In this symposium, Marcelo O. Dietrich, Valery Matarazzo, Maya Opendak and Amrutha Swaminathan will present new discoveries on how environmental influences shape the developing social brain. The session will explore how external factors sculpt the formation and function of neural networks that underlie social behavior across individuals. By integrating findings from multiple model organisms and complementary environmental perturbation paradigms, we aim to define key principles governing the development of social brain networks.

Symposium description: In our symposium, we will explore how cell fate decisions are regulated in the developing and adult brain, and to which extent cell fate is then safeguarded against any changes or still exhibits plasticity. This will lead to further discussions on how harnessing cell fate plasticity, especially after injury, could pave the way for new strategies for brain repair.

Symposium description: From Molecules to Circuits: New Tools for Neurodevelopment Across Species brings together researchers using innovative molecular, anatomical, and systems-level approaches to understand how neural circuits are assembled and refined across development. The symposium spans diverse model systems, from Drosophila to mice to humans- linking gene regulation, tissue organization, and circuit connectivity to reveal conserved and species-specific principles of brain maturation. Speakers include Leena Ibrahim, Zeljka Krsnik, Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam / Richa Verma, and Mubarak Syed, whose work integrates multi-scale tools to study neurodevelopment across levels of organization.

Brain tumorigenesis is now best understood as the hijacking, stalling, and rewiring of region- and time-specific neurodevelopmental programs that initiate and drive tumor progression. In this symposium we will highlight recent advances in our understanding of the cellular and molecular programs are perturbed in pediatric brain cancers.

Vertebrates display remarkable diversity of sensorimotor behaviors, each adapted to distinct ecological and survival demands. This diversity raises fundamental questions: do conserved spinal circuits underlie these behaviors, how have they diverged across species, and how do they develop species-shared and species-specific features. We compare spinal cord cell types between fish, frogs, lizards, mice and humans, spanning ∼450 million years of evolution, and identify a highly conserved developmental blueprint of motor-related interneurons and a species-divergent subset of dorsal, sensory excitatory neurons, comprising a mammalian-specific “neo-spinal cord”

The symposium on Post-transcriptional Regulation of Brain Development will explore how RNA-level mechanisms beyond transcription—such as alternative splicing, mRNA localization, translation control, and RNA processing—critically shape neural fate, diversity, and cortical maturation. Speakers including Sheng-Jian Ji, Mireya Plass, Luis de la Torre-Ubieta and Juliette Godin will highlight cutting-edge work on RNA regulation in neural progenitors and neurons, from single-cell transcriptomic dissection of isoform dynamics to the role of RNA-binding proteins and epitranscriptomic modifications in neurogenesis and human brain evolution and disease.

Recent work has ushered in a vibrant, new era for the study of brain barriers, revealing opportunities for better understanding brain development, health, and treatment for neurologic disorders. However, despite their importance, these brain barriers also represent some of the least understood areas of the brain. This session will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scientists to share recent discoveries and conceptual advancements in this emerging field.

The symposium will explore the causes and mechanisms underlying early-onset neurodevelopmental disorders, integrating insights from genetic, epigenetic, and model system studies. It will also emphasize translational approaches to bridge basic research with therapeutic development.