6^th International Conference on Brain Disorders and Therapeutics September 13-15, 2018 Copenhagen, Denmark (Park Inn by Radisson Copenhagen Airport Hotel Engvej 171 DK-2300)

Biography:

Kim Baden Kristensen is the CEO and Co-founder of Brain+, which specializes in digital therapeutics for brain rehabilitation and remediation, specifically for the recovery of impaired cognitive functions due to injury or disease. Its award winning Brain+ apps are being clinically tested in Parkinson’s disease, major depressive disorder and traumatic brain injury patients, and is being used by Danish national team athletes to enhance cognitive performance. Brain+ is also working on pre-symptomatic detection of Alzheimer’s disease in collaboration with leading European universities, providers, and patient organizations

Abstract:

As our knowledge of brain disorders evolves, with new studies shedding new light on the underlying mechanisms and as new technologies become available that offer new means of measuring and collecting data, we need to evolve the way we measure, quantify, test brain disorders and the way we design and use health outcome measures, both in clinical practice and in scientific studies. In this workshop we will cover, discuss and analyze topics  such as; patient reported outcomes, use of real world data and evidence, psychometric measures and tests, cognitive measures and tests, behavioral measures and tests, and more. The aim of the workshop is to share knowledge and map the possible future evolution of health outcome measures related to brain disorders.

Biography:

Cristina Manuela Dragoi and Alina Crenguta Nicolae are associate professors at the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Farmacy “Carol Davila”, Bucharest, Romania. Their research in the field of biochemical mechanisms involved in multidrug resistance, and the passion and interest in investigating blood-brain-barrier pharmaco-therapeutical frontiers have remained as central pillars of their scientific activity. So far, the scientific research in this area is supported by over 40 articles published in ISI journals, 2 books and 5 book chapters published internationally. In addition, the research undertaken over these years has been appreciated by winning several awards

Abstract:

The efficiency of the central nervous system disorders pharmacotherapy is a major challenge, mainly due to the impossibility of many drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and reach sufficiently high concentrations in certain target areas in the brain. The BBB possesses an outstanding ability to protect the brain against xenobiotics and potentially poisonous metabolites. Owing to this, ATP binding cassette (ABC) export proteins have gained tremendous interest in research. Of these efflux transporters of the blood-brain barrier, the most studied in terms of the mechanisms of action and regulatory effects, is the P-glycoprotein (Pgp, ABCB1), which modulates the transport of a large number of therapeutic substances and is predominantly expressed  in the cerebral capillary endothelium. The action on the cerebral tissue and the beneficial effects of drugs or xenobiotics are dependent on their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. ABC transporters represent an integral part of the human transportome and are of particular interest at the BBB as they significantly contribute to brain homeostasis. In addition, they appear to be involved in many CNS diseases. Therefore studying their mechanisms of action as well as their signaling cascades and responses to internal and external stimuli will help us understand the pathogenesis of these diseases. Signaling cascades underlying the expression and function of these proteins will be discussed as well as their role in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and brain tumors.

Biography:

Justin James Kennedy, “The Brain Coach” is a globally recognized Professor of Neuroscience, Executive Coach and Leadership Specialist. With over 20 years of C-Suite executive coaching experience globally in the USA, UK and South Africa, he translates his neuroscience research into practical business skills. His specialties include: coaching on performance leadership to deliver measurable business results; coaching on the business vision, brain management and corporate strategy; advising professionals on how to optimize systemic change and; improving executive brain functions to enhance mental focus, self and team performance. His first book "Brain Triggers" is co-authored by the world’s #1 coach, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith. He has also published innumerable corporate studies that demonstrate how to improve and sustain executive performance. In 2014, he delivered a TED talk on practical ways to control their brain to perform at peak and even increase IQ and memory.

Abstract:

We do know that the more severe the injury the less likely the person will fully recover. The length of time a person remains in a coma and duration of loss of memory (amnesia) following the coma are useful in predicting how one will recover. The Rancho Los Amigos Levels of Cognitive Functioning (RLCF) is one of the best and most widely used ways of describing recovery from brain injury. It describes ten levels of cognitive (thinking) recovery. Research has shown that the speed at which a person progresses through the levels of the RLCF can predict how fully a person will recover. Recently Dr. Kennedy had generalized tonic–clonic seizure (also known as a grand mal seizure) is a type of generalized seizure that affects the entire brain seizure/epileptic fit. He explains his personal traumatic neurological experiences in detail during this presentation.

