<!--:en-->Prof. Robertas Bunevicius memorial prize awarded at the 10th INA Congress. <!--:--><!--:lt-->Tarptautinės Neuropsichiatrijos Draugijos kongrese įteiktas Prof. Roberto Bunevičiaus atminimo apdovanojimas<!--:-->

inaProfessor Robertas Bunevicius memorial award for the best presentation by the young scientist was awarded at the 10th International Congress of the International Neuropsychiatric Association that took place in October 14-16, 2015 in Jerusalem, Israel. This award was established by the INA and Lithuanian Society of Biological Psychiatry in memory of Prof. Robertas Bunevicius, who has as an active INA member for many years and he had been repeatedly elected at the Executive Committee, a position that he held at the time of his death.inaDešimtajame Tarptautinės Neuropsichiatrijos Asociacijos (angl. International Neuropsychiatric Association; INA) kongrese vykusiame 2015 metų Spalio 14 -16 dienomis Jeruzalėje įteiktas a.a. Prof. Roberto Bunevičiaus atminimo apdovanojimas skirtas geriausią pranešimą pristačiusiam jaunajam mokslininkui. Apdovanojimas įsteigtas Lietuvos Biologinės Psichiatrijos Draugijos kartu su Tarptautine Neuropsichiatrijos Draugija.

This year the award was presented to MD-PhD candidate Greg Founshtein from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Neuropsychiatry Lab for a study “A Novel Method for Evaluating Orientation in Alzheimer's Disease”.

Interview with Greg Founshtein.

Congratulations on your achievement. You must be really proud of yourself!

Thank you. I am indeed, though I'm equally grateful to my colleges and collaborators who supported and assisted me in the course of this work. Namely members of my lab, the Neuropsychiatric computational lab, led by Dr. Shahar Arzy, and the staff of  the Neurogeriatric and Memory Clinic in the Hadassah medical center led by Prof. Zeev Meiner.

How do you feel?

Great, as we are finalizing the project I've presentment at the INA conference, I am getting excited to start working on our next projects.

Is this the first prize that you have ever won at a poster competition?

It was, if fact, my first award at a poster competition, which only makes all the more special to have been awarded my first prize at the international neuropsychiatric association's conference.

In which lab do you work and what does your lab work on?

I am an MD-PhD candidate in the Neuropsychiatric computational lab, led by Dr. Shahar Arzy. In our lab, we work at the junction of clinical practice and research, neurology, psychiatry, physics and psychology with special interest in the human self and its pathologies. We are currently engaged in several fascinating projects, such as body perception and it pathologies in both neurological and psychiatric patients, spatial and temporal  representations and processing, and my project, in which we design new ways to evaluate orientation, and apply them in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

And you presented this work at the 10th Annual INA Conference?

Yes. I have presented a poster depicting a novel method we have developed to evaluate orientation in the space, time and person domains, its application in the diagnosis of patients across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum, with comparison to the currently used methods to evaluate orientation. In addition we've conducted two closely related studies: 1) A retrospective study using the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database that demonstrated how the currently used orientation tests fail to reflect the neurodegeneration occurring in Alzheimer's disease; 2) An fMRI experiment in young healthy subjects that linked the brain regions activated by our novel task, to cortical and sub-cortical structures undergoing early atrophy in Alzheimer's disease.

What are you future plans with regards to the projects you are currently involved?

Driven by the results from my current work, we intend to investigate the ways in which Alzheimer's pathology causes disorientation, with specific interest in the disruption of "ego-centric" and "allo-centric" neural pathways.

Lastly, what are the practical implications of your work? Will it impact on patient care?

From the start my work was carried out with clinical applicability in mind, such that we intend to supplement the published work with our paradigm converted to a user-friendly app that will allow clinicians and researches to benefit from our work.

Authors: Julius Burkauskas and Adomas Bunevicius.

