NCNG Journal Club
This page contains schedule info from February 2020 through the present.
For this semester, meetings are being held on Mondays at 12:30 PM.
If you are interested in joining the journal club and be part of our discussions, feel free to email:
- Prof. Arij Daou arij.daou@aub.edu.lb
- Reem Debian rwd07@mail.aub.edu
- Elias Antoun eda03@mail.aub.edu
Fall 2025
- Elias Antoun: Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Neural Circuit Formation in Cuprizone-Induced Multiple Sclerosis Mouse Model (Sep 09)
- No meeting: Prophet’s Birthday (Sep 16)
- Reem Debian: Wild-Type Human TDP-43 Expression Causes TDP-43 Phosphorylation, Mitochondrial Aggregation in Transgenic Mice (Sep 23)
Summer 2024
- Zeina Bou Diab: Ph.D. Thesis Rehearsal: Choreographing Neural Rhythms: Intrinsic and Synaptic Modulations of Temporal and Stereotyped Neural Sequence Generation in the Premotor Cortex of Songbirds (June 26)
- Fatima Dia: Morphological Neuron Classification using Machine Learning (July 3)
- Lara Mahmoud: Neural correlates of music listening and recall in the human brain (July 10)
- Myriam El Haddad: Patch-Clamp recordings from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived Cardiomyocytes (July 24)
- Celine Estephan: Interplay between TETs and microRNAs in the adult brain for memory formation (July 31)
- Sophia Abdel Khalek: NURR1 deficiency is associated to ADHD-like phenotypes in mice (Aug 7)
- Fatima Fneish: Elemental gesture dynamics are encoded by song premotor cortical neurons (Aug 14)
Spring 2024
- Jad Awad: The in’s and out’s of high cluster computing (Jan 24)
- Reem Debian: Cell-type-specific decrease of intrinsic excitability of motor cortex … in Parkinson (Jan 31)
- Elias Antoun: Complement-associated loss of CA2 inhibitory synapses in the demyelinated hippocampus (Feb 7)
- Andreo Nasr: The immune system drives synapses loss during LPS-induced learning and memory impairment in mice (Feb 21)
- Ghady Odaimy: Mathematical model of the neonatal mouse ventricular action potential (Feb 28)
- Zeina Noureddine: Intrinsic physiology of inhibitory neurons changes over auditory development (Mar 6)
- Batoul Saab: Reaction-diffusion model for the growth of avascular tumor (Mar 13)
- Aya Barakat: Late-postnatal cannabinoid exposure … effect on dendritic spine densities in area X and HVC … in songbirds (Mar 20)
- Marwa El Korhanie: Automated classification of bird and amphibian call using machine learning: A comparison methods (Mar 27)
- Fatima Fneish: Coordination of pancreatic islet rhythmic activity by delayed negative feedback (Apr 3)
- No meeting: Eid Al Fitr (Apr 10)
- Mohamad Fawaz: Modulation of the intrinsic neuronal excitability by multifunctional liposomes tailored for the treatment of AD (Apr 17)
Fall 2023-24
- Celine Estephane: Intrinsic membrane hyperexcitability of ALS patient-derived motor neurons (Oct 11)
- Jad Awad: Depolarization … of cortical motor neurons … associates with … HCN channel activity (Oct 25)
- Sofia Abdul Khalek: Reconstruction of vocal interactions in a group of small songbirds (Nov 1)
- Fatima Fneish: Network properties of electrically coupled bursting pituitary cells (Nov 8)
- Fatima Dia: Machine learning and statistical classification of birdsong … with phylogeny (Nov 15)
- Zahraa Swaidan: Thesis defense rehearsal (Nov 29)
Spring 2022
- Paul Chaptini: Wireless battery free fully implantable multimodal recording and neuromodulation tools for songbirds (Jan 10)
- Reem Debian: Songbird subthalamic neurons signal song timing and error and project to dopaminergic midbrain (Jan 17)
- Sally Choker: K+ channels at the axon initial segment dampen near-threshold excitability of …. GABAergic interneurons (Jan 24)