Biography:

Mina Sadighi Alvandi is a PhD candidate at the Radboud University, Nijmegen. Her research interest is in drug addiction. Through the use of behavioral, molecular and electrophysiological methods she studies the effects of the drug morphine on neural plasticity and neural activity of the hippocampus. She also has experience in electroencephalography from rats with absence epilepsy. She published more than 10 papers in the field of Neuroscience.

Abstract:

Drug addiction is associated with aberrant memory and permanent functional and structural changes in neural circuits. It is known that exposure to drugs like morphine is associated with positive emotional states and reward-related memory. In animal models conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm is a behavioral model used to study the rewarding and aversive effects of drugs. By associating the rewarding effects of drugs with contextual information, this paradigm allows the assessment of drug-related emotional memories. Adult neurogenesis, the generation of neuronal precursors, is restricted to a very limited set of brain regions including subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricle wall and subgranular lining of the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Dendritic spines have been considered as essential components for neuronal connectivity and synaptic plasticity. Neurogenesis and spinogenesis participate in hippocampal functions like learning and memory. However, the underlying mechanisms in terms of neural plasticity in the ventral hippocampus, a region involved in associative memory and emotional behaviors, are not fully understood. Therefore, we measured adult neurogenesis, dendritic spine density and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and TrkB mRNA expression as parameters for synaptic plasticity in the ventral hippocampus. Male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to the CPP paradigm and received 10 mg/kg morphine. The rats were used to evaluate neurogenesis by immunohistochemical markers Ki67 and doublecortin (DCX). Golgi staining was done to measure spine density and real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to assess BDNF/TrkB expression levels. We found that morphine-treated rats exhibited more place conditioning as compared with saline-treated rats and animals that were exposed to the CPP without any injections. Morphine induced CPP significantly increased the number of Ki67 and DCX-labeled cells in the ventral dentate gyrus. Additionally, we found increased dendritic spine density in both CA1 and dentate gyrus and an enhancement of BDNF/TrkB mRNA levels in the whole ventral hippocampus. In conclusion, we show that morphine-induced reward-related memory is associated with neural and synaptic plasticity changes in the ventral hippocampus. Such neural changes could underlie context-induced drug relapse.

Biography:

Vera Siniukova has received her Bachelor's degree from the Tomsk State University; Master's degree from the Saint Petersburg State University and now is a PhD student at the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics. She is an active member of all kinds of scientific activities, always has been among the top 5% students of the class in terms of academic achievements and has published several papers. Currently, she is also a Manager of the scientific project supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). 

Abstract:

Amyloids are the fibrillar protein aggregates with cross-β structure. Traditionally amyloids were associated exclusively with pathology: incurable diseases in animals and humans such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. However, nowadays more data is emerging about functional amyloids which are not linked with diseases but play essential roles in cellular processes. Until recently there were no universal methods for large-scale proteomic screening for amyloids. A new universal proteomic approach which may enable identification of a broad range of amyloid-forming proteins (PSIA LC-MALDI) was created in our laboratory. Using this method, we identified proteins which were candidates for the role of functional amyloids in young male rat’s brain. One of the identified proteins was STXBP1 (syntaxin-binding protein 1). This protein is synthesized in brain and takes part in vesicular transport and neurotransmitter secretion. It’s been shown that some mutations in this protein cause early infantile epileptic encephalopathy (EIEE), or Ohtahara syndrome, which is one of the most severe forms of age-related epileptic encephalopathies. Bioinformatical algorithm ArchCandy predicted 3 potentially amyloidogenic regions in C-terminal part of the STXBP1 protein. We checked the presence of amyloid aggregates of STXBP1 in rat’s brain using semi-denaturating detergent agarose gel electrophoresis (SDD-AGE) and protein fractionation. We found out that STXBP1 forms small detergent-insoluble aggregates, which is one of the basic characteristics of amyloids, so we can make an assumption that this protein has amyloid properties. Th e reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project â„– 18-34-00419.

