13th INTERNATIONAL MEETING
STEROIDS AND NERVOUS SYSTEM
Torino (Italy) February 21-25, 2026
Torino (Italy) February 21-25, 2026
Saturday February 21 - Torino
Chairs: Roberto C. Melcangi (Italy) & Silvia Giatti (Italy)
9:15 Roberto C. Melcangi (Italy) Introduction to the Satellite Symposium
9:30 Alexandros Tsompanidis (United Kingdom) Sex differences in early human brain structures and neurodevelopment
10:00 Ramune Griksiene (Lithuania) Sex differences in visuospatial cognition and emotion: behavioral, EEG, and eye-tracking insights
10:30 Giulia Lombardo (United Kingdom) Sex-specific endocrine and immune biomarkers in major depressive disorder
11:00 - 11:30 coffee break
11:30 Illana Gozes (Israel) ADNP/davunetide play a critical role in sex-dependent hippocampal neurogenesis and memory boost
12:00 Silvia Giatti (Italy) The sex of the brain: neuroactive steroid implications for health and disease
12:30 Marco Bortolato (USA) Sex, stress, and steroids: male-specific pathways in mood and coping regulation
13:00 - 14:30 lunch
14:30 Michael Schumacher (France) Sex differences in myelination: activational and organizational effects of gonadal steroids
15:00 Ashley Monks (Canada) Adult testosterone treatment effects on genital sexual function of female mice
15:30 Jonathan Hirst (Australia) Zuranolone treatment following preterm birth has sexually dimorphic benefits that improves outcome
16:00 Closure of the Satellite Symposium
Saturday February 21 - Torino
16:30 Opening ceremony
SYMPOSIUM - OVARIAN HORMONES ARE CRITICAL REGULATORS OF BRAIN PLASTICITY AND DISEASE RISK:
EVIDENCE ACROSS SPECIES AND BRAIN SCALES
Chairs: Marija Kundakovic (USA) & Liisa Galea (Canada)
17:00 Maria Paternina (Spain) Brain plasticity during gestation and postpartum periods
17:30 Julia Sacher (Germany) Translating endocrine modulation into neural plasticity, risk, and resilience across the lifespan
18:00 Deepak Srivastava (United Kingdom) Multi-omic analysis of sex specific effects of estradiol on neurodevelopment in human cerebral organoids
18:30 Marija Kundakovic (USA) Single-cell map of the female brain across reproductive transitions
Manuel Tena-Sempere (Spain)
Dynamic interplay between sex steroids and metabolism: from brain actions to obesity-induced hypogonadism
Chair: George Barreto (Ireland)
20:00-21:00 Welcome Cocktail
Sunday February 22
Chairs: Nicole Gervais (The Netherlands) & Charlotte Cornil (Belgium)
8:30 Nicole Gervais (The Netherlands) Menopause and midlife sleep disturbance in rodent AD models
9:00 Agnès Lacreuse (USA) Nonhuman primate models of menopause
9:30 Claudia Barth (Norway) Harnessing big data to study menopause-related factors and female brain health and cognition
10:00 Mallar Chakravarty (Canada) Mapping structural brain changes after ovarian hormone via ovariectomy
10:30 - 11:00 coffee break
Chairs: Jill Daniel (USA) & Karyn Frick (USA)
11:00 Laura Schrader (USA) High-fat diet attenuates estradiol’s efficacy on hippocampal synaptic plasticity in middle-aged ovariectomized mice
11:30 Ricardo Mostany (USA) Impact of cardiometabolic health status on the ability of estradiol to influence cortical plasticity and neurovascular coupling
12:00 Andrea Zsombok (USA) Impact of cardiometabolic health status on the ability of estradiol to modulate hypothalamic circuits regulating metabolism
12:30-14:30 lunch and poster discussion 1
MINISYMPOSIUM - THE BRAIN ON ESTROGENS: HOW STEROIDS SHAPE BEHAVIOR, BRAIN ACTIVITY, AND NEUROPLASTICITY
Chairs: Birgit Derntl (Germany) & Liisa Galea (Canada)
14:30 Ellen de Bruijn (The Netherlands) Changing Landscapes: Outcomes of an International expert meeting on hormonal fluctuations and neurocognition across the female lifespan
15:00 Erica Comasco (Swedeen) Estrogen, nicotine and reward
