Campus Clinic Symposium

Symposium Speakers

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder with elusive biological underpinnings. Among competing theories, the glutamatergic hypothesis—which posits a hypofunction of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs)—has gained substantial empirical support. In parallel, anti-NMDAR encephalitis, an autoimmune disease in which antibodies target and disrupt NMDARs, offers a distinct yet mechanistically convergent perspective on NMDAR dysfunction in the human brain.

This workshop brings together experts from molecular psychiatry, immunology, and cognitive neuroscience to explore the role of NMDARs in both pathophysiology and cognition, through the lens of these two conditions. The first part of the workshop will focus on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that implicate NMDAR hypofunction in schizophrenia, including evidence from genetic, pharmacological, and post-mortem studies. The discussion will then pivot to anti-NMDAR encephalitis, highlighting its clinical features, immunological basis, and the insights it offers into receptor-level disruptions.

Despite vastly different etiologies, both disorders manifest overlapping symptoms, such as psychosis and severe cognitive impairments, raising compelling questions about shared circuit-level vulnerabilities. Building on this comparison, the final segment of the workshop will examine the role of NMDARs in working memory—a basic cognitive function similarly disrupted in both conditions. By using these two clinical syndromes as naturalistic "models" of NMDAR disruption, we aim to shed light on whether NMDARs are not only necessary but also fundamentally involved in sustaining working memory processes. This session will integrate findings from human experiments, computational modeling, and animal studies to propose a mechanistic framework linking receptor-level dysfunction to cognitive deficits.

By weaving together insights from psychiatry, neurology, and systems neuroscience, this workshop aims to advance our understanding of NMDAR function in health and disease, and to stimulate interdisciplinary discussion on how converging biological mechanisms can inform future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Program

DAY 1 Tuesday December 9th

9:00 - 9:20 Registration
9:·20- 9:40 Welcome

SESSION 1: Molecular Mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Chair: Gisela Sugranyes (IDIBAPS)

9:40 - 10:20. Josep Dalmau (IDIBAPS/Caixa Research Institute, Barcelona)
10:20 - 11:00. Ines Khadimallah (Lausanne University Hospital)

11:00 - 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 - 12:10 Talk 2. Gemma Modinos (Kings College, London; molecular psychiatry). 
12:10 - 12:50 Talk 3. Guillermo Horga (Columbia University)

13:00 - 14:30 Lunch with Posters (CEK)

SESSION 2: Preclinical research of NMDA-related neuropathologies: comparing animal models across the NMDA-disease spectrum.
Chair: Eduard Parellada (H. Clinic/UB/IDIBAPS)

14:30 -  15:10 Christian Geis (Jena Univ. Hospital) 
15:10 - 15 50  Patricia Gassó (Univ of Barcelona/IDIBAPS
15:50 - 16:30 Katherina Schmack (Crick Institute, London)

16:30-17:00 Coffee break

17:00 - 17:40 Ji Hu (ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China)
17:40 - 18:20 Estíbaliz Maudes (University Medical Center Göttingen)

18:20-19:30 Posters with Wine and cheese (CEK)

DAY 2 Wednesday December 10th

SESSION 3: The role of NMDAR in Working Memory: a comparison across models and diseases.
Chair: Carles Sindreu (CIBERER/IDIBAPS).

9:30- 10:10 Albert Compte (IDIBAPS)
10:10-10:50. (t.b.c.)

10:50 - 11:20 Coffee break (posters)

11:20 - 12:00 Min Wang (Yale School of Medicine)
12:00 - 12:40 John Murray (Dartmouth College) 

12:40 - 13:30 Final Discussion (Moderator: Jaime de la Rocha, IDIBAPS)

Venue: Centre Esther Koplowitz. C. Rosselló 149-153, Barcelona, 08036.

Contact information: for any questions or queries regarding the symposium, please email us at neuroinmunologialab@gmail.com