Friday 7/09

• 8:30-8:50: Registration and Coffee

• 8:55: Welcome

• 9:00-10:30: Respiratory control of motoneuronal activity - Session given in honor of Peter Kirkwood; Chair: Karin Persson
• Jack Feldman: Are respiratory motoneurons special? Introductory Review
• Anna Hudson & Jane Butler: behaviour of human inspiratory motoneurones to voluntary and non-voluntary commands
  
• Albert J Berger & Johannes van Brederode: GABAergic Control of Hypoglossal Motoneurons
  
• Peter Kirkwood: Of course respiratory motoneurones are special  Special Lecture

• 10:30-11:00: Coffee break

• 11:00-12:00: Neuromodulation of intrinsic properties; Chair: Hilary Wakefield
• Gareth Miles: Modulation of motoneurons by a spinal cholinergic system
  
• Stan Nakanishi & Patrick Whelan: Dopaminergic modulation of locomotion.
  
• David McCrea: Intrinsic spinal mechanisms increase motoneuron excitability during fictive scratch
  
• Brent Fedirchuk: Evidence of multiple and distinct modulatory mechanisms enhancing spinal motoneuron excitability during motor output
  

• 12:00-12:30: General Discussion (Jean-François Perrier) 

Jean-François Perrier

• 12:30-13:30: Lunch

• 13:30-15:00: Poster Session 1 and Coffee

• 15:00-15:30: Poster discussion (Randy Powers & Jane Butler)

• 15:30-16:45 Development of the motor unit Chair: Lissa Herron
• Klas Kullander: Novel markers for motor neurons enable genetic analysis of subpopulation development and function
• Pascal Legendre: Glycine release from radial cells modulates spontaneous activity during early spinal cord development
  
• Claire Legay: Extracellular matrix and differentiation of the neuromuscular junction
  
• Evelyne Bloch-Gallego: Development and maintenance of motoneurons: a key role of small GTPases and microtubule associated proteins
• Eric Krejci: Functional and subsynaptic localization of acetylcholinesterase at the neuromuscular junction
  

• 16:45-17:15: Coffee break

• 17:15-18:15: Historical session: Paths of Discovery in Motoneuron Neurobiology  Chair: Jean-Gael Barbara
  
• François Clarac and Jean Gael Barbara: Human motor pathologies and the emergence of motoneuronal concepts
• Jacques Duchateau and Roger Enoka: Extracellular recording of human motor unit discharge: origin and insights into the integrated motor system
• Douglas Stuart and Robert Brownstone: The beginning of intracellular recording in mammalian motoneurons: facts and speculations

• 18:30 - 20:30: Welcome cocktail (more information)

Saturday 7/10

• 8:30-9:45: Firing properties in human subjects (1) Chair: Jennifer Stephenson
• Simon Gandevia: Central fatigue and implications for motoneurone firing Introductory Review
• Janet Taylor & Chris McNeil: Motoneurone excitability with fatigue
• Lydia Kudina & Regina E. Andreeva: Repetitive Doubling and Plateau Potentials in Human Motoneurones
• Fiona Bailey: Task related variations in the discharge synchrony of human hypoglossal motor units 

• 9:45-10:15: Coffee break

• 10:15-11:30 Synaptic inputs and motoneuronal excitability Chair: Alain Frigon
• Rodolfo Delgado-Lezama: Control of monosynaptic reflex by GABA_A receptors in the turtle spinal cord
• Boris Lamotte d’Incamps: Recurrent inhibition: simple loop but complex synapses
  
• Andrew Fuglevand: Comparison of current-injected and synaptically-mediated activation of hypoglossal motor neurons
• Aidas Alaburda: Activation of spinal motoneurons during fictive swim
• Rune Berg: How do we achieve precision in force? New mechanism for gain modulation in spinal motoneurons via Vm-fluctuations.

• 11:30-12:00: General Discussion (C.J. Heckman) 

CJ Heckman

• 12:00-13:00: Lunch

• 13:00-14:30: Poster Session 2 and Coffee

• 14:30-15:00: Poster discussion (Inge Zijdewind & Roger Enoka)

• 15:00-16:00: Firing properties in human subjects (2) Chair: Matthew Holmes
• Maria Piotrkiewicz, Lydia Kudina, Regina Andreeva, Dariusz Mlozniak: Recurrent inhibition in motoneurone pools of slow and fast human muscles
  
• David F. Collins, Cameron S. Mang, Yoshino Okuma: Does the motor cortex contribute to “self-sustained” firing of human motoneurons?
• Hiske van Duinen: control of the extrinsic muscles of the hand
  
• Christiane Rossi-Durand: Interaction between cognitive and motor tasks: Modulation of human motoneuron activity by a mental arithmetic task

• 16:00-16:30: Coffee break

• 16:30-17:30: Adaptations in motoneurons (Training, Chronic Pain, Aging) Chair: Caroline Iglesias
• Phil Gardiner: Alpha-motoneuron adaptations to increased activity, from function to gene expression
  
• Katrina Maluf: Motor responses to acute psychosocial stress in chronic neck pain
  
• Andrew Cresswell: Motor unit discharge behaviour during brief and ballistic contractions in young and elderly adults
  
• Roger Enoka & Michael A. Pascoe: Discharge characteristics of motor units at recruitment during sustained contractions differ for young and old humans

• 17:30-18:00: General Discussion (Hans Hultborn)

Hans Hultborn

Sunday 7/11

• 8:30-9:45: Plasticity in motoneuron properties after peripheral nerve injury Chair: Kevin Power
• Tim Cope: New Lessons from Peripheral Nerve Injury: not just a problem in the periphery Introductory Review
  
