Welcome to the switchBoard official Blog!

SwitchBoard is an In Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Curie Actions. The duration of the project is 48 months, starting on November 01, 2015.

The switchBoard consortium brings together eleven beneficiaries from eight different countries, combining the expertise of seven academic partners with excellent research and teaching records, one non-profit research organisation, and three fully integrated private sector partners. This European Training Network (ETN) is supported by six Partner Organisations as well as a management team experienced in multi-site training activities and counselled by a scientifically accomplished advisory board.

Taken together, the switchBoard training network provides an international, interdisciplinary platform to educate young scientists at the interface of neurobiology, information processing and neurotechnology.

Friday 18 May 2018

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EARLY STAGE RESEARCHERS' (ESRs) PARTICIPATION AT THE ARVO 2018 ANNUAL MEETING IN HONOLULU

Képtalálat a következőre: „arvo 2018” 
Two  ESRs,  namely Matthew Yedutenko (ESR 7) from the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, in Amsterdam (Principal Investigator: Maarten Kamermans) and Antonia Stefanov (ESR 10) from the Italian National Research Council, Institute of Neuroscience in Pisa, Italy (Principal Investigator: Enrica Strettoi) represented the switchBoard project at one of the world's biggest and most renowned conferences, the ARVO 2018 Annual Meeting hosted by Honolulu, Hawaii this year. 

ESR 7 presented his data at a Paper Session themed to Photosensitive cells with the title: Cones adapt to higher-order stimulus statistics. He received great feedback following his presentation and was happy to answer or discuss any questions and comments he was addressed to.


ESR 10 was an invited moderator of the Neuroprotection Poster Session where she gained insight into the most up to date therapeutic strategies in Retinitis Pigmentosa and other retinopathies. Furthermore, she presented her data in the Photoreceptor degeneration Poster Session, where she interacted with numerous young and senior researchers, sharing opinions and inspiring each-others' research work. Following her presentation she received several invitations for job interviews from the United States. 

The Strettoi Lab at a Poster Session:


The ARVO is well-known for organizing Keynote Lectures inviting reputed and famous researchers to share their knowledge. This year one of the Keynote Lectures was held by Professor Jennifer Doudna, discoverer and inventor of the CRISP-Cas9 gene-editing technology. This technology is revolutionizing gene-therapy, the limit of our possibilities is the starry sky. 

ESR 7 with Jennifer Doudna:


Besides attending paper and poster sessions, symposia, workshops, keynote lectures and social events, the ESRs had the opportunity to get introduced to the most up-to-date technologies currently used in Vision Research and Ophthalmology at the Exhibit Area. To date, the greatest achievement in  fundus examination is a new technology, called OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography), a very quick and effective method for visualizing the living retinal structure. The instrument can produce a cross-sectional view of this nervous tissue using only the reflectance characteristics of the light simply through our pupils, as you can see it demonstrated by the Strettoi Lab.



The ARVO Meetings are excellent opportunities for young researchers to present their data, get involved in new collaborations, receive job offers, learn about new technologies and latest experimental result and to find sponsors or funding options. Next year's ARVO 2019 Annual Meeting will be organized in Vancouver, Canada. Registration and abstract submission is now open.

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