The Department of Pharmacology and Environmental Toxicology, Dr. A.L.M. Postgraduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences (Dr. A.L.M. PGIBMS) of the University of Madras and the Society for NeuroChemistry India (SNCI) will jointly conduct a two-day international symposium on ‘Advances in Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases’ at Chennai on 16th and 17th of December, this year.

The event, to be held at Dr. Venugopal Auditorium, Taramani, aims to create awareness on geriatric problems, especially neurodegenerative diseases. Further, the experts will review the advances in neuroscience research for understanding the molecular mechanisms in the process of neurodegenerative diseases, neuroprotection, brain repair, and experimental therapeutics, an objective essential for the improvement of preventive and therapeutic interventions.

In the scientific session, topics for discussion will include stem cells and neurodegenerative diseases, contaminants of drinking water and food in neurodegenerative disorders, neurotoxicity of xenobiotics, medicinal herbs in neurotoxicity, apoptosis in neuronal aging and toxic stress, the role of ionic channels in neurotransmission, neurotransmitters in brain function, antioxidants in neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration, antiganglioside antibodies, neuronal and glial cell functions.

A pre-symposium workshop on neurochemical techniques will also be conducted, for senior research students and young scientists below 40 years, from 6th to 15th of December. Techniques proposed for training by national and international scientists includes purification of synaptosomes and synaptic vesicles, study of exocytosis in synaptosomes by fluorescent dyes, neurosphere assay for the detection of neural stem cells and its application for the study of neurological and psychiatric diseases, analysis of protein aggregation using SDS-PAGE coupled to silver staining to monitor the aggregation Abeta peptide of Alzheimer's disease and the alpha-synuclein protein in Parkinson's disease.

The workshop will also cover the techniques like aggregation of amyloids by fluorescence technique followed by computation model, quantitation of 5-HT by HPLC, neurons and astrocytes preparations inducing ischemia in rat model and demonstration of apoptosis in rat brain, Serotonin receptors - radio ligand binding assay, in vitro techniques used for the isolation of insect neuropeptides and its functional properties and the bioinformatics and neuroscience resources. The workshop participants will comprise of national and international representation.

A poster presentation will be conducted as the part of the symposium. The best poster and oral presentations will be acknowledged with awards. Around 50 delegates from all over world will participate in the symposium.

The event is conducted with the support of International Society for Neurochemistry, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Indian National Science Academy and Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education.