Le 29 septembre 2026 – 12h30 – IPNP RDC-Cafétéria – ou par Zoom

Sclérose en plaques : remyéliniser grâce à l’activité électrique

Pr Céline Louapre, Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpétrière

Dr Maria Cecilia Angulo, CNRS, INSERM U1266 Institut de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences de Paris, Université Paris Cité

Les 12h30 de la recherche offre un espace d’échanges et de rencontres entre cliniciens et chercheurs autour de thématiques formant autant de priorités et d’axes possibles de recherche pour le GHU Paris et L’Institut Neurosciences Cognition. L’objectif est la mise en place, in fine, de nouveaux axes de recherche translationnelle. A chaque session, un professionnel présentera la thématique pendant 20 minutes, suivie de 40 minutes d’échanges avec les participants.

Cet évènement sera coanimé par Nicolas Panayotis, chercheur au SPPIN, et Diana Zala, chercheuse à l’IPNP.

Suivez ici le lien pour l’inscription.

The post 29 sept. 2026 -Céline Louarpe et Maria Cécillia Angulo – Sclérose en plaques : remyéliniser grâce à l’activité électrique first appeared on SPPIN - CNRS UMR 8003.

We are pleased to announce the opening of registrations for NeuralNet 2026 Paris (Nov. 25th-27th, Odéon Campus of Université Paris Cité, 75006 Paris, France)

The program will explore four broad themes — Neural Codes & Representations, Perception in Context, Learning, Memory & Adaptation, and Brain States & Network Dynamics — bringing together leading researchers working across systems and computational neuroscience. We also encourage the submission of contributed talks and posters. 

Participants are invited to join the famous spike sorting mini-school before the conference (23-25 November). The mini-school is free of charge but registration is required.

More information & registration

We look forward to receiving your contributions and to welcoming you to Paris in November for three days of exciting science, discussion, and networking with the Systems and Computational Neuroscience community.

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Andrianarivelo, A., Stein, H., Gabillet, J. et al. Cerebellar activity is triggered by reach endpoint during learning of a complex locomotor task. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74823-1 

Find this information on the CNRS Biology website

The post SPPIN sheds light on how the cerebellum coordinates the precision of each step first appeared on SPPIN - CNRS UMR 8003.

Salla disease is a rare genetic disorder with no current treatment, causing motor delay, and intellectual disability. Its cause lies in mutation of a transporter protein called sialin that is able to transport certain sugars from the interior of the cell organelles called lysosomes to their exterior. One of the most common mutations responsible for the disease is R39C, where one amino acid is swapped for another. This slight change leads to an interruption of the correct functioning of the transporter though how it does this has remained unknown so far. 

In a new study recently released as a preprint, the Membrane Dynamics team at SPPIN, in collaboration with Dassault Systèmes BIOVIA, proposes a mechanistic answer to this question. 

Sialin works as a rocker-switch, opening alternately toward the lysosome and the cytosol. Combining Molecular Dynamics simulations, evolutionary analysis and mutagenesis, the authors identified two key structural features: an interaction triplet (R39, E194, E262) acting as a modulator, and an ionic lock (K197–D350) holding the protein open toward the lysosome. In healthy sialin, the triplet periodically weakens the lock, allowing the switch to flip. In the R39C mutation, the triplet is no longer present leaving the lock permanently engaged and the sugars that would be transported under normal conditions trapped inside lysosomes. 

Beyond fundamental understanding of how the transporter works in healthy individuals, this work is the first to provide a molecular level understanding of how Salla disease is caused. The research was supported by the Salla Treatment And Disease foundation, the Dassault Systèmes foundation and the Vaincre les maladies lysosomales foundation.

Reference: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.20.719580 

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SPPIN’s seminar series spring-summer 2026, 6 jully 2026 11h00, SPPIN common room, 3rd floor, E368

ROCS – Label free imaging at 160 nm spatial and 10 ms temporal resolution

Rotating coherent scattering (ROCS) microscopy is a label-free optical imaging technique developed in our lab. It is based on coherent elastic backscattering of an obliquely incident, collimated laser beam that rotates azimuthally around the optical axis. The method can be used to image both biological cells and sub-wavelength particles. Under highly oblique illumination, the achievable spatial resolution approaches nearly twice that obtained with conventional normal illumination. During the rotation within the camera exposure time, intensity images corresponding to different illumination directions are integrated by the camera. Due to significantly lower laser powers menus in fluorescence microscopy, is excellently suited for live cell imaging. I will present and discuss basic concepts of coherent and incoherent superresolution imaging as well as recent results about binding of virus-like particles to cells and enabling material specificity in ROCS.