Biography:

Svetlana Lublinsky is completing her PhD studies under supervision of Professor Alon Friedman and Professor Ilan Shelef (Ben Gurion University, Israel). She has a Bachelor's degree in Electromechanical Engineering, and a Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering (Technion, Israel). Her research focuses on development of image processing methods, identification of imaging biomarkers, building prognostic and diagnostic tools. She has published and co-authored at 16 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Disease progression and delayed neurological complications are common after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). We aimed at targeting the potential of quantitative blood-brain barrier (BBB) imaging to predict disease progression and neurological outcome. We retrospectively, blindly and semi-automatically, analyzed magnetic resonance images from 124 aSAH patients scanned at four time points (24-48 h, 6-8 days, 12-15 days and 6-12 months) after the initial hemorrhage. Volume of brain with apparent pathology and BBB-dysfunction, subarachnoid space and lateral ventricles were measured. Neurological status on admission was scored using the Rosen-Macdonald scores (RMS). Clinical outcome at >six months was assessed using the extended Glasgow outcome scale. Based on repeated volumetric measures of pathological brain tissue and CSF, patients were grouped into progressive and non-progressive disease course. No differences were found between the groups in aneurysm locations, neurological status on admission or initial brain pathology. Females were older and more likely to have a non-progressive course compared to males. Progressive course was associated with worse outcome at >six months. A significant brain volume with BBB-dysfunction was found already 24-48 hours after admission, and persisted at all-time points. Brain volume with BBB-dysfunction was significantly larger in patients with progressive compared with non-progressive course. BBB-dysfunction increased the likelihood of a normal brain tissue to turn into a pathological one. A multi-linear regression model revealed a significant power for BBB-dysfunction in combination with RMS at 24-48 hours to predict patient outcome. We suggest that early identification of BBB-dysfunction may serve as a key predictive biomarker for neurological outcome in aSAH.

Biography:

Redina Hasani is a sixth-year student in the Second Faculty of Medicine in Charles University in Prague. Her involvement in Pediatrics and in issues in her home country that can find improvement has found her as part of the medical community every summer. Amongst her projects are helping assess methods to aid children in need and families through the foundation “Femijet ne Nevoje”. She is also the Coordinator for Albania and Kosovo for the newest research project in cystic fibrosis by Vertex Pharmaceutical.

Abstract:

Expressed emotions and caregiver’s burden perceived by the family members has an impact on remission and relapses in children with autism. The expressed emotions and burden perceived by the parents of children with autism living in nuclear families in a country such as Albania where social security is far from perfect, gives an indication of the impact these emotions have in children with autism. Parents of 71 children with autism (>3 yrs. & without any comorbid disorder), in age range 4.9±0.2 yrs., attending the Community Center of Mental Health No.1 Tirana, Albania, were enrolled for a standardized interview after taking informed consent. Tools used were burden assessment schedule (BAS). 62 children (40 M, 22 F) had both the parents while nine had a single parent. Mean BAS score for mothers and fathers of male patients were 56±8.56 and 42±10.34 respectively, for female patients were 56±7.36 and 40±9.25 respectively. Mean criticism score for mothers and fathers of male patients were 1.97±0.46 & 2.48±0.31 respectively while for female patients were 1.85±0.48 and 2.17±0.49 respectively. Thus, mothers and fathers of children with autism behave differently of perceived burden and expressed emotions and the response for female and male child is also different. Burden perceived (BAS score) by mothers is higher than by fathers for both male and female child. Mothers showed more emotional involvement (more for male than female child) while fathers showed more criticism.

Biography:

Saeed Akhavan is a joint PhD student between University of Grenoble (France) and University of Tehran (Iran). His PhD thesis is in the field of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience.

