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PROGRAM

THE 8TH CANADIAN SCI MEETING, BANFF AB


Day 1: Wednesday, April 17, 2024

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12:00 - 4:30 PM MDT: Satellite event RESTORE Network SCI Meeting  

                                       at Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary

 

3:00 - 6:00 PM MDT Check in at @ Banff Center Hotel

 

6:00 - 8:00 PM CSCI 2024 Meeting Registration & Reception - room KC 201 

 

8:00 - 9:00 PM Talk by Dr. Chet Moritz - room KC 101/103

 

 

Day 2: Thursday, April 18, 2024

Banff Center Hotel

 

7:00 - 8:15: Private CSCI Breakfast - room KC 201

 

8:20 - 8:30: Welcome and housekeeping information - room KC 101/103

 

8:30- 9:00: What is it all about? (3 x 10min, Chair: K Fouad) - room KC 101/103

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  • Barry Munro: NASCIC

  • John Chernesky: PLEX

  • Vanessa Noonan: SCI Care Across the Continuum in Canada

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9:00 - 10:05: What can we do to help (Part 1:  6 x 10min,  Chair: W. Tetzlaff) - room KC 101/103

 

  • Michael Berger: Why should we care about the lower motor neuron in spinal cord injury?

  • Kristin Musselman: Activity-based Therapy in Canada: Role of a Community of Practice

  • Monica Gorassini: The $100 treatment for spasticity in motor complete SCI

  • Vivian Mushahwar: The effect of neuromodulation on bimanual coordination

  • Adalberto Loyola-Sanchez: A community based participatory research strategy to improve transitions in care for people living with Spinal Cord Injuries in Alberta: the Connecting and Coordinating an Enhanced Network for Transitions in Care (CONCENTRIC) project

  • Cathy Craven: Building an exoskeleton research program and revisiting some old paradigms

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10:05 - 10:35 AM: Coffee break - room KC 101/103

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10:35 - 11:00: What can we do to help (Part 2:  2 x 10min,  Chair: W. Tetzlaff) - room KC 101/103

 

  • Kristine Cowley: Increasing exercise responses after spinal cord injury

  • Chris West: Intermittent hypoxia as a cardio-therapeutic in spinal cord injury


 

11:00 - 12:00: Inflammation and stress in and around the spinal cord (5 x 10min, Chair: S. Karimi) - room KC 101/103

 

  • Faith Brennan: Understanding how infection shapes SCI outcomes

  • Jason Plemel: Microglia response during remyelination

  • Eftekhar Eftekharpour: A mechanistic link between oxidative Stress and motor neuron degeneration

  • Steve Lacroix: The CNS in distress: The central role of the alarmin interleukin-1a in neuroinflammation and secondary degeneration after SCI

  • Victor Rafuse: Restoration of function to permanently denervated muscles

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12:00 - 1:15 PM: Lunch - Vistas Dining Room

 

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1:15 - 2:30: Locomotion and fancy techniques (6 x10min, Chair: P. Horner) - room KC 101/103

 

  • Marina Martinez: Neuroprosthetic Solutions for Spinal Cord Injury-Induced Locomotor Deficits

  • Phil Horner: Functional integration of pre-organized human spinal motor circuits transplanted into    the injured, cervical spinal cord

  • Ying Zhang: The spatiotemporal organization of spinal circuits

  • Jeremy Chopek: Intraspinal mechanisms integrating motor and sympathetic functions

  • Patrick Whelan: Dynamic Regulation of Locomotor Activity by higher centres – implications for spinal cord injury research

  • Alain Frigon: Negotiating an obstacle during locomotion following an incomplete spinal cord injury

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2:30 - 2:50 PM: Coffee Break - room KC 101/103

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2:50 - 3:45: The Future is Bright  (5 x 10min, Chair: K. Fenrich) - room KC 101/103

 

  • Jessica D’Amico: Oral administration of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) increases spinal cord excitability in individuals with chronic, motor complete spinal cord injury

  • Paulina Scheuren: Contact heat evoked potentials reveal distinct patterns of spinal cord impairment beyond MRI lesions in degenerative cervical myelopathy

  • Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini: Astrocytes derived from engrafted human neural precursor cells (NPCs) exhibit pro-regenerative phenotype in spinal cord injury

  • Rebecca John: Awakening inflammation in the chronic injured spinal cord using LPS induces diverse microglial states

