches for mammalian retina regeneration, Ariel Levine (NIH, USA) single cell technologies to study neuron development and disease, Naomi Habib (ELSC, Israel) single cell technologies to study neurodegeneration, Homaira Nawabi (Inserm, France) proteomics to study axon regeneration, Claudia Kathe and Thomas Hudson (EPFL, Switzerland) on novel genomics and optogenotic approaches for neural circuit regeneration after injury, Ana Molofsky (UCSF, USA) on neuroimmune and neuroglial crosstalk during development and injury repair.

The curriculum spans from fundamental research to preclinical development, with a particular focus on state-of-the-art approaches for studying CNS injury, degeneration, and repair.

The course activities will integrate daily interactive lectures and seminars given by invited scholars in the respective fields, group learning (literature review and research planning), and a group project presentation and review at the end of the course.

Upon completion of the course, the participants should be able to:
1) Show an in-depth knowledge of the main limitatons to endogenous CNS repair;
2) Critically evaluate research aimed at understanding the cellular and molecular basis of the response to CNS injury using different molecular biology techniques and novel high throughput technologies;
3) Show an insight into the state-of-the art regenerative medicine strategies currently being developed to study and treat CNS injuries

In order to pass the course, each group member needs to prove that s/he has reached the previously indicated learning outcomes of the course, to ensure this each participant has to reach a final grade which will be based on 1) participation during the discussions; and 2) an oral group presentation on the last day of the course of a research project in the field of CNS repair strategies, which should be designed applying the knowledge learnt during the course.

The course will be given in Biomedicum (Solna Campus).

Application directly by email to course organizers enric.llorens@ki.se and christian.goeritz@ki.se.

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