Joint BRAINCITY & EMERALD Opening
&NENCKI - BRAINCITY - DANDRITE symposium
14-15th OCTOBER 2025
About
Dear Colleagues,
On the behalf of the:
- Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology and its Director Agnieszka Dobrzyń, and
- BRAINCITY, Center of Excellence for Neural Plasticity & Brain Disorders; a Nencki-EMBL partnership, funded as an International Research Agenda by Foundation for Polish Science, and its President Leszek Kaczmarek, and
- EMERALD, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and Nencki Research Alliance for Life Science Discoveries and its Board Chair Adam Kłosin
DANDRITE is Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience, Aarhus, Denmark. DANDRITE was established by Lundbeckfonden and Aarhus University in 2013 and performs basic and translational research in the brain and the nervous system, being an active partner of the EMBL.
Leszek Kaczmarek, BRAINCITY President
Adam Kłosin, EMERALD Board Chair
Support
The symposium is organized by Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory and Nencki Research Alliance for Life Discoveries (EMERALD), and Center of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders BRAINCITY in collaboration with the The Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience (DANDRITE).
EMERALD is supported by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Poland grant no. MNiSW/2024/DWM/272.
BRAINCITY is supported by the European Funds for Smart Economy 2021-2027 grant no. FENG.02.01-IP.05-0010/24.
Venue & map
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology
Neurobiology Centre Conference Hall, 1st floor
3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
From Arrivals go to Lotnisko Chopina Przyloty 02 bus stop, where you can take bus 175 (towards Pl. Piłsudskiego) or bus 188 (towards Gocławek Wschodni). The ride takes approximately 18 minutes. Get off at the “Banacha Szpital 02” bus stop on Żwirki i Wigury Street. From there, it’s less than a 12-minute walk to the Institute (850 m). Tickets can be purchased from ticket machines located at the bus stop or inside the bus. Only card payments are accepted. A 20-minute ticket costs 3.40 PLN.
From train station by tram:
From the central train station you might take a tram 7, 9 or 33 from Dworzec Centralny 08 tram stop (P+R Al.Krakowska or Banacha direction) and get off on Plac Narutowicza 13 tram stop on Grójecka Street. The ride takes approximately 10 minutes. From Narutowicza Square it is less than a 10 – minute walk to the Institute (700m). Tickets can be purchased from ticket machines located at the tram stop or inside the tram. Only card payments are accepted. A 20-minute ticket costs 3.40 PLN.
By taxi:
You can catch a taxi outside the terminal or the central train station.
Alternatively, you can you can use ride-hailing services such as Uber or Bolt or call one of the taxi companies directly: Ele TAXI +48 22 811 11 11, MPT Taxi +48 22 19191, WAWA Taxi +48 22 333 4444; SAWA Taxi +48 22 644 44 44.
The ride from the airport to the Institute typically takes 10–15 minutes and costs approximately 50 PLN (around 12 EUR).
Program
Tuesday, October 14th, 2025
Joint BRAINCITY & EMERALD Opening
10:00 - 11:15 Welcome from Prof. Agnieszka Dobrzyń, Director of the Nencki Institute
Speeches by Invited Guests
EMERALD Presentation (Adam Kłosin)
BRAINCITY Presentation (Leszek Kaczmarek)
11:15 - 12:30 Press conference & Nencki/BRAINCITY visit
NENCKI - BRAINCITY - DANDRITE symposium
13:30 - 15:30 Lectures
Taro Kitazawa (DANDRITE)
Recording cellular memory to unveil the molecular mechanism of brain memory
Anna Beroun (Nencki BRAINCITY)
Synaptic plasticity in the central amygdala in natural and addictive rewards processing
Chao Sun (DANDRITE)
The molecular logistics of brain synapses
15:30 - 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 - 18:00 Lectures
Leszek Kaczmarek (Nencki BRAINCITY)
From the brain to mind with MMP-9
Dong Won Thomas Kim (DANDRITE)
Mapping neuronal vulnerability and disease progression in Alzheimer’s
Jan Kaminski (Nencki BRAINCITY)
Neuronal mechanisms of working memory: Inside and outside the focus of attention
18:30 Wine & Cheese by the Posters
Wednesday, October 15th, 2025
8:30 - 10:30 Lectures
Anna Klawonn (DANDRITE)
Glial mechanisms of motivational states and Parkinson’s Disease
Aleksandra Pekowska (Nencki)
Evolution of primate fetal astrocytes
Magnus Kjærgaard (DANDRITE)
Using de novo protein design to probe molecular mechanisms in neuronal signaling
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 - 12:20 Lectures
Ewelina Knapska (Nencki BRAINCITY)
Neuronal circuits in the central amygdala shaping social and food-related motivation
Fiona Müllner (DANDRITE)
Thalamic circuits for active vision
12:20 Nencki Institute Tour
Registration
Registration will close on 30th September 2025
Please note that fields marked with an asterisk (*) on registration form are required
Contact info
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology
Polish Academy of Sciences
3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: ndb2025@nencki.edu.pl