UL Brings Together Remarkable American and Baltic Neuroscientists

A number of outstanding neuroscientists will give lectures at the conference: Dr Inga Kardish and Dr Thomas van Groen from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (USA), Dr Harry Vinters from California State University, Los Angeles (USA), Dr Aleksander Zarnovsky and Ago Rinken from the University of Tartu (Estonia), and Dr Augustas Pivoriunas from the State Research Institute Centre for Innovative Medicine (Lithuania). The conference will focus on research in neurodegenerative illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as on the latest pharmacotherapeutic strategies. The conference is open to scientists, doctoral students, medicine doctors, medical residents and students. Neuroscientist Dr Inga Kardish, who obtained her master’s degree at the UL Faculty of Biology, is Associate Professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Her research centre focuses on the aging processes, Alzheimer’s disease and high blood pressure. She has more than 40 articles published in international scientific journals. The conference is sponsored by the Baltic American Freedom Foundation, and is organized by the UL Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology. Scientists from this department have developed collaboration with neuroscientists from the USA – Dr Inga Kadish, Dr Thomas Groen, and Dr Harry Vinter – which resulted in several international journal publications (e.g. Journal of Neuroscience Research). Productive collaboration also implies an opportunity to meet in person to discuss scientific achievements and future plans. This time the meeting will bring together colleagues from the Baltic States, who work in similar areas – neuroscience and pharmacology with the focus on neurodegenerative illnesses and the latest strategies in pharmacotherapy. The conference will be held in English, and it is aimed at exchanging knowledge and starting a new scientific project in the nearest future. Neuroscientist Dr Thomas van Groen, representing the University of Alabama, studies the role of amyloid beta protein, its deposition and clearance in the brain. He has exhaustive experience in conducting behavioural tests for animals, in order to investigate Alzheimer’s disease and aging processes on mice. Groen’s articles have been published in more than 100 internationally quotable scientific journals. Neuropathologist Dr Harry Vinters is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles. He has more than 30-year experience in researching Alzheimer’s disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy in humans. He is a co-author of more than 300 publications in internationally quotable scientific journals. Harry Vinters is a scientist of Latvian origin, and he has already given guest lectures in Latvia before. Guest lecturers from the Baltic States – Aleksander Zarkovsky, Ago Rinken, and Augustas Pivoriunas – are experienced scientists and experts in biochemistry and cell biology. Programme