Prof. Bunevičius buvo vienas iš INA įkūrėjų ir daug metų dirbo draugijos valdybos komitete. Apdovanojimas buvo įsteigtas siekiant paminėti Jo atminimą ir svarbų indėlį skleidžiant neuropsichiatrijos naujoves bei mokant jaunosios kartos mokslininkus. Šis apdovanojimas bus įteikiamas visų INA kongresų metu geriausią pranešimą pristačiusiam jaunajam (iki 40 metų amžiaus) mokslininkui. Pranešimus vertina ir laureatą renka iš neuropsichiatrijos srities mokslininkų sudaryta komisija.

Šį kartą apdovanojimas buvo įteiktas dr. Greg Founshtein iš Hebrew universiteto Neuropsichiatrijos laboratorijos už pranešimą A Novel Method for Evaluating Orientation in Alzheimer's Disease.

Interviu su apdovanojimo laimėtoju dr. Greg Founshtein.

Congratulations on your achievement. You must be really proud of yourself!

Thank you. I am indeed, though I'm equally grateful to my colleges and collaborators who supported and assisted me in the course of this work. Namely members of my lab, the Neuropsychiatric computational lab, led by Dr. Shahar Arzy, and the staff of  the Neurogeriatric and Memory Clinic in the Hadassah medical center led by Prof. Zeev Meiner.

How do you feel?

Great, as we are finalizing the project I've presentment at the INA conference, I am getting excited to start working on our next projects.

Is this the first prize that you have ever won at a poster competition?

It was, if fact, my first award at a poster competition, which only makes all the more special to have been awarded my first prize at the international neuropsychiatric association's conference.

In which lab do you work and what does your lab work on?

I am an MD-PhD candidate in the Neuropsychiatric computational lab, led by Dr. Shahar Arzy. In our lab, we work at the junction of clinical practice and research, neurology, psychiatry, physics and psychology with special interest in the human self and its pathologies. We are currently engaged in several fascinating projects, such as body perception and it pathologies in both neurological and psychiatric patients, spatial and temporal  representations and processing, and my project, in which we design new ways to evaluate orientation, and apply them in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

And you presented this work at the 10th Annual INA Conference?

Yes. I have presented a poster depicting a novel method we have developed to evaluate orientation in the space, time and person domains, its application in the diagnosis of patients across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum, with comparison to the currently used methods to evaluate orientation. In addition we've conducted two closely related studies: 1) A retrospective study using the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database that demonstrated how the currently used orientation tests fail to reflect the neurodegeneration occurring in Alzheimer's disease; 2) An fMRI experiment in young healthy subjects that linked the brain regions activated by our novel task, to cortical and sub-cortical structures undergoing early atrophy in Alzheimer's disease.

What are you future plans with regards to the projects you are currently involved?

Driven by the results from my current work, we intend to investigate the ways in which Alzheimer's pathology causes disorientation, with specific interest in the disruption of "ego-centric" and "allo-centric" neural pathways.

Lastly, what are the practical implications of your work? Will it impact on patient care?

GF: From the start my work was carried out with clinical applicability in mind, such that we intend to supplement the published work with our paradigm converted to a user-friendly app that will allow clinicians and researches to benefit from our work.

2015-10-16 13.45.18 - ___ץ_¬__

Nuotraukoje (iš kairės į dešinę): Prof. Haim Bellmaker (dabartinis INA prezidentas), Dr. Adomas Bunevičius, Prof. Dimitris Dikeos (buvęs INA prezidentas) ir Dr. Greg Founshtein (laureatas).

INA vienija įvairių fundamentaliųjų ir klinikinių sričių mokslininkus bei gydytojus psichiatrus, neurologus, neurofiziologus neurochirurgus ir neuropsichologus,, besidominčius neuropsichiatrinių susirgimų etiologija bei gydančius neuropsichiatriniais susirgimais sergančius pacientus.

Ateinantis INA kongresas vyks 2017 metais. Kongreso vieta bus paskelbta artimiausiu metu.

Parengė: Julius Burkauskas ir Adomas Bunevičius