- Yara Ghamlouche: Ion channel degeneracy enables robust and tunable neuronal firing rates (Jan 31)
- Zeina Meraabe: Spontaneous pain disrupts ventral hippocampal CA1-infralimbic cortex connectivity … (Feb 7)
- Zeina Bou Diab: Single-trial neural dynamics are dominated by richly varied movements (Feb 21)
- Mounir Arab: Multiple firing patterns in deep dorsal horn neurons of the spinal cord … (Feb 28)
- Paul Chaptini: A minimum-impact, flexible tool to study vocal communication of small animals … (Mar 7)
- Yara Ghamlouche: Distinct roles for motor cortical and thalamic inputs to striatum during motor skill learning (Mar 21)
- Sally Choker: Intrinsic biophysical diversity decorrelates neuronal firing while increasing information content (Apr 08)
Fall 2021-2022
- Paul Chaptini: Imaging auditory representations of song and syllables in populations of sensorimotor neurons (Sep 10)
- Fadi Khoury: Dynamic control of auditory activity during sleep: Correlation between song response and EEG (Sep 17)
- Sally Choker: Redistribution of Kv1 and Kv7 enhances neuronal excitability during structural axon initial segment plasticity (Sep 27)
- Reem Debian: Impaired mitochondrial calcium efflux contributes to disease progression in models of Alzheimer’s disease (Oct 4)
- Nour Chahine: Research at Backyard Brains (Oct 18)
- Nour Chahine: The Music of silence: Responses to musical imagery encode melodic expectations and acoustics (Oct 25)
- Zeina Meraabe: Location and function of the slow afterhyperpolarization channels in the basolateral amygdala (Nov 8)
- Jessica Halimeh: Neurotelemetry reveals putative predictive activity in HVC during call-based vocal communications (Nov 15)
- Zeina Bou Diab: Spike-time-dependent plasticity … to produce long scale-free sequences of neural activity (Nov 22)
- Yara Ghamlouche: The sound of silence: ionic mechanisms encoding sound termination (Nov 29)
- Mounir Arab: The sodium-potassium pump controls the intrinsic firing of the cerebellar Purkinje neuron (Dec 6)
Summer 2021
- Mounir Arab: A neuromechanistic model for rhythmic beat generation (May 24)
- Jessica Halimeh: Intercalated amygdala clusters orchestrate a switch in fear state (May 31)
- Sally Choker: Kv1.2 channels promote nonlinear spiking motoneurons for powering up locomotion (June 7)
- Yara Ghamlouche: Measurement of cellular excitability by whole cell patch clamp technique (June 21)
- Paul Chaptini: Balanced imitation sustains song culture in zebra finches (June 30)
- Zeina Meraabe: Increased basolateral amygdala pyramidal cell excitability … (July 7)
- Reem Debian: Selective effects of potassium elevations on glutamate signaling and … in hippocampus (July 14)
- Mounir Arab: How multiple conductances determine electrophysiological properties in a multicompartment model (Aug 27)
- Yara Ghamlouche: Neuronal oscillator robustness to multiple global perturbations (Sep 3)
Spring 2021
- Reem Debian: Insulin signaling in the hippocampus and amygdala regulates metabolism and neurobehavior (Jan 21)
- Sally Choker: Systematic generation of biophysically detailed models for diverse cortical neuron types (Jan 28)
- Nour Chahine: Hyperpolarization-activated current (Ih) in the inferior colliculus (Feb 4)
- Zeina Meraabe: SK-channel dependent and independent effects of riluzole on neuropathic pain (Feb 11)
- Yara Ghamlouche: Model of song selectivity and sequence generation in area HVc of the songbird (Feb 18)
- Mounir Arab: Models of neocortical layer 5b pyramidal cells capturing a wide range of …properties (Mar 4)
- Zeina Bou Diab: Manipulating synthetic optogenetic odors reveals the coding logic of olfactory perception (Mar 11)
- Kassem Jaber: Inhibitory network bistability explains increased intraneuronal activity prior to seizure onset (Mar 18)