Abstract:

Recent studies have shown that somatosensory cortex (SoCx) is the main starting region of absence epileptic seizures. This theory has been confirmed in several well-known animal models such as genetic absence epileptic rat from Strasbourg (GAERS). In this research, we locally analyze seizures using the data recorded from different layers of SoCx of a GAERS. An electrode with 16 sensors (sensors inter-distance: 150 mm, sampling rate: 20 kHz) was vertically implanted in SoCx and the data were recorded. We localize the active layers of SoCx during seizures, and investigate the temporal changes of seizures. We achieve our goals by exploration of spikes which are the most important characteristics of seizures. The spikes appear synchronously in different layers of SoCx because the data were acquired locally. Hence, when one spike appears, we can consider a spike column including 16 spikes recorded from different layers of SoCx. We first detect the spike columns then, the spike columns are clustered, and a center is assigned to each cluster. Therefore, each spike column is corresponded to a cluster center, and each seizure is described by a sequence of clusters. Based on the topology of clusters centers and the sequence of clusters, we present the spatio-temporal analysis of seizures. The obtained results show that there are two kinds of spike columns which randomly appear during seizures. One of them is dominant and the other one is unstable. Moreover, it is shown that layers II/III and VI of SoCx are the origins of these spike columns.

Biography:

El Mostafi Hicham is a PhD student studying the interactions between stress and alcohol use disorders in adolescent rat and neuroprotective role of argan oil, at the Center for Doctoral Studies (4^th year), Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco. In 2015 he obtained his Master's degree in Human Neurocognition and Population Health. During this training he studied the causal links between school performance and drug use among a population of high school adolescent. Since 2015 he is a member of the Laboratory of Genetic, Neuroendocrinology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco. He has been working on the effect of early life ethanol exposure (in utero and/or adolescence) on the vulnerability to develop alcohol dependence, cognitive and emotional disorders in young people. His studies are based on the use of the preclinical model to discover this phenomenon in rodents and explored the neurobiological mechanisms underlying long-term vulnerability to alcohol use disorders.

Abstract:

Adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure can lead to the development of psychiatric disorders, including alcoholism in adulthood. This work aim to address the following questions: does AIE exposure alter response to subsequent stress challenge? And, does stress experience concurrent with AIE exposure further exacerbate increased drinking? Rats received intermittent ethanol exposure (ip 3g/kg/2jx8) during post-natal days (PND) 30–44, and emotional responses (anxio-depressive like behaviors) were measured after 6 weeks of the last AIE. Our results show that AIE exposed rats exhibited altered response to forced swim (FS) stress (increased immobility time) and open field (OF) stress (decreased locomotor activity). Similar results were obtained in rats exposed for 6 weeks consecutive (PND 44-85), to unpredictable mild chronic stress (UCMS), modeling depression. Also, when AIE is associated with UCMS in a third group of rats, the emotional response is severely impaired. In adulthood, the voluntary consumption of ethanol was measured in the two-bottle choice paradigm (water vs. ethanol 10%). AIE-exposed rats that received UCMS showed a greater increase in ethanol intake (~4.2 g/kg) compared to AIE no-stress rats (~3.1 g/kg) and control stress rats (~2.6 g/kg), after 6 weeks of free ethanol consumption. Collectively, these data indicate a reciprocal interaction between stress and alcoholism, with AIE exposure altered stress responsiveness and UCMS exposure further increasing AIE-induced escalation of drinking. Another question, our study aims to exploded is: does argan oil (AO) dietary affect the behavioral response, biochemical and oxidative profiles of amygdala involved in emotional responses to stress. The variation of these parameters was evaluated in AIE-rats receiving dietary 10 ml/kg/day of AO, starting from weaning, for 9 weeks (PND 21-114). Our results show that supplementation has resulted in an increase in locomotor activity, reduced sensitivity to frightening environments (OF, FS) in UCMS rats. Moreover, oxidative stress markers, and corticosterone show a tendency to be regulated. These results suggest, for the first time, a neuroprotective effect of AO against disorders induced by stress and alcohol use interaction in adolescence.

Biography:

Andre Galinowski completed his Medical School from Paris 12 Val de Marne University and studied Psychiatry in Paris and Ottawa (Canada). He graduated in Psychology from Paris V René Descartes University and in Neurobiology from Paris VI Pierre and Marie Curie University.

