Big questions in neuroscience and current limits of knowledge

Academy Professor Kai Kaila, University of Helsinki: Big blind spots in neuroscience, and limits of inquiry

Academician of Science Riitta Hari, Aalto University: How to react fast with a slow brain

Academy Professor Eero Castrén, University of Helsinki: How does the brain work?

Professor Mark Daly, University of Helsinki: Genetics in Psychiatry: New hope for understanding and progress

Professor Risto Ilmoniemi, Aalto University: The need for big and clear questions - and for technologies to solve them

Academy Professor Asla Pitkänen, University of Eastern Finland: 150 years of epilepsy treatment – why no improvement in therapy response?

Professor Pertti Panula, University of Helsinki: Plasticity of brain transmitter systems in health and major diseases –Good or bad? 

Visiting professor Jonathan Knowles, University of Helsinki: Are we thinking in the right way to understand and treat major diseases of the Brain? 

Associate professor Lauri Parkkonen, AaltoUniversity: Signals from the brain: What can (not) they tell about brain function? 

Academy Professor Anu Suomalainen-Wartiovaara: Why are diseases tissue-specific? 

Academy professor Katri Räikkönen, University of Helsinki: Prenatal programming of mental disorders

Professor Riitta Salmelin, Aalto University: Unraveling neural basis of human cognition: dreams and (current) realities

Professor Eija Kalso, University of Helsinki: Pain: from protection to suffering - why?

Professor Jari Koistinaho, University of Helsinki: Astrocytes challenge neurons as the aristocrats of the human brain

Professor Aarno Palotie, University of Helsinki: What can large scale genetic studies like FinnGen and SUPER provide for neurosciences? 

Professor Mart Saarma, University of Helsinki: Can we develop disease-modifying treatment for neurodegenerative diseases?

Professor Anna-Elina Lehesjoki, Folkhälsan & University of Helsinki: Progressive myoclonus epilepsies - ”simple” Mendelian diseases with many big questions.

Professor Heikki Tanila, University of Eastern Finland: What is causing Alzheimer’s disease?

Professor Petri Ala-Laurila, Universities of Helsinki and Aalto: The Dark Side of Vision: Connecting Visual Perception to Retinal Codes

Assistant Professor Stéphane Deny, Aalto University: Building Computational Models of the Visual System.

Professor Timo Myöhänen, University of Helsinki: Disease-modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases – where are we going and do we ever reach the finish line?

Associate professor Annette Horstmann, University of Helsinki: Brain vs. Food 0 - 1: Cognitive Aspects of Obesity

To gain credits, students write a 1-2-page essay reflecting what they learned from the seminar (a seminar that the students attended on-site or a recorded seminar that the students have viewed in their own time on Moodle).

5 seminars + essays = 1 cr, 10 seminars + essays = 2 cr.

More information and previous lectures are available at the course Moodle page.
(enrolment key: "bigquestions")

Course code in the University of Helsinki: NEUBM-610  

(Students from Aalto or other universities will be given a certificate of passing the course once the essays have been approved by the responsible teacher).

For more information, please contact katri.wegelius@helsinki.fi.