BRAIN DAY 2018 – a review

Photos: Susanne Troll

On a beautiful sunny day on the 19^th of September 2018, about 350 people were drawn to the event hall of the Ruhr-University Bochum. They accepted the invitation of the Collaborative Research Centre 874 and came to the eighth BRAIN DAY. The visitors were whisked away into the world of neuroscience by the given presentations and the varied supporting programme.

Lectures on ADHD and sleep

After Denise Manahan-Vaughan’s welcoming, Prof. Dr. Tanja Legenbauer (member of the child and youth psychiatry of the LWL- Universitätsklinik Hamm) began her talk about attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She explained that this disease is not a passing fashion diagnosis and stated how it can be identified and treated.

Podcast “ADHS IS NOT A PASSING FASHION” by Prof. Dr. Tanja Legenbauer (in German)

Her lecture was followed by Dr. Lars Dittrich’s lecture. The neuroscientist of the German Centre of Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn devoted himself to the topic of sleep and gave an explanation of why there are late risers and early risers.

Podcast “ARE YOU REALLY TIRED OR DO YOU JUST THINK THAT YOU ARE?” by Dr. Lars Dittrich (in German)

Two different scientists groups brought their Virtual Reality (VR) glasses: On one hand, the staff of neurological research at the hospital ‘Bergmannsheil’ showed how they examine the recognition of unknown objects within the virtual room. On the other hand, the staff of the miners’ guild hospital presented how they want to help paraplegic patients by using VR-glasses.
At the stall of the Neural Plasticity Lab, the visitors were able to test their fine feeling or hoodwink their sense of touch in different exercises.

Between brain stimulation and optical illusions

Whoever wants to see real brain cells under a microscope or to learn something about the construction of the brain, found the right persons with the staff of the cytology department at the institute of anatomy. They brought many different models in order to be able to describe the varied structures of the human brain.
The stall of the neurophysiology department, however, invited the visitors to observing the brain stimulation with the help of transcranial magnet-stimulation. And in the room of illusions, optical illusions turned the visitors’ heads.
The staff of the junior research group high-resolution fluorescence microscopy told the visitors which neuroscientific explanations are behind the illusions.

After the break, the event went on with the lecture given by Prof. Dr. Martin Diers, member of the hospital of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy at the LWL university hospital Bochum. Martin Diers explores the cause of chronical pain at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and summarized his results at the BRAIN DAY.

Podcast “THE PSYCHOBIOLOGY AND INTERDISCIPLINARY THERAPY OF CHRONIC PAIN” by Prof. Dr. Martin Diers (in German)

The lecture of Dr. Jonas Rose was about the special cognitive abilities of corvids and the question of how to use these abilities for research projects.

Podcast “BIRDS ARE DINOSAURS AS WELL AS CLEVER” by Dr. Jonas Rose (in German)

In this year, too, the BRAIN DAY followed by the lecturers and the supporting programme connected basic research with therapy and showed how both aspects are converted at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

Thank you!

Such a colourful programme would not be possible without the help of many supportive people. They did a lot in order to create a successful BRAIN DAY 2018 and therefore we want to say thank you to:

Marion Brickwedde, Marie Krüger, André Scholz, Dr. Stefanie Borowy, Sepideh Tabrik, Dr. Christian Klaes, Muhammad Saif-Ur-Rehman, Marie Dominique Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Olivia Masseck, Jill Baumann, Martin Kubitschke, Prof. Dr. Klaus Funke, Dr. Pia Reiterer, Prof. Dr. Carsten Theiß, Dr. Veronika Matschke, Jan Stein, Maya Junghans, PD Dr. Hubert Dinse

And to the staff of the following self-help groups:

• Alzheimer Gesellschaft Bochum e.V./ Demenz-Servicezentrum Ruhr
• Autismus-Therapie-Zentrum Dortmund und Hagen
• ADHS Deutschland e.V., Regionalgruppe Bochum
• Bundesverband Kinderneurologie-Hilfe e.V. und die Abteilung für Frührehabilitation des Clemenshospitals Münster
• Clusterkopfschmerz-Selbsthilfe-Gruppe Recklinghausen
• Deutsche Guillain-Barré Syndrom Initiative e.V.
• Deutsche Myasthenie Gesellschaft, Ortsvereinigung Bochum
  und Umgebung e.V
• Deutsche Multiple Sklerose Gesellschaft
• Deutsche Restless Legs Vereinigung Bochum
• Epilepsie-Selbsthilfegruppe Essen

CONTACT:

Ursula Heiler, MA
Tel.: +49(0)234-32-26682
Fax.: +49(0)234-32-14490
E-Mail: sfb874-pr@rub.de

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