Abstract:

Introduction: The cortical-cerebellar circuit is vulnerable to heavy drinking (HD) in adults. We hypothesized HD adolescents would display early microstructural modifications of the pons/midbrain region, containing core structures of the reward system.

Methods: At age 14, 32 otherwise, symptom-free HD (HD14) and 24 sober adolescents becoming HD at age 16 (HD16), were identified in the community (IMAGEN cohort in 8 European cities) with the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) and compared with abstainers. The money incentive delay (MID) task assessed reward sensitive performance. Voxel-wise statistics of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) values in the thalamo-ponto-mesencephalic region were obtained using tract-based spatial statistics. Projections between the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) were identified by probabilistic tractography.

Results: Significantly different DTI values were detected in a cluster of the upper dorsal pons of HD14 and HD16 adolescents compared with abstainers. When expecting reward: HD14 had higher MID task success scores than abstainers. MID task success scores were linked with the number of tracts in all adolescents.

Conclusion: In symptom-free community adolescents, a region of lower white matter (WM) integrity in the pons at age 14 was associated with current heavy drinking and predicted heavy drinking at 16. Heavy drinking was related to reward sensitivity.

Biography:

Engjellushe Hasani is a Cardiologist near Polyclinic no.3 in Tirana, Albania for more than 20 years. She also works near private practices, and has also taught near many private universities in Tirana. She has completed her PhD near the University of Tirana, Faculty of Medicine after studying for many years’ hypertensive tendencies in the population of Albania. She has published numerous papers in Albania and is a member of Women in Science Society and sits on the board of two important foundations amongst which The Foundation of Children in Need.

Abstract:

Cardiovascular diseases represent a significant burden for patients with dementia. There is conflicting evidence as to which dementia disorder is accompanied by a larger number of comorbidities. We have included in this study 689 persons who were diagnosed with dementia in Neurology and Psychiatry Service, in UHC Mother Teresa, Tirana Albania and are residents in Tirana, Albania. 381 of them was diagnosed with Alzheimer`s disease, 177 with vascular dementia, 24 frontotemporal dementia, 57 Parkinson`s disease dementia and 50 other dementia types. Cardiovascular comorbidities of patients were defined from medical records from hospitalizations; the prescription of cardiovascular drugs was derived from the register of GP and outpatient service of cardiology in Polyclinic no. 3 in Tirana. Patients were diagnosed with Alzheimer´s disease (55.2%), vascular dementia (25.6%), frontotemporal dementia (3.4%), Parkinson´s disease dementia (8.2%), and other dementia types (7.2%). Multinomial logistic regression was applied to find differences in the occurrence of cardiovascular comorbidities and drug prescription among different dementia disorders. All cardiovascular comorbidities were found to be more common in vascular and mixed dementia when compared to Alzheimer´s disease (67% vs. 23%). Diabetes mellitus (DM) (42%) and myocardial infarction (MI) (31%) were significantly less likely to occur in patients suffering from vascular dementia when compared to Alzheimer´s disease patients (DM 16% and MI 6%). Diabetes mellitus was also less likely to be diagnosed in patients with Parkinson´s disease dementia than in Alzheimer´s disease. There were no significant differences in the frequency of cardiovascular comorbidities between frontotemporal dementia patients and Alzheimer´s disease patients.

Biography:

Faezeh Nemati Karimooy has been graduated as an MD from Mashhad Univeristy of Medical Sciences, Iran. After graduation she immediately started to work as a GP and the Head of a general health center in Taybad city. Along with her GP career, she was engaged in neuroscience researches. She has also written a book in Persian- translation and complition- named “Sleep and Its Disorders” which is going to be published soon. As an MD, she is also interested in emergencies and collaborated in writing a book in Persian on procedures in emergency medicine.

