5/22/2007 -> 6/1/2007

Toronto, Canada
May 22 – June 1, 2007

Students and faculty with the IBRO President - Albert Aguayo (center)

The IBRO School of Neuroscience – Fundamentals of Epilepsy - took place from May 27 – June 1, 2007 in Toronto, at University of Toronto 89 Chestnut Centre and Residences.
The school was designed for young, promising trainees in experimental and clinical neuroscience, from two developing areas with the history of previous IBRO/INMHA- sponsored schools of neuroscience. In many ways it was unique amongst the IBRO schools: this was the first IBRO School held in North America / Canada. Students from Africa and Latin America were brought to Canada, unlike other IBRO schools where tutors travel to their areas. 

Students had the opportunity to participate in the joint meeting of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN) and the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), May 22 – 25, 2007 where they presented the posters.

The students and out of town tutors were staying in the same building - 89 Chestnut Residence with the aim to provide more chances for interaction amongst the participants. Considering the busy whole day schedule of the school this has never been an issue.

The school was sponsored by IBRO (including its North American chapter consisting of Society for Neuroscience and the National Academies of Science), INMHA, the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH), Neuroscience Canada Inc, the American Epilepsy Society, the Canadian Association of Neuroscience (CAN) and the Canadian Epilepsy Research Initiative–Canadian League against Epilepsy (CLAE-CERI).

 

Students attending the CAN Meeting: with members of CAN Executive (Jonathan Dostrovsky, Brian MacVicar and Peter Smith) and representatives of Society of Neuroscience (Eun-Joo Chang and Cheryl Delaney).

The Students

Sixteen students were selected by members of the IBRO Regional Committees for Africa (ARC) and Latin America (LARC), based on a competitive process from over 70 candidates. The list included graduate students, clinical trainees and junior staff from Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela (Two selected students were unable to attend). 

Priority was given to IBRO alumni, i.e. candidates who have previously attended an IBRO school and were already identified as promising and independent scientists, trainees, clinical trainees with potential for development and growth. 

The arduous work of the selection committees paid off. One of the main reasons for the success of the school was the quality of students. They were highly motivated and invariably very active participants in all aspects of the school, often surprising the tutors with astute and pointed questions. 

The complicated arrangements required to bring the selected students to Canada were efficiently managed by Astrid Eberhart (INMHA), Justine Viens (McGill University), Grace Fowler (Uniglobe) and Shelley Goodman (the University of Toronto).

The Faculty

The majority of the faculty were members of the Canadian League against Epilepsy– Canadian Epilepsy Research Initiative (CLAE-CERI), members of the American Epilepsy Society, and representatives of the NIH Fogarty International Centre. The faculty were selected not only for their expertise but also for their interest in mentoring the students and availability to spend at least three days with the students.   

As a demonstration of IBRO's successful educational programme, the faculty included Albert Akpalu, a young neurologist from Ghana, and alumnus of several IBRO Schools.
 
Educational objectives of the school

• Understanding of selected basic mechanisms related to clinical phenomena of epilepsy, including the basis for therapeutics interventions through lectures and laboratory visits.
  
  
• Provide an opportunity for students to present their research; tutor students in the analysis of data and literature.
  
  
• Provide general education of scientists, trainees, clinical trainees (such as preparation of research applications, presentations, manuscripts, etc).
  
  
• Establish mentorship – the potential nuclei of expertise and activities in developing areas.

In retrospect, the majority of the objectives was reached. There is even evidence that the mentorship process has been initiated. Some students may be back in Canada on a short stay in tutors’ laboratories.

The Program

The course covered selected topics in epilepsy, with an emphasis on the interactive sessions. It included the following:

• Interactive lectures (morning), including at least 15 min of discussion. Each day was dedicated to one topic of current interest in epilepsy:
• Basic clinical and experimental neuroscience of epilepsy (Sunday) with W. Blume & M.O. Poulter, A.L. Padjen & D.S. Ragsdale (McGill University), I. Timofeev (Laval University)
• Animal models of epilepsy (Monday) with W.M. Burnham & L. Zhang (University of Toronto), D. McIntyre (Ottawa University)
• Development and plasticity (Tuesday), L. Zhang & P. Carlen (University of Toronto) M. Fahnestock
• Clinical issues (Wednesday) M. del Campo & T. Valiante, A. Bernasconi (McGill University), Gretchen Birbeck (State University of Michigan and Zambia) – with a particularly relevant presentation of the risk of epilepsy in developing world and her experience of running an epilepsy clinic in Zambia)
• Molecular genetics of epilepsy (Thursday),  with B. Minassian (University of Toronto) and D.S. Ragsdale (McGill University)
• Therapeutic approaches (Friday) with M. del Campo, D. Andrade, P.L. Carlen (University of Toronto).
  

• Demonstrations of laboratories and clinical units (afternoons) followed on the topic of the day. Students were divided in smaller groups and visited the local experimental laboratories (W.M. Burnham, L. P.L. Carlen, L. Zhang, M. Cortez, J-M Velasquez) as well as clinical units (T. Valiante, M. Guevara) – including the attendance of Epilepsy rounds in Toronto Western Hospital. Time constraints limited these demonstration to afternoon hours even though the students expressed great interest to have more opportunities to learn about experimental approaches.
  
  
• Daily 30–60 min discussion periods summarized the experience of the day and the “take home message”. It often extended to discussion about the general issues of research problems and methods.
  
  
• Evenings were reserved for presentations of general interest, after-dinner in a local restaurant, and included a very topical presentation of epilepsy management in Ghana (A. Akpalu), Kathy Michels’ very well received review of Fogarty Centre of the National Institute of Health and a look in the future at the promises of postgenomic era (A.L. Padjen).
  
  
• All students were provided with an opportunity to give 10 minute oral presentations of their research followed by lively discussions by the whole class. This was a rewarding experience for presenters and for tutors alike and demonstrated again the high quality of the class.
  
  
• Social activities took one complete day (a visit of Niagara Falls before the start of the school and two evenings under the mentorship by local trainees, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows Damian Shin, Chris Finney, Borna Kavousi, Marija Cotic, Joe Hayek, Bayu Sutarjono and Shokrollah Jahromi.
  
  
• The Toronto School was offered the use of a portal, a protected web site with multiple features. It served as a repository of all learning material used in the school, such as slides of all lectures, some 100 articles in PDF format selected by the tutors (the hope is that the tutors will keep updating the material) as well as the slides of student presentations.  Other sections of the portal, such as Discussion Forum, Announcements, Documents, Photo Gallery are expected to contribute to further development of the community since the site remains open and is already used by the students.

Concluding comments

As is customary with IBRO Schools, on the last day the students elected a Class President (Michael Kihara from Kenya) and a Vice-President (Claudia Funchal from Brazil). Students also completed a brief evaluation of the school with unanimous high satisfaction marks given to each aspect of the school.

Students and faculty attending the final dinner - with Albert Aguayo

At the final dinner the school, sponsored by IHDCYH, was greeted by IBRO President Albert Aguayo who was presented by a note of thanks. In return, the president emphasized the important role the IBRO educational programme has for the mission of the association.

Each student received a certificate confirming her/his status of IBRO alumna/alumnus (and a CD with all educational material that complemented the hard copy of the school syllabus).  Many students took the stand and were heard expressing their appreciation for what they have learned - about epilepsy, about Canada and about their peers and tutors.

The Toronto School was an experiment, but with only a few weeks of distance from its completion it can be said that the experiment was a full success.

Ante L. Padjen
School organizer
McGill University
24 June 2007