- Jessica Halimeh: Functional properties and oxidative modulation of A-type K+ currents in hippocampal granule cells (Apr 1)
- Bouthayna Slika: Modification of synaptic-input clustering by intrinsic excitability plasticity on cerebellar purkinje cells (Apr 8)
- Lina Bacha: Specific contributions of basal ganglia and cerebellum to the neural tracking of rhythm (Apr 29)
- Yara Ghamlouche: Developmentally regulated rebound depolarization enhances spike timing precision (May 6)
Fall 2020-2021
- Ahmad Sibahi: Thesis defense rehearsal (September 3)
- Jessica Halimeh: Temporal lobe epilepsy induces intrinsic alterations in Na channel gating in entorhinal cortex neurons (September 10)
- Kasem Jaber: Cell types, network homeostasis … from a biologically plausible ion channel expression model (September 22)
- Nour Chahine: Glial glutamate transporter GLT-1 determines susceptibility to spreading depression in the mouse cerebral cortex (Oct 6)
- Zeina Meraabe: Hyperactivity of anterior cingulate cortex areas 24a/24b drives chronic pain … consequences (Oct 13)
- Zeina Bou Diab: Intracellular recordings from combination-sensitive neurons in the Inferior Colliculus (Oct 20)
- Arij Daou: Local axonal conduction shapes the spatiotemporal properties of neural sequences (Oct 27)
- Sally Choker: Elucidating neuronal mechanisms using intracellular recordings during behavior (Nov 18)
- Helene Jabbour: The effects of delayed auditory feedback revealed by bone conduction microphone in adult zebra finches (Nov 25)
- Zeina Meraabe: Anterior cingulate cortex and its input to the basolateral amygdala control innate fear response (Dec 2)
- Jessica Halimeh: CDYL suppresses epileptogenesis in mice through repression of axonal Nav1.6 sodium channel expression (Jan 7)
Summer 2020
- Kassem Kaber: Brain-wide neuronal dynamics during motor adaptation in zebrafish (June 4)
- Zeina Bou Diab: Intracellular characterization of song-specific neurons in the zebra finch auditory forebrain (June 11)
- Aziza Dbouk: Dopamine neurons encode performance error in singing birds (June 18)
- Sally Choker: Experience- and sex-dependent intrinsic plasticity in the zebra finch auditory cortex during song memorization (July 2)
- Marc Chammas: Research work presentation – Comprehensive exam (July 16)
- Zeina Meraabe: Trace fear conditioning modulates intrinsic excitability of amygdala projection neurons (July 23)
- Nour Chahine: Intrinsic Plasticity of cerebellar purkinje cells contributes to motor memory consolidation (Aug 6)
- Zeina Bou Diab: Singing activity-driven Arc expression associated with vocal acoustic plasticity in juvenile songbird (Aug 20)
Spring 2020
- Nour Chahine: Memory formation in the absence of experience (Feb 13)
- Sally Choker: Inhibition within a premotor circuit controls the timing of vocal turn-taking in zebra finches (Feb 20)
- Arij Daou: Intrinsic neuronal properties represent song and error in zebra finch vocal learning (Feb 27)
- Zeina Bou Diab: Kv1.1 contributes to a rapid homeostatic plasticity of intrinsic excitability in CA1 pyramidal neurons in vivo (March 12)
- Marc Chammas: Computational model of avian nervous system nuclei governing learned song (March 23)
- Zeina Meraabe: Microglia and monocytes synergistically promote the transition from acute to chronic pain after nerve injury (April 2)
- Ahmad Sibahi: The neurobiological foundation of memory retrieval (April 16)
- Aziza Dbouk: Neuro-computational account of how mood fluctuations arise and affect decision making (April 23)
- Nour Chahine: Inception of memories that guide vocal learning in the songbird (May 14)
- Zeina Meraabe: Interoceptive predictions in the brain (May 21)