Abstract:

Anabolic-androgenic steroids make a cluster of hormones consisting natural male hormone, testosterone and its synthetic derivation. One of the most appealing drugs of this family is stanozolol which is abused by athletes in high doses for improving their energy, appearance and physical size. It is proved before not only dose stanozolol cause changes in behaviour; it also has various physical effects. Researches have been conducted on its neurotoxic impacts on CNS most of which are psychological-based. This study was performed to examine the apoptotic effect of stanozolol on different parts of rat hippocampus. For this experiment, 16 male Wistar rats were divided randomly and equally in two groups (control and experimental). The experimental group received subcutaneous injections of stanozolol (5 mg/Kg/day) for 28 days uninterruptedly. The control group was treated with normal saline in the same period. Then, animals were anesthetized and their brains were extracted. After routine procedures, the brain sections were stained with toluidine blue and TUNEL for dark neuron and apoptotic cell detection respectively. In order to compare the groups, the mean numbers of TUNEL-positive cells and dark neurons per unit area were calculated with stereological methods and analysed by SPSS software. Our histopathological examination revealed the num­ber of dark neurons and apoptotic cells in the CA1, CA2, CA3 and dentate gyrus of hippocampus have significantly increased in stanozolol group compared to the control group. Therefore, abusing of stanozolol may induce dark neuron and apoptotic cell formation in different regions of hippocampus and cause memory disorders.

Biography:

Redina Hasani is a sixth-year student in the Second Faculty of Medicine in Charles University in Prague. Her involvement in Pediatrics and in issues in her home country that can find improvement has found her as part of the medical community every summer. Amongst her projects are helping assess methods to aid children in need and families through the foundation “Femijet ne Nevoje”. She is also the Coordinator for Albania and Kosovo for the newest research project in cystic fibrosis by Vertex Pharmaceutical

Abstract:

Presently, there is limited information on stroke care in the very old (80 years and older). In part, this is due to a paucity of publications on stroke in the elderly and low participation of this group. Population aging is a summary term to describe shifts in the age distribution of a population toward older ages, most in highly developed countries. In 2050, these figures are projected to be 29% and 18% in developed and developing countries respectively. A stroke occur when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted or severely reduced, depriving brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients. About 85 percent of strokes are ischemic strokes and main etiological factors include high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, diabetes, and obstructive sleep apnea. Stroke incidence rates increase steeply with age. Therefore, we would also expect a rise in the number of elderly patients with stroke in the future. We included in this study 504 patients with ischemic stroke admitted to neurovascular service, in University Hospital Centre “Mother Teresa”, Tirana Albania, between February 2011, and December 2014. Aging-related alterations in cerebral vessels might eventually reduce cerebrovascular reserves and increase the susceptibility of the brain to vascular insufficiency and ischemic injury. Such changes could underlie the increase in morbidity and mortality rates following ischemic stroke in older individuals and the high level of vascular cognitive impairment in this age group. Our results constitute a first step in the understanding of stoke outcomes in those over age 80 and the approaching burden and challenges faced by the healthcare system.

Biography:

Philip Kennedy is the Chief Scientist at Neural Signals Inc. He received his MD from National University of Ireland in 1972 and his PhD from Northwestern University, Chicago in 1983. He has published over 50 refereed papers

Abstract:

There is a general emphasis and movement towards non-invasive techniques and away from invasive neurosurgical procedures in the development of neural prosthetics that would restore movement to paralyzed limbs, control robotic limbs, provide access to computers and restore speech. The main issues come down to signal resolution and task requirements. For example, low resolution signals are adequate for communication with a computer. These signals could be from electroencephalography (EEG) or even residual electromyography (EMG) from a locked-in patient’s face for example. Even some movements of a robotic limb or paralyzed limb can be controlled with external EEG signals. Invasive, internal signals such as brain surface electrocorticography (ECoG), for example, are also being used for those tasks. ECoG signals, however, do not have the resolution of single unit signals but have made remarkable progress in developing control paradigms. So why bother with neurosurgical invasion of the brain to obtain high resolution single unit signals? There are at least two tasks that require these invasive, high resolution signals: fine digit movements and conversational speech. However, an alternative approach to solving the control issues for these highly precise tasks is to use low resolution signals combined with high performing deep mind computers. In other words, low resolution signals such as EEG might be adequate if combined with powerful neural net based computers. In that situation, ECoG and single unit recordings will become a thing of the past. The pros and cons of these approaches will be presented in this keynote talk.