COLLOQUIUM 615
Biomechanics of the brain

26 September — 30 September 2022, Leiden, The Netherlands

Program

Three interdisciplinary sessions, including invited lectures (IL, 30 min each) and short talks (ST, 15 min each), will be held during the Lorentz Workshop. The purpose of each session is not to cover all aspects of brain mechanics and brain dynamics, but rather to highlight the importance of the interactions between these different processes.

  • Interdisciplinary Session 1: The Mechanics of the Brain: This session will focus on the mechanics of the brain, adopting either the point of view of fluid, solid mechanics or fluid structure interactions. The main topics addressed will include drivers of CSF/ISF flow (including perivascular and ciliated fluid motion in the ventricles), role in brain development and cortical folding, cardiac and respiration induced brain deformations, brain clearance pathways and underlying mechanisms, impact of toxic protein accumulation on the mechanical properties of the brain tissue, brain swelling and underlying mechanisms, quantitative imaging of brain mechanics at different scales.
  • Interdisciplinary Session 2: Bridging Solid Mechanics and Brain Network Dynamics: This session will focus on the interactions between brain tissue and the neural networks at different scales. The main topics addressed will include neuronal mechanics at cell scale, relationships between neuronal mechanics (morphology) and neuronal dynamics (function), development of the neuronal networks, physical damage and its impact on function, relationship between the functional connectome and the geometric and physical organization of the structural connectome.
  • Interdisciplinary session 3: Bridging Brain Network Dynamics and Fluid Mechanics: This session will focus on the interactions between flow and transport processes in the brain (oxygen nutrient delivery and metabolic waste removal) and neural networks. The main topics addressed will include metabolic limitations to neuronal network function, neurovascular coupling (including signaling pathways for communication between neurons and vessels and impact of behavioral state), and hemodynamically-based functional imaging (H2O15-PET, fMRI, functional ultrasound).