First Neuroscience of the Everyday World Conference Draws 300+ Attendants from Around the World
Last week (August 29–30) marked the inaugural Neuroscience of the Everyday World Conference, hosted by the Boston University Neurophotonics Center and Center for Brain Recovery in collaboration with the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute. Located on the first floor of the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering, over 300 guests were registered to attend. Guests not only included BU’s own NRTs, graduate students, faculty, and staff, but renowned neuroscience scholars from around the world. Some represented countries included Germany and the Netherlands, with speakers and learners alike coming to the see the advancing utility of neuroscientific research being done outside of a laboratory setting.
Presentations covered topics such as: “Neuropsychiatric and Cognitive Neuroscience Applications of NIRS” (Allan L. Reiss, Stanford University), “Imaging Natural Cognition in the Real World” (Klaus Gramann, TU Berlin), “Brain-in-the-loop control of soft robotic exosuits for gait assistance in the everyday world” (Lou Awad, Boston University), and more over the course of three symposiums, with a total of nine presentations. Each presenter was given 30 minutes to discuss their research amongst a packed room of engaged colleagues.
In between these symposiums, other researchers were given the chance to showcase their strengths in the field of neuroscience. With a total of 24 posters, student researchers and professionals in the field shared their dedicated work toward better understanding the brain through fNIRS, referential processing, multimodal techniques, and a variety of subjects.
From preschool children’s neurological development during shared book readings, augmented reality for real-time neuro-imaging guidance, to patients of brain injury, researchers showcased the wide-ranging utility of neuroscience study in the real world.
Included among the poster presenters was incoming faculty member Matthias Stangl, previously of UCLA as a postdoctoral scholar. Professor Stangl presented a poster on the neural mechanisms that allow us to keep track of where we are, and where other individuals are, while we navigate through the environment. He expressed that the Neuroscience of the Everyday World Conference was “an amazing conference that brought together leaders in the field as well as students interested in this exciting new research area.”
“It was very inspiring to see so many members of the neuroscience community come together at BU, to exchange ideas, discuss promises and challenges of this young research field, and establish collaborations that will hopefully lead to many exciting future projects,” Stangl continued. “This conference showed that we are at the beginning of a new era of neuroscience, where we now have the methods and tools to study the human brain under ecologically-valid conditions during natural movement and behavior in our everyday world.” (Be sure to also check out the NPC’s recent profile on Professor Stangl).
Professor Swathi Kiran of the Neurophotonics Center and Center for Systems Neuroscience, as well as director of the Center for Brain Recovery, shared her thoughts on the impact of this week’s conference. “It is truly a defining moment of neuroscience research at Boston University. Not only did the meeting bring leaders in the field of the study of neuroscience of the everyday world. It also put Boston University, the Neurophotonics Center and the Center for Brian Recovery on the map for research groups at the forefront of this work.”