• Ken Rose: Growth of supernumerary axons from motoneuron dendrites following permanent axotomy
  
• Francisco Alvarez: Reorganization of Ia afferent synapses on motoneurons after peripheral nerve injuries
  
• Robert Fyffe: Plasticity in channel expression and localization in motoneurons after peripheral nerve injury
  

• 9:45-10:15: Coffee break

• 10:15-11:30: New techniques to investigate motor unit properties in humans Chair: Katie Gant
• Kemal Turker: Investigation of synaptic inputs to human motoneurons using frequency-based analysis; peristimulus frequencygram
• Jens Bo Nielsen: Estimating recruitment gain of the motoneuronal pool in humans
• Alexandra Lackmy & Veronique Marchand-Pauvert: Motoneurone pool properties and TMS in humans
• Zev Rymer & Ping Zhou: Use of novel high density EMG grids to track motoneuron disease
• Francesco Negro & Dario Farina: Sampling issues in correlation analysis between motor unit spike trains

• 11:30-12:00: General Discussion (Christine Thomas)

Christine Thomas

• 12:00: Apéritif with hors d’œuvre.

• Afternoon free

• 19:00-undetermined time: Young researchers’ party (more information)
  

Monday 7/12

• 8:30-10:00: Cellular basis of motoneuron excitability and firing properties  Chair: Estelle Drobac
• Marc Binder: Deconstructing persistent calcium currents in motoneurons: the where, the how and the why Introductory Review
• Thomas Hamm: Comparison of discharge properties and persistent inward currents in normal motoneurons and motoneurons following incomplete spinal injury
  
• Marin Manuel et al.: Fast subthreshold oscillations and sub-primary firing range in adult mouse motoneurons: implications for their motor units
  
• Marc Davenne: The axon initial segments of mouse motoneurons
  
• Florence Cotel & Jean-François Perrier: Serotonin induces central fatigue in motoneurons
  

• 10:00-10:30: Coffee break

• 10:30-11:45: Realistic models of motoneurons Chair: Matthieu Chardon 
• CJ Heckman: Models of populations of motor units
  
• Randy Powers: Simulations of abnormal motor unit discharge behavior in spastic muscle.
  
• Claude Meunier et al: Mechanisms of mixed mode oscillations in mouse spinal motoneurons
  
• Gwendal Le Masson: Energy unbalance and motoneuron degeneration in ALS
  
• Bob Lee: Relationship between pathology dynamics and treatment strategies: ALS and SCI case studies. 

• 11:45-12:15: General Discussion (Rob Brownstone)

Rob Brownstone

• 12:15-13:15: Lunch

• 13:15-14:30: Poster Session 3 and Coffee

• 14:30-15:00: Poster discussion (Christiane Rossi-Durand & Kelvin Jones)

• 15:00-16:30: Motoneuron properties after spinal cord injury and cerebral stroke Chair: Anna Hudson
• Jonathan Carp: Spinal transection in adult rats alters the intrinsic properties of urethral sphincter motoneurons recorded in vitro 
• Christine Thomas, Samuel Beckerman, James Atkison, Jeffrey Winslow, Marine Dididze: Alterations in motoneuron properties with chronic human spinal cord injury.
• Inge Zijdewind, Katie Merritt, Rob Bakels & Christine Thomas: Do additional inputs change voluntary motor unit firing rates after spinal cord injury?
• Rose Katz: Pathophysiology of spinal circuitry following cerebral lesions in humans
• Jayne Garland: Motoneurone afterhyperpolarization time course in humans following stroke

• 16:30-17:00: General Discussion (Paul Hodges)

Paul Hodges

• 17:30: Bus to the meeting Dinner

• 19:00-23:45: Meeting Dinner (more information)
  

Tuesday 7/13

• 8:30-10:15: Motoneuron diseases (from genetics to pathophysiology) (1) Chair: Amélie Freal
• Bernhard Keller: Novel aspects of motoneuron diseases: from genetics to pathophysiology Introductory Review
• Judith Melki: Genomics and transcriptomics in motor neuron disease
  
• Suzie Lefebvre: Cellular functions of the spinal muscular atrophy gene product SMN in RNA metabolism
• Mihai Moldovan: Abnormal motor axon function in the transgenic SOD1 (G127X) mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Séverine Deforges & Frédéric Charbonnier: Exercise-specific induced neuroprotection in ALS mice.
• Kelvin Jones & Tessa Gordon: Motor unit type and disease progression in the SOD1 mouse model of ALS and strategies for neuroprotection.

• 10:15-10:45: Coffee break

• 10:45 - 12:15: Motoneuron diseases (from genetics to pathophysiology) (2) Chair: Walter Babiec
• George Mentis: Altered intrinsic properties and synaptic dysfunction of motor neurons in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy 
• Cristina Zona: Branched-chain amino acids induce hyperexcitability in motorneurons. Their possible involvement in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ethiopathology
• Jacques Durand: Postnatal alterations in lumbar motoneurons from SOD1 transgenic mice, an animal model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 
• Claire Meehan & Hans Hultborn: In vivo recordings from motoneurones in the SOD mouse
• Daniel Zytnicki: Searching for altered properties of motoneurons in adult SOD1 mice
• Rob Brownstone: In search of lost motoneurons or "A la recherche du motoneurone perdu"

• 12:15-12:45: General Discussion (Zev Rymer)

Zev Rymer

• 12:45-13:45: Lunch

• 13:45 - 14:45: Final Discussion (Janet Taylor & Jørn Hounsgaard)

• 14:45 - 15:00: Best posters awards; Announcement of the next meeting