2018 Championship

Professor Castrén obtained his MD and PhD from the
University of Kuopio in Finland and worked during his
PhD as a visiting scientist at the National Institute of
Mental Health (NIH) in USA. Professor Castrén was also
an Alexander von Humbold fellow at the Max- Planck-Institute
for Psychiatry, Germany. Between 1995 and 2002,
Eero Castrén was professor of Molecular Pharmacology
and between 2001 and 2002 also Chair of the Department
of Neurobiology at the A.I. Virtanen Institute, University
of Kuopio. Since 2013, Eero Castrén is a professor
at the University of Helsinki and the director of the
Neuroscience Centre in Helsinki. Professor Castrén has successfully accumulated
expertise in developmental and behavioural neuroscience, neuropharmacology
and molecular biology to become a leading scientist in the rapidly expanding field
of neuronal plasticity in the neuropsychiatric disorders and neuropharmacology.
The research group led by Professor Castrén is investigating the role of neurotrophic
factors and their receptors on neuronal plasticity and drug responses in the
adult brain and showed that antidepressant drugs reactivate a developmental-like
plasticity in the adult brain, phenomenon they named iPlasticity. Professor Castrén
is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, a senior member of
the Center of Excellence at the Academy of Finland, the Secretary General elect of
the Federation of European Neuroscience Associations and a full member of the
European Dana Alliance for the brain. Professor Castrén received numerous honours
and awards among which the Schaefer Scholarship at the Columbia University,
the advanced investigator award of the European Research Council and the title
of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

Leslie B Vosshall is the Robin Chemers Neustein Professor,
Head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior,
and Director of the Kavli Neural Systems Institute at
The Rockefeller University. She is a molecular neurobiologist
known for her work on the genetic basis of chemosensory
behavior in both insects and humans. Her notable
contributions to science include the discovery of the
insect odorant receptors, and the elucidation of general
principles regarding their function, expression, and the
connectivity of the sensory neurons that express them to
primary processing centers in the brain. She founded the
Rockefeller University Smell Study in 2004 with the goal of understanding the
mechanisms by which odor stimuli are converted to olfactory percepts. Professor
Vosshall received an A.B. in Biochemistry from Columbia University in 1987 and a
Ph.D. from Rockefeller University in 1993. Following postdoctoral work at Columbia
University, she joined the Rockefeller faculty in 2000. She is the recipient of the
2008 Lawrence C. Katz Prize from Duke University, the 2010 DART/NYU Biotechnology
Award, the 2011 Gill Young Investigator Award. Professor Vosshall is an
elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a
member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Petersen received a PhD in neuroscience from the
University of Denmark in 1999 after which he undertook
postdoctoral studies at the Psychology Institute of Kiel
University in Germany and at the Prince of Wales Medical
Research Institute in Sydney Australia. Dr Petersen is
an associate professor at the University of Denmark
since 2003 and honorary associate research professor
at the University of Queensland since 2012. In 2012 Dr
Petersen also became a member of the board of the
Danish Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Petersen is investigating
the complex brain functions underlying the control
of movement and the way neuronal and neuro-glia interactions in the motor
cortex and closely connected cortical areas are involved in neural plasticity in relation
to physical activity. In 2001, Dr. Petersen received the Paxinos-Watson Prize
for his work on human motoneurons.

Professor Imre Vida obtained his MD and PhD from the
University of Pécs in Hungary degree in 1992 and 1996,
respectively. Afterward, Professor Vida became a postdoctoral
fellow at the Institute of Anatomy at Albert
Ludwig University in Freiburg under the guidance of Professor
Dr. M. Frotscher. In 2006, Professor Vida was appointed
assistant professor at the Albert Ludwig University
until 2007 when he became Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience
at the Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences at
the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. In
2011, Dr. Vida accepted the position as Professor of
Neuroanatomy at the Charité Universitätsmedizin NeuroCure Cluster. Since
2013, Professor Vida is the Head of the Institute for Integrative Neuroanatomy at
the Charité and, since 2016, the Acting Head of the Institute for Vegetative Anatomy.

Paul Bolam is emeritus Professor of Anatomical Neuropharmacology
and emeritus Senior Scientist at the MRC
Brain Networks Dynamics Unit at the University of Oxford.
Professor Bolam’s research has focused on understanding
the neuronal networks that constitute the basal ganglia
by anatomical and combined quantitative anatomical
and physiological approaches in health and in disease
models, and he has published over two hundred articles
on the subject.
Professor Bolam graduated in Pharmacology at Chelsea
College (University of London) in 1975. He then took up a graduate stu- dentship
at King’s College Hospital Medical School (University of London) and was awarded
his Ph.D. in 1979. The same year, he joined the Department of Pharmacology at
the University of Oxford, and remained in post until 1983 when he was awarded
an MRC Senior Research Fellowship. With his arrival in Oxford, Professor Bolam
changed fields of research to join a team working on the anatomy and neuropharmacology
of the basal ganglia, and has continued in this field ever since. In 1985,
Paul Bolam became a founder-member of the MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology
Unit. He still works closely with colleagues at the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease
Centre.
Professor Bolam is currently co-Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Neuroscience.
He is also an Advisory Editor of Trends in Neuroscience, and a member of
the editorial boards of several other journals. He has previously served as Secretary
of the British Neuroscience Association, as President of the International Basal
Ganglia Society, as a member of the Medical Research Council Neuroscience and
Mental Health Board, and as Chair of the Research Advisory Panel of Parkinson’s
UK. In 2011, Paul was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and,
in 2012, a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society. He is also very active in
public engagement in science, talking to school groups, patient and carer groups,
and also giving public lectures.