Please contact Martin Oheim if you want to make an appointment with Anne Sentenac

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SPPIN’s seminar series winter-spring 2026, wednesday 11 March 2026, 1h00, SPPIN common room, 3rd floor, E368

RIM (super-resolution) random fluorescence microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy plays a crucial role in biology due to its ability to provide functional images of living samples. Numerous techniques have been proposed in the last twenty years to improve its resolution beyond the 300 nm usually obtained with standard microscopes. Among them, the best compromise in terms of resolution and adaptation to live imaging is Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) in which several images of the sample are recorded under different patterned illuminations. SIM can use periodic illuminations as is periodic-SIM or focused spots as in Image Scanning Microscopy (ISM). Recently, we have developed an alternative to SIM called Random Illumination Microscopy (RIM) in which the illuminations are random speckles obtained by passing a laser beam through a diffuser. The major advantage of RIM compared to periodic-SIM and ISM is that it is insensitive to aberrations and scattering on the illumination side. It is thus more adapted to the imaging of aberrating samples. In my talk, I will present the general principles of super-resolved microscopy using structured illuminations and develop the RIM approach.

Please contact Marc Guillon if you want to make an appointment with Anne Sentenac

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SPPIN’s seminar series winter-spring 2026, Monday, 23 February, 2026, 11h00, SPPIN common room, 3rd floor, E368

Going with the flow: how cell membrane tension dynamics impact cellular processes from bacteria to neurons

The plasma membrane receives and responds to mechanical signals, arising from cytoskeleton activity, membrane trafficking, and external forces such as shear flow in endothelia, or mechanical stretch in tissues. Such pushing and pulling cause changes in plasma membrane tension, which is important for development, signaling, immune response, and axon branching, among others.

Mechanosensitive channels respond to local changes in membrane tension and transmit this mechanical information across the PM. But mechanical information is also transmitted within the plane of the cell membrane in the form of membrane tension and flow. This transmission can be long range, and dynamically regulated. I will present examples we have studies across domains of life in which membrane tension and flow dynamics play a critical role: (1) membrane fission in bacteria, (2) exo-endocytosis coupling in neurons and endocrine cells, and (3) B-cell responses to antigen encounter.

PLEASE CONTACT Martin Oheim if you want to arrange a meeting with Erdem or sign up for lunch.

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Neural circuits exhibit complex spatiotemporal patterns of activity during behavior. Understanding how these patterns of activity determine behavior is a fundamental problem in neuroscience and remains a major challenge due to the complexity of spatiotemporal dynamics and difficulties in access. The ability to measure and manipulate activity in genetically defined sets of neurons using optogenetics has provided a powerful new tool for establishing causal links between neural activity and behavior.

During the conference and lab visit, we will discuss optical approaches that allow the measurement of neural activity and the manipulation of the same neurons. This approach allows activity in neural circuits to be read and written with cellular resolution during behavior. We will describe the power, limitations, and potential of this approach, and discuss how it can be used to solve many important problems in neuroscience, including how this research can be transformed to inform therapies for neural disorders.

• Location: Saints-Pères Paris Institute for the Neurosciences, SPPIN, CNRS UMR 8003, Université Paris Cité
• Venue:  45 rue des Saints Pères,  3rd floor, room E368, 75006 Paris
• Schedule: Time slots are available on both days, Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21.
  • Friday, March 20, 10:00 a.m.; 11:30 a.m.; 2:00 p.m.; 3:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, March 21, 10:00 a.m.; 11:30 a.m.; 2:00 p.m.; 3:30 p.m.

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The new study ¹ reveals that subcellular localization of Importin β1 plays a crucial role in memory by supporting local translation at neuronal synapses. While Importin β1 is best known for transporting molecules into the nucleus, this work shows it is also essential at CNS presynaptic terminals, far from the cell body.

Using a mouse model in which Importin β1 could no longer properly localize to axons, they found clear impairments in hippocampus-dependent spatial and contextual memory. These deficits were traced to specific synapses in the hippocampus, where a presynaptic form of long-term plasticity (LTP) was disrupted.

At the molecular level, loss of axonal Importin β1 led to changes in synaptic protein composition and reduced local translation of key presynaptic components. As a result, synapses had fewer neurotransmitter vesicles ready for release, weakening communication between neurons.

These findings highlight the importance of local protein synthesis in maintaining synaptic function and memory, and identify Importin β1 as a key player in this process. The study opens new avenues for understanding how neurons regulate communication across long distances in the brain.

P.A Freund/N. Panayotis. et al.Science Signaling, 2026 (10.1126/scisignal.ady2026)

• Link to the paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scisignal.ady2026
• Link to a summary (IN FRENCH) by UPCité: https://u-paris.fr/le-transport-subcellulaire-au-service-de-la-memoire/
• Link to a summary (IN FRENCH) by CNRS Biologie: https://www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/le-transport-subcellulaire-au-service-de-la-memoire

1. Thisresearch is the result of long-standing collaborative efforts from the Fainzilber lab (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel) where Nicolas worked before joining the SPPIN as a group leader in 2023, the Kreutz Lab (Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany), the Burlingame lab (UCSF), and the Kawaguchi team (UCLA) in the US. ︎

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