Seminar “Pulse trains to percepts: A virtual patient describing the perceptual effects of human visual cortical stimulation”. Delivered by : Dr. Ione Fine, (University of Washington / University of Leeds). For Thursday, March 20, 2025, at 11:00h, in the Auditorium of the Instituto de Bioingenieria (IB), Vinalopó-UMH Building, Vinalopó Campus of Elche, Miguel Hernández University (UMH).

Profile

My laboratory studies the computational and neurophysiological basis of visual processing, using a wide range of computational and experimental techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging, patient studies, psychophysics and computational modeling.

Right now the lab has two main research directions. The first is plasticity in the visual system, including studies on perceptual learning in adulthood and the neural reorganization that occurs as a result of being blind or deaf.

The second is developing better stimulation protocols for retinal prostheses.

https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/biological-sciences/staff/3438/professor-ione-fine

Seminar “The theta-gamma code in action”. Delivered by : Dr. Paul F. M. M. J. Verschure, (specs-lab.com, UMH Distinguished Professor Department of Health Psychology & Alicante Institute of Neuroscience). For Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 12:00h, in the Assembly Hall of the Institute of Bioengineering (IB), Vinalopó-UMH Building, Vinalopó Campus of Elche, Miguel Hernández University (UMH).

The Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC) theory of mind and brain proposes that the brain be studied as a multi-layered control system [1]. Within this framework, we have advanced the idea that optimal decision-making relies on optimizing multiple objectives based on the assumption of distinct conjunctive representational primitives supporting epistemic autonomy [2]. We have found direct evidence for this assumption, which we have further elaborated through studies involving intracranially implanted epilepsy patients [3]. These experiments showed that human volitional learning enhances hippocampal theta oscillations and promotes an autonomous phase coding scheme for episodic memory. This suggests that active engagement in a task, a key aspect of free will, influences the temporal organization of neural representations within the theta-gamma cycle. The theta-gamma code, proposed by the late John Lisman, suggests that lower-frequency theta waves (around 3-8 Hz.) modulate high-frequency gamma activity (>30 Hz.) and has been proposed to support various cognitive functions, including working memory, episodic memory, and decision-making. This raises the question of why such a code would build on the theta cycle. A recent study showed that from an optimal coding perspective, the optimal oscillation frequency for maximizing information rate under physiologically realistic noise levels and biophysical constraints falls within the theta band due to a distinct encoding speed-precision trade-off [4]. This mechanism also accounts for the observed correlation between theta oscillation frequency and movement speed. In conclusion, I will show how we have translated these results into effective clinical applications in neurorehabilitation and education.

Epigenetics in brain cancer

Summary of the talk: Gliomas constitute a heterogenous group of primary brain tumors that include the especially aggressive glioblastomas, which relapse in nearly all cases despite intensive therapies. Epigenetics dysregulation can be relevant in the formation and maintenance of glioblastomas as it maintains the undifferentiated and self-renewal state of cancer cells due to a permanent epigenetic block. In contrast to somatic mutations, altered epigenetics can be pharmacologically treated, offering opportunities for novel therapies. In this seminar, we will discuss our current work regarding the role of epigenetics in glioblastoma, including the potential use of histone variants in clinical diagnosis and epigenetic modulators in precision medicine.

Luis Miguel Valor Becerra is Principal Investigator of the “Genetics, Epigenetics and Transcription in Neuropathologies” group at ISABIAL and IDiBE, and Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UMH. His group is interested in the search for new biomarkers and therapeutic targets for diseases caused by trinucleotide expansion (in particular, Huntington’s disease) and brain cancer (glioblastoma), with particular emphasis on proposing minimally invasive solutions for affected individuals. These rare diseases have a poor prognosis and there are few tools that allow adequate personalized follow-up of patients. To this end, they combine traditional biochemical, molecular and cell biology techniques with more advanced techniques such as transcriptomics, epigenomics and artificial intelligence, believing that these latter approaches may provide promising answers.

Transcriptional termination and chromatin silencing, a link found through flowering time

Summary of the talk: Transcription has been classically explained as a three-step reaction: RNAPII initiation, elongation, and termination regulated chiefly through transcription factor association. While initiation and elongation have received most of the attention, termination is emerging as a key regulatory step, controlling the fate of the transcript and influencing chromatin silencing. Through the study of the Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) mechanisms underlying RNA 3’ processing-mediated Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) silencing, a number of factors playing generic roles in RNAPII transcription, pre-mRNA processing, and chromatin modifications were found. Generically, they promoted proximal termination of both FLC and the antisense long non-coding RNA COOLAIR. However, how proximal termination delivers a changed histone environment that enables the PRC2 switch was still enigmatic. By means of Immunoprecipitation followed by Mass Spectrometry, co-IP, 3´mRNA-seq, plaNET-seq, chRNA-qPCR, and ChIP-qPCR experiments we showed that APRF1, homologous to CPF phosphatase module component Swd2/WDR82, forms a CPF-like phosphatase module with LD (Ref2/PNUTS) and TOPP4 (Glc7/PP1) which promotes transcriptional termination. APRF1-dependent RNA processing activities function in the same co-transcriptional pathway as FLD, thus providing the framework to understand how the RNA processing and the chromatin remodeling function together to modify FLC chromatin environment and affect its transcriptional output. This chromatin environment reinforces proximal termination choice so providing the molecular feedback necessary to stably maintain a low transcription state.

Eduardo Mateo Bonmatí holds a degree in Biochemistry from the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH; 2012), where he also obtained a Master in Bioengineering (2013). In 2018, after obtaining his PhD, also at the UMH, under the supervision of Professor José Luis Micol, he joined the laboratory of Professor Karin Ljung, where he spent a first postdoctoral period until 2020 at the Umeå Plant Science Centre in Sweden. Between 2020 and 2022, he spent a second postdoctoral period at the John Innes Centre, UK, under the direction of Professor Caroline Dean, a world-class scientist in plant molecular biology. Since 2023, Eduardo has been a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP), a joint centre of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and INIA/CSIC. Since 2024, Eduardo has led his first research project and a nascent research group at the CBGP

Seminar “Industry interference in alcohol consumption”. Delivered by : Dr. Francisco Salvador Pascual Pastor (“Unidad de Conductas Adictivas-UCA, Alcoy). For Friday, January 10, 2025, at 12:00h, in the Auditorium of the Institute of Bioengineering (IB), Vinalopó-UMH Building, Vinalopó Campus of Elche, Miguel Hernández University (UMH).

Seminar “Simulating and enhancing prosthetic vision with PRIMA implants”. Given by Jungyeon Park, Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory (Stanford, CA/USA). For Thursday, January 09, 2025, at 12:00h, in the Auditorium of the Instituto de Bioingenieria (IB), Vinalopó-UMH Building, Vinalopó Campus of Elche, Miguel Hernández University (UMH).