15:30 Ann-Christin Kimmig (Germany) Endogenous vs. exogenous estrogenic potency in females: associations with sexual appetence and brain function – An (f)MRI study
16:00-16:30 coffee break
16:30 Silvia Pagliardini (Canada) Influence of progestins on the CO2 central chemoreflex
17:00 Richard Kinkead (Canada) Life long cardiorespiratory consequences of early life stress on estrogen signalling in female rats
17:30 Luciane Gargaglioni (Brazil) Hormonal rhythms and CO₂ response: unveiling estrous cycle modulation of behavior and respiration in rodents
Monday February 23
SYMPOSIUM - NEUROSTEROIDS AND NMDAR FUNCTION: MOLECULAR MECHANISM AND RESCUE PHARMACOLOGY
Chairs: Hongjie Yuan (USA) & George Barreto (Ireland)
8:30 Steven Mennerick (USA) Synthetic steroids with unusual pharmacological profile at GABAA and NMDA receptors
9:00 Ladislav Vyklicky (Czech Republic) Neurosteroid modulation of NMDA receptors in physiology and GRIN-related pathology
9:30 Shai Berlin (Israel) Rescuing tri-heteromeric NMDA receptor function: the potential of pregnenolone-sulfate in loss-of-function GRIN2B variants
10:00 Sharon Swanger (USA) Novel synthetic neurosteroid analog: from mechanism of action to rescue pharmacology
10:30-11:00 coffee break
MINISYMPOSIUM - MATERNAL NEUROENDOCRINE ADAPTATIONS IN AN ENVIRONMENT FILLED WITH DIVERSE PRESSURES
Chairs: Marilena Marraudino (Italy) & Dario Aspesi (USA)
11:00 Sarah Winokur (USA) Investigating the impact of sickness on the neurobiology of maternal caregiving behavior
11:30 Dario Aspesi (USA) Postpartum resource scarcity disrupts maternal care and alters steroid-sensitive neural circuits
12:00 Marilena Marraudino (Italy) Maternal exposure to EDCs and nutritional imbalance: impacts on maternal health and offspring neurodevelopment
MEET THE EDITOR
12:30 Michael Lehman (USA) Journal of Neuroendocrinology: update for SNS 2026
12:45-14:00 lunch and poster vision
MINISYMPOSIUM - SEX STEROIDS, DOPAMINE AND PARKINSON’S DISEASE
Chairs: Therese Di Paolo (Canada) & Roberto C. Melcangi (Italy)
14:00 Julia M. Schulze-Hentrich (Germany) Sex-specific transcriptional and epigenetic differences in Parkinson’s disease
14:30 Therese Di Paolo (Canada) Sex differences in animal models of Parkinson’s disease effect of hormonal treatments and COVID-19 disease
15:00 Jill Becker (USA) The role of GPER-1 in stimulated dopamine release from the dorsal striatum of male and female rats
15:30-16:00 coffee break
SYMPOSIUM - NEUROACTIVE STEROIDS AND WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH: TRANSLATIONAL ADVANCES
IN PTSD, PMDD, AND POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION
Chairs: Graziano Pinna (USA) & Gianluca Aimaretti (Italy)
16:00 Graziano Pinna (USA) The neurosteroid-endocannabinoid axis in PTSD: from animal models to biomarkers and therapeutics
16:30 Ann Rasmusson (USA) Deficient functional GABAergic neurotransmission in the pathophysiology of PTSD and PTSD-comorbid psychiatric and medical conditions
17:00 Liisa Hantsoo (USA) Neuroactive steroids and their receptors in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD): evidence of altered luteal phase function
17:30 Jennifer Payne (USA) Biological predictors of postpartum depression: insights into the biology of depressive disorders
Tuesday February 24
SYMPOSIUM - SEX HORMONES AND ADDICTION
Chairs: Rajita Sinha (USA) & Silvia Giatti (Italy)
8:30 Katarzyna Radwańska (Poland) Brain estrogen signaling and alcohol addiction in rodents
9:00 John Mantsch (USA) Complementary prefrontal cortical estrogen-glucocorticoid mechanisms regulate cocaine seeking
9:30 Sabine Hoffmann (Germany) Longitudinal variations in sex hormones and their associations with alcohol use and related phenotypes
10:00 Rajita Sinha (USA) Sex steroids and neuroactive steroids in alcohol and substance use disorders
10:30-11:00 coffee break
11:00-12:45 YOUNG INVESTIGATOR SYMPOSIUM
