Introduction
Jacques Balthazart reached the age of 65 on June 29, 2014 and according to the Belgian rules has to retire from all his official functions at the University of Liege, though he is not planning to end his scientific career at this point. On this occasion, we organized another (last?) International Conference on Hormones, Brain and Behavior (ICHBB) in the tradition that he had initiated in the mid-eighties. This conference met in Bielfeld Germany in 1982, in Liege Belgium in 1984 and 1989, in Tours France in 1993, in Torino Italy in 1996, in Madrid Spain in 2000 and again in Torino in 2009. We organized it once more in Liege as a 3-day conference on June 25-27, 2014.
The conference included 6 symposia including each 4 invited talks and 3 plenary lectures (See program below). In addition, a few shorter contributed talks were included in the symposia and all participants were able to present posters describing their recent work.
The conference focused on the themes that Jacques studied in his career including sexual differentiation of brain and behavior, role of brain steroid metabolism in particular aromatase in the control of sexual behavior, sexual motivation, seasonal changes and steroid-induced brain plasticity. The invited and plenary talks werel thus essentially concerned with these themes but other topics in behavioral endocrinology were also covered in the posters.
The conference was oustanding scientifically and extremely enjoyable socially. A personal account written by one participant, Jill Schnedeir can be found in her web site
Charlotte A. Cornil Gregory F. Ball Jacques Balthazart
Scientific program
The full program with abstracts and list of posters can be downloaded as a pdf file by clicking here.
Tuesday June 24
Chair: Charlotte Cornil
17.45 -18.00. Inaugural ceremony with a few welcome words by Rector Bernard Rentier
18.00-19.00. Plenary keynote lecture
Margareth M. McCarthy (Univ. Maryland, Baltimore MD, USA)
50 years on, sexual differentiation of the brain still surprises
Wednesday June 25
Symposium 1 : Sexual differentiation
Chairs: Anne Etgen & Barney Schlinger
09.00-09.30. Geert De Vries (Georgia State Univ., Atlanta GA, USA)
Sexual differentiation of the brain; a whole body perspective
09.30-10.00. Elizabeth Adkins-Regan (Cornell Univ., Ithaca NY, USA)
Avian sex differences: a Tinbergen-inspired approach
10.00-10.30. Chuck Roselli (OHSU, Portland OR, USA)
From barn to bench: using sheep to study sexual differentiation of the brain
10.30-11.00 . Coffee break
11.00-11.30. Julie Bakker (University of Liege, Belgium)
Sexual differentiation of the human brain : fMRI studies
11.30-12.30. Contributed talks
11.30-11.45. Sakuma Y. (University of Tokyo Health Sciences, Japan): Development and
function of the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area.
11.45-12.00. Raskin K., Marie-Luce C., Naulé L., Picot M., Mhaouty-Kodja S. (Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France): Revisting the role of androgen and estrogen receptors in the organization and activation of male behaviors by using conditional mutagenesis in mice
12.00-12.15. Taziaux M. , Staphorsius M., Swaab D.F., Bakker J. (University of Liège, Belgium): Sex difference in kisspeptin expression in the human infundibular nucleus: developmental and hormonal aspects.
12.15-12.30. Kelly A.M., Goodson J.L. (Indiana University, Bloomington, IN): Sexually differentiated functions of hypothalamic oxytocin and vasopessin neurons.
12.30-14.00. Lunch with poster discussion
Symposium 2 : Sexual and social motivation
Chairs: Julie Bakker & Jeff Blaustein
14.00-14.30. Lauren Riters (Univ. Wisconsin, Madison WI, USA)
Pleasure seeking and birdsong: Neuroendocrine regulation of the motivation
to communicate
14.30-15.00. Jim Pfaus (Concordia Univ., Montreal CANADA)
The pleasure principle revisited : How sexual pleasure links sexual arousal,
desire, preference and performance
15.00-15 .30. Rae Silver (Columbia Univ, New York NY, USA)
Sex differences in hormonal remodeling of circadian plasticity
15.30.16.00. Coffee break
16.00-16h30. Bob Meisel (Univ Minnesota, Minneapolis MN, USA)
Why do animals have sex? A neurobiological perspective
16h30-18.00. Contributed talks
16.30-16.45. Schneider J.E. (Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA): Our stolen figures: endocrine disruptors and obesity.
16.45-17.00. Mong J.A., Cusmano D.M., and Viechweg S. (University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD): The median preoptic nucleus (MnPN): a key site for estradiol mediated changes in sleep.
17.00-17.15. Borrow A.P., Cameron N.M. (Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY): A natural model of gonadal steroid effects on emotional lability and risky behavior in females.
17.15-17.30. Charlier T.D., Niessen N.A., Vesel C., Schmidt R, Wiemerslage L., Welch L.R., Balthazart J. (Ohio University, Athens, OH): Distinct roles of androgenic and estrogenic testosterone metabolites in gene regulation underlying male sexual behavior.
17.30-17.45. Dalla C., Kokras N. (University of Athens, Greece): Antidepressant potential of subacute aromatase inhibition.
17.45-18.00. Keller M., Chemineau P., Delgadillo J.A. (INRA/CNRS/University of Tours, Nouzilly, France): Male sexual behavior drives the reactivation of female gonadotrope activity in goats.
