Frontiers in Neuroscience Seminar Series

• 26 March, 16:00, Segerfalksalen, BMC A10

Speaker: Professor Michael Heneka, University of Luxembourg

Lecture title: Modulation of microglia activation in Alzheimer’s disease- a future treatment strategy?

Lecture host: Professor Tomas Deierborg

About the speaker:
Michael T. Heneka is a leading scientist in neuroimmunology and a key contributor to our understanding of how innate immune mechanisms drive neurodegeneration. He is affiliated with the University of Luxembourg, where he serves as Professor and leads research in neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative disease. Trained as a neurologist and neuroscientist, Heneka has been instrumental in shifting the field beyond a neuron-centric perspective, highlighting the active role of immune processes in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
A central focus of his research is microglia, the brain’s resident innate immune cells. Heneka’s work has been particularly influential in demonstrating how activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in microglia links amyloid-β pathology to chronic neuroinflammation and cognitive decline. These findings helped establish neuroinflammation as a driving force—rather than a mere consequence—of Alzheimer’s pathology. By uncovering molecular connections between protein aggregation and innate immune signaling, Heneka has opened new therapeutic avenues aimed at modulating microglial function in neurodegenerative disease.
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• 15 May, 16:00, room E16003, BMC E16

Speaker: Juho Joutsa, MD, PhD Professor of neurology, University of Turku, Finland. 

Lecture title: Post-stroke movement disorders

Lecture host: Professor Per Odin

About the speaker:
Prof. Joutsa is a movement disorder neurologist with special interest in lesion-induced symptoms andneuromodulation (rTMS, DBS, MRgFUS). He completed his postdoctoral research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and worked as an associate professor of neuroimaging at University of Turku before starting in his current positions. Prof. Joutsa leads a 30-person research lab (Brain Stimulation and Neuroimaging laboratory, TurkuBrainlab). 
Despite his young age, he has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers of which several in the leading journals of the field. Prof. Joutsa is the youngest professor of neurology in Finland, he has received multiple recognitions and awards for his research work, including being named among to 100 most influential people in medicine in Finland andreceiving a Young Investigator Award given biannually to only one scientist across all fields of medicine in Finland. Currently, Prof. Joutsa is the vice chair of the MDS post-stroke movement disorders (PSMD) study group and leads an international multicenter study on PSMDs.