Chairs: Silvia Diviccaro (Italy) & Marilena Marraudino (Italy)
Kandasamy Ganga (India) Face and construct validity of a PTSD model in male rats and testing the predictive validity using a neurosteroid
Luca Concas (Italy) Allopregnanolone enables the psychotic-like (endo)phenotypes induced by sleep deprivation through activation of prefrontal excitatory GABA-A receptors
Irena Jovanovic Macura (Serbia) Differential effects of alfaxalone on oxidative stress enzyme activities in APPNL-G-F knock-in mice
Manuela Faddetta (Ireland) Altered aromatase activity induces mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic reprogramming in astrocytes
Emma Clephas (the Netherlands) Stress hormone administration impairs memory inference in mice
José González-Martínez (United Kingdom) The interaction between genetics and androgens in autism during human neural development
Melissa Emily Wright (United Kingdom) Neuroendocrine influences on dynamic cerebrovascular function and implications for functional MRI
Anna F. Denninger (Germany) Estradiol & stress. Impacts on brain, body and mind before and after menopause
12:45-14:45 Lunch & Poster Discussion 2
SYMPOSIUM - BRAIN CLOCKS AND STEROIDS
Chairs: Mariana Astiz (Spain) & Stefano Gotti (Italy)
14:45 Violetta Pilorz (Germany) Hormones that shape the brain's rhythm: estrogen and progesterone, the female clock tuners
15:15 Hugh Piggins (United Kingdom) Ageing and biological sex influence diverse rhythms in mouse behaviour
15.45 Valerie Simonneaux (France) Light and estradiol orchestrate the female reproductive cycle
16:15 Mariana Astiz (Spain) The central circadian clock and the developmental timeline of glucocorticoids sensitivity
Enjoy Torino
17:00-18:00 Turin City center BUS TOUR
20:00 Social Dinner ELIGO Restaurant
Wednesday February 25
HOT TOPIC IN NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
Chair: Silvia Giatti (Italy)
9:00 Rae Silver (USA) Numerous portal pathways in the brain: new mechanisms for impact of steroids
SYMPOSIUM - GLUCOCORTICOID REGULATION OF MEMORIES ON THE PATH TO STRESS RESILIENCE AND VULNERABILITY
Chairs: Joanna Spencer-Segal (USA) & Onno Meijer (The Netherlands)
9:30 Jason Radley (USA) Neural versus hormonal bases of aversive memory consolidation
10:00 Patrizia Campolongo (Italy) Glucocorticoid receptor targeting in PTSD and adolescent stress models
10:30-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 Joanna Spencer-Segal (USA) Glucocorticoid modulation of PTSD risk in ICU survivors
11:30 Harm Krugers (The Netherlands) Synaptic and cellular signature of stress-effects on memory
Stephen Matthews (Canada)
Glucocorticoids and the developing brain: an intergenerational perspective
Chair: Onno Meijer (The Netherlands)
13:00-14:00 Lunch
MINISYMPOSIUM -THE MULTIFACETED LINK OF STRESS AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS:
UNRAVELING MECHANISMS TO ADVANCE THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES
Chairs: Marco A. Riva (Italy) & Patrizia Campolongo (Italy)
14:00 Marco A. Riva (Italy) Adolescence at the crossroads: early life stress exposure, precipitating factors, and therapeutic strategies for psychopathologies
14:30 Carmen Sandi (Switzerland) Mitochondria, stress, and glucocorticoids: unraveling vulnerability and therapeutic potential
15:00 Juan Nácher Roselló (Spain) Long term effects of early life stress and its contribution to psychiatric disorders
MINISYMPOSIUM - CORTICOSTEROIDS AND DISEASE
Chairs: Onno Meijer (The Netherland) & Annamaria Cattaneo (Italy)
15:30 Serena Dudek (USA) Mineralocorticoid receptors in hippocampal development and gene expression– a link to autism
16:00 Eva Viho (Germany) Single cell analysis of the human hippocampus reveals a unique excitatory neuronal transcriptomic signature associated with schizophrenia
16:30 Closing of the Meeting