  • Camila Chacon: Neural mechanisms mediating locomotor-related lumbar V3 interneuron activation of thoracic sympathetic preganglionic neurons and their autonomic targets

 

 

3:45 - 5:15 PM: Poster Session I - KC 105 

                       

 

6:00 PM Private CSCI Buffet Dinner - KC 201

 

Day 3: Friday, April 19, 2024

Banff Center Hotel

 

7:00 - 8:20: Private CSCIM Breakfast - KC 201

 

8:30 - 10:00: Repair and protection, is that even possible? (8x10min, Chair: Chet Moritz)

     - room KC 101/103

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  • Soheila Karimi: New approaches to optimize the functional outcomes of neural stem cell-based therapies for spinal cord repair

  • Dena Shahriari: Axon guidance channels and implantable drug delivery pumps

  • Brett Hilton: How do neurons lose the capacity to regenerate axons during development?

  • Eve Tsai: STAT to Humans:  Successful Translation of Animal Therapies to Humans

  • ​Keith Fenrich: The effects of group housing on recovery after SCI in mice

  • Phillipe Monnier: Blood Borne ATP drives Neuronal Polarity

  • David Bennett: V3 neuron activation restores posture and standing after SCI

  • Wolfram Tetzlaff: Neuroprotection – no home runs yet

 

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10:00 - 10:30 Coffee break - KC101/103

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10:30 - 11:00:  The Big Ones  (2 x 10min, Chair: Kristin Musselman) - room KC 101/103

 

  • John Madden: Mend the Gap, how it all came together

  • Brian Kwon: The DARPA Adventure in Multi-National SCI Research

 

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11:00 - 11:45: What to do with all the data? (3 x 10min, Chair: Linda Jones) - room KC 101/103

 

  • Karim Fouad: The Open Data Commons - SCI

  • Abel Torres Espin: Modelling historical data to enhance replicability and reduce waste of pre-clinical neurological experiments

  • John Kramer: Placebo and SCI - do 'inert' interventions enhance neurological recovery?

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12:00 -1:30 PM: CSCI Lunch - Vistas Dining Room

 

1:30 - 3:00PM: Poster Session II - KC 105 (with a coffee break)

 

3:00 - 3:30 PM: Summary and plans for the future - KC101

 

3:30 PM: Adjournment (No dinner provided)

 

Explore Banff at your own

 

Day 4 (optional) Saturday, April 20, 2024

Banff Center Hotel

 

7:00 - 9:00 AM: Breakfast - Vistas Dining Room

 

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Meeting Information

Hotel: Banff Center Hotel

   - 107 Tunnel Mountain Drive, Box 1020, Stn. 43

      Banff, AB   T1L1H5  

 

Guests registered for 2 nights:
   - Check-In Date: April 17th, 2024 @ 4PM
   - Check-Out Date: April 19th, 2024 @ 11 AM 

 

Guests registered for 3 nights:

   - Check-In Date: April 17th, 2024 @ 4PM   

   - Check-Out Date: April 20th, 2024 @ 11 AM 

 
 
Registration 
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The PI, trainee and people with lived experience registrations fees will include 2 nights accommodations (April 17 & 18) in 1 or 2-bed hotel rooms at the Banff Center Hotel.

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This registration fee will also cover all meals during the reception, all meals for day 2 and all except dinner for day 3 of the meeting. A full meal plan is also available for purchase, it includes the reception meal, 3 breakfasts and one dinner for your guest. Additional guest meal option is available that excludes lunches and coffee breaks. Please find meal plan options in the drop down menu during registration.  

 

IMPORTANT: Please note registrations are per bed and if you book a room with 2 beds, your roommate will have to register and pay as well. 

If you are willing to share a room, please find another registered person (e.g., a lab member) to share the room with and indicate their name in the comments box during the registration process. 

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We have reserved a limited number of rooms for anyone wishing to extend their stay to 3 nights (April 17-19) to explore Banff on day 4, including breakfast at the Banff Center Hotel!

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If arriving from the Calgary International Airport, which is a short 90 minute (130 kilometres or 87 miles) drive to Banff National Park, a convenient Banff Airporter Shuttle bus connection is available right from the airport to Banff. Alternatively, you can rent a car from the airport or in the city of Calgary. 

 

The number of rooms is limited, please REGISTER early! 

 

Registration and abstract submission deadline is January 31, 2024.

 

For more information please feel free to contact us!

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