The adult subventricular zone (SVZ) niche contains neural stems cells (NSCs) that maintain and regenerate the brain by producing neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes throughout life. Directly adjacent to the SVZ is the striatum; a region that is important in movement regulation and is rich in GABAergic neurons. While striatal neurons are known to project into NSC-rich SVZ niche, the significance of striatal neuron - SVZ NSC cell-cell communication is not currently known. I hypothesize postnatal SVZ NSCs fates are regulated by striatal neurons. To address this question, I cultured postnatal primary murine SVZ NSCs in control media or media conditioned by primary striatal neurons. My data show striatal neurons secrete soluble molecules that instruct SVZ NSCs to differentiate into oligodendrocytes and neurons without affecting astrocyte formation or NPC proliferation. To further investigate the pro-oligodendrogenic influence of the striatal neuron secretome, we cultured SVZ oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in media conditioned by striatal neurons. Our data demonstrate striatal neuron conditioned media causes an increase in OPC differentiation into oligodendrocytes. Using RNA-seq datasets of purified striatal neurons and SVZ NSCs, I then computationally predicted over 80 striatal neuron ligands that have the potential to regulate SVZ NSC biology. In summary, my results suggest striatal GABAergic neurons may play an important role in regulating SVZ NSCs. Future work will determine which striatal neuron ligands are responsible for the observed pro-neurogenic and -oligodendrogenic effects and identify the in vivo significance of these molecules in the SVZ niche.

Striatal neurons regulate neural stem cell fates through secreted molecules

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PS-1-B -  Neural Excitability, Synapses, and Glia: Cellular Mechanisms

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Colleagues and Friends:

I am very happy to welcome you to the 14th annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, and to the first virtual edition of our meeting. I want to highlight the important work the CAN meeting chair, **Roger Thompson** and co-chair, **Alyson Fournier**, did to put together the great program we are offering this year. Moving to a virtual format required a complete re-design of the program, and both Roger and Alyson did a splendid job in providing us with an appealing and well adapted program for our first virtual event. I wish to thank them for this very important effort.

Highlights of this year’s scientific meeting include invited speakers **Michael Hausser, Franck Polleux, Gwyneth Card, Magdalena Götz**and Brain Prize winner **Huda Zoghbi**. Plenary and parallel symposia, proposed by our members complete our diverse [scientific program.](https://can-acn.org/meeting-2021/program-2021/)

The 2021 Advocacy session, chaired and organized by CAN advocacy committee chair **Karun Singh**, will feature a special lecture and question period with Member of Parliament and past Science Minister **Kirsty Duncan**. This will be followed by a short overview of CAN’s advocacy activities over the last year. We invite you to participate in this session for insight from Dr. Duncan on the workings of Parliament Hill, and to learn more about what CAN has been doing to promote neuroscience research in Canada.

We are also excited to host **Lisa Willis** in the Equity Diversity and Inclusion session, organized by EDI committee chair **Jibran Khokhar**.

A special highlight of our meeting will be the lectures by award-winning young neuroscientists. We are please to host the CAN 2020 Young Investigator Award winner **Mihaela Iordanova**, and CAN 2021 Young Investigator Award winners **Aaron Phillips** and **Tabrez Siddiqui**. Highlights will also include presentation by the top three winners of the CAN-CIHR-INMHA Brain Star Award winners, **Claire Gizowski, Nuria Daviu Abant** and **Lukas Tamayo-Orrego**.

Independently organized satellite symposia complement and complete this exciting program, check them out here: https://can-acn.org/meeting-2021/2021-satellite-symposia/

Some of the most engaging sessions are always the poster sessions featuring the work of our trainees, so make sure to log in to Gather Town during the poster sessions to chat with the presenters.
We hope you enjoy this program, and look forward to welcoming you, virtually.

Shernaz Bamji

President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience

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Striatal neurons regulate neural stem cell fates through secreted molecules

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