Thursday June 26
Symposium 3 : Aromatase and estrogen action
Chairs: Elizabeth Adkins-Regan & Chuck Roselli
09.00-09.30. Per Södersten (Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge SWEDEN)
Steinach versus Young: how the effects of estrogen in the male disappeared and
how the male brain emerged
09.30-10.00. Jon Levine (Wisconsin Univ., Madison WI, USA)
Non-classical estrogen receptor alpha signaling and regulation of body weight
10.00-10.30. Luke Remage-Healey (UMass, Amherst MA, USA)
Rapid changes in brain estrogens and sensorimotor integration
10.30-11.00. Coffee break
11.00-11.30. Jeff Blaustein (UMass, Amherst MA, USA)
Peripubertal stressors influence behavioral response to estradiol later in life
11.30-12.30. Plenary lecture
Chair: Gregory Ball
Barney Schlinger (UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA)
Androgens, courtship, and athleticism: lessons from an exuberant tropical bird
12.30-14.00. Lunch with poster discussion
Symposium 4 : Neuroprotection and endocrine disruptors
Chairs: Margareth M. McCarthy & Colin Saldanha
14.00-14.30. Anne Etgen (Albert Einstein, New York NY, USA)
Estradiol reduces death of hippocampal pyramidal neurons subjected to global
ischemia: cellular mediators
14.30-15.00. Luis Miguel Garcia Segura (Cajal Institute, Madrid, SPAIN)
Neuroprotective actions of brain aromatase
15.00-15.30. Michael Schumacher (INSERM, Kremlin Bicêtre-Paris FRANCE)
Myelin regeneration with androgens
15.30.16.00. Coffee break
16.00-16.30. Gian Carlo Panzica (Torino Univ., Torino ITALY)
Sexually dimorphic effects of endocrine disruptors on brain and behavior
16.30-17.30. Contributed talks
16.30-16.45. Grattan D.R., Cashen S., Larsen C.M., Kokay I.C., Brown R.S.E., Wyatt A., Le Tissier P.R. (University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand): Impaired postpartum maternal behaviour following conditional deletion of the prolactin receptor from GABAergic neurons.
16.45-17.00. Wild J. M. (University of Auckland, New Zealand): Involvement of the avian song system in reproductive behaviour.
17.00-17.15. Groothuis T.G.G., RettenbacherS., Hsu B-Y., Rie Henriksen R. (University of Groningen, the Netherlands): Context-dependent effects of maternal
testosterone: Solving a paradox.
17.15-17.30. von Engelhardt N., Langen E., Goerlich-Jansson,V. (University of Bielefeld,
Germany): Transgenerational effects of the social environment transmitted
through the avian egg.
17.30-20.00. Poster discussion and Belgian beers tasting
Friday June 27
Symposium 5 : Seasonality/Plasticity
Chairs: Elaine Hull & Luis Miguel Garcia-Segura
09.00-09.30. Tyler Stevenson (Aberdeen Univ., Aberdeen UK)
Reversible epigenetics and seasonal neuroendocrine plasticity
09.30-10.00. Kiran Soma (Univ. British Columbia, Vancouver CANADA)
Local steroid synthesis in the brain…and other organs
10.00-10.30. Annemie Van der Linden (Antwerp Univ., Antwerp BELGIUM)
Magnetic resonance imaging of brain plasticity in songbirds
10.30-11.00. Coffee break
11.00-11.30. John Wingfield (Univ. California, Davis CA, USA)
Changes in regulation of behavioral traits over the life course: diversity of
mechanisms
11.30-12.30. Contributed talks
11.30-11.45. Wade J. (Michigan State University, East Lansing MI): Do estradiol and specific z-chromosome genes work in concert to masculinize the zebra finch song system?
11.45-12.00. Steyaert S., Diddens J., Van der Linden A. , Vanden Berghe W., De Meyer T. (University of Ghent, Belgium): A genome-wide search for epigenetically regulated genes in zebra finch cell lines using methylcap-seq and RNA-seq.
12.00-12.15. Alward B.A., Chan T.T., Rownd K., Weidenbenner H., Balthazart J., Ball G.F. (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD): Anatomical specificity in the action of testosterone in the regulation of song and underlying neuroplasticity in canaries.
12.15-12.30. Caro S.P., Aldredge R.A., Schaper S.V., Dawson A., Sharp P.J., Visser M.E. (Netherlands Institute of Ecology , Wageningen, The Netherlands): Effect of an increase in ambient temperature on brain activity and endocrine concentrations in photostimulated female great tits.
12.30-14.00. Lunch with poster discussion
Symposium 6 : Brain plasticity
Chairs: Rae Silver & Gian Carlo Panzica
14.00-14.30. Elaine Hull (Florida State Univ., Tallahassee FL, USA)
Steroids in the MPOA: pathways to sexual sensitization and stress reduction
14.30-15.00. Carolyn Pytte (Queen College, CUNY, Flushing NY, USA)
Effects of song feedback on lateralized neurogenesis in the zebra finch
15.00-15.30. Colin Saldanha (American Univ., Washington DC, USA)
Estrogens where and when they’re needed: compartment- and cell-specific
aromatization in the songbird brain
15.30-16.00. Coffee break
16.00-16.30. David Clayton (Queen Mary Univ. London, London UK)
The deceptive simplicity of sex, steroids and genome responses
16.30-17.30. Plenary lecture
Chair: Jacques Balthazart
Gregory F. Ball (Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore MD, USA)
Steroid-induced adult neuroplasticity: What I learned from Jacques and the Birds
17.30-18.00. Closing ceremony including historical presentation by
Kathie Olsen (ScienceWorks, Washington DC, USA)
Reflections on the International Conferences on Hormones, Brain and Behavior :
from Bielefeld to Liege
and concluding remarks by Greg Ball (Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore MD, USA)
18.00-19.00. Closing cocktail party
20.00-24.00. Final Banquet (Walking dinner in Colonster Castle)