2023
The 6th annual workshop of the SYSWCN took place in Berne.
2022
2022 ON AIR episodes
We are continuing this series of meetings with PIs. The ON AIR episodes offer a unique opportunity for PhD students and ECRs to hear PIs’ testimonies about their research and personal journey in academia. The event is virtual, free for everyone, and takes place every first Thursday of every second month.
We welcomed Dr Sarah Schoch (within the 5th SYSWCN Workshop, April 2022), Dr Carolina Herrera (May 2022), PD Dr Francesca Siclari (July 2022).
5th SYSWCN Workshop
The 5th SYSWCN workshop took place on April 30th in Bern. This event was a perfect opportunity for young sleep and chronobiology scientists to share and discuss their research in the field. The eight presentations gave us a comprehensive overview of the cutting-edge ideas in both human and animal experimentation in sleep and chronobiology in Switzerland. We also profit from the inspiring ON-AIR virtual talk with Dr. Sarah Schoch from the Radboud University Medical Center during this event. She kindly shared her personal experience in studying sleep throughout her scientific path. She provided valuable advice for students and postdoctoral fellows at different moments of their careers. We covered plenty of topics of interest during the lunch, coffee breaks, and discussion panel for our current and future work as sleep and chronobiology scientists. This event was undoubtedly an inspiring event for all the attendees who shared a passion for understanding sleep and chronobiology phenomena.
5th SYSWCN Symposium at the SSSSC annual meeting
The SYSWCN Symposium kicked off the SSSC annual meeting in Luzern (30-31 March 2022). Prof Vladyslav Vyazovskiy (University of Oxford) gave a presentation about the local and global aspects of sleep homeostasis, followed by the talk of Dr Christine Blume (University of Basel) on the effects of evening artificial light exposure on cognitive processing during sleep. The last speaker was Dr Simon Schreiner (University Hospital Zurich), who gave insights about slow-wave sleep in Parkinson disease. After each presentation, attendees had the opportunity to interact with the speaker during the Q&A sessions.
2021
2021 ON AIR episodes
In 2021, we launched a new format called SYSWCN ON AIR. The idea is to grab your coffee/tea and join an informal online chat with a PI, who will share their scientific interests and career path. ON AIR events will take place every first Thursday of every second month.
We were delighted to host Asst Prof Salome Kurth from the University of Fribourg (July 2021), Dr Leila Tarokh from the University of Bern (September 2021), and Prof Reto Huber from the University of Zurich (November 2021).
4th SYSWCN Symposium at the SSSSC annual meeting
After the cancellation in 2020, we were able that the 2021 SSSSC annual meeting could take place. Fortunately, the SSSSC managed to even organise an in-person meeting in Solothurn. The SYSWCN symposium was, very prominently, the first symposium of the congress. The great interest was certainly related to the outstanding speakers who kindly accepted our invitation. Prof Anita Lüthi (University of Lausanne) held a stimulating talk about the relation of the locus coeruleus with arousals. In the following talk, Prof Peter Achermann (University of Zurich) gave a very comprehensive overview of cortical neuronal activity and sleep homeostasis. Finally, Dr Carolin Reichert (University of Basel) paved the way for the coffee break explaining the effects of caffeine on sleep and the circadian timing system.
4th SYSWCN Workshop
Given the current situation, the 4th SYSWCN workshop took place virtually (April 10th 2021). A 3.5-hour event during which interesting presentations of the participants were interspersed with virtual coffee breaks and a drawing and guessing game with great prizes! Even though we hope to see you all live next year, this online event gathered researchers from Switzerland but also the U.S. and the UK. We thank one more time all participants that joined it despite some challenging time zones!
2019
3rd SYSWCN Symposium at the SSSSC annual meeting
We were honoured to host the 3rd SYSWCN Symposium at the SSSC annual meeting in Fribourg, which took place on 27th and 28th of June 2019. The session was enriched by speakers with different perspectives on sleep-wake research and chronobiology. Prof Walter Karlen (ETH Zurich) talked about “Pushing for better technologies to monitor and manipulate sleep”, presenting a very nice overview of application of cutting-edge technologies in the sleep field. Miguel Navarrete (Cardiff University, UK) presented how to manipulate sleep with acoustic stimulation in his talk “Precise sounds to sleep soundly”, while Vivien Bromundt (Inselspital, Bern University Hospital) gave an inspiring talk filled with interesting art pictures about connection of science of sleep and chronobiology and art in her talk with the title “The Art in Science of Chronobiology”. We thank all the speakers for their kind contribution to our session.
SYSWCN pre-conference workshop
The SYSWCN pre-conference workshop took place at the University of Fribourg from 25th to 26th of June, prior to the SSSSC annual meeting, and was primarily organised by Selina L. Combertaldi. The workshop focussed on sleep and memory, and particularly on Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR). Bernhard Staresina (University of Birmingham, UK) started with a lecture about advanced EEG in sleep, followed by lectures addressing TMR, held by Anat Arzi (University of Cambridge, UK), Penny Lewis (Cardiff University, UK), Monika Schönauer (Princeton University, USA), and Thomas Schreiner (University of Birmingham, UK). Afterwards, Monika Amores (MIT, USA) presented a device for olfactory stimulation during the night. Perrine Ruby (Lyon Neuroscience Centre, France) wonderfully addressed sleep, memory, and dream research altogether in her talk. Last but not least, Claudia Deland-Picard (Université de Montréal, Canada) introduced us to the field of TMR and dreams. In summary, we spent two very stimulating days at the University of Fribourg and would like to thank especially the international speakers coming all the way to Switzerland from Canada, France, the UK, and the USA.
3rd SYSWCN Workshop
The 3rd SYSWCN workshop took place on the Gurten in Bern on the 9th of March 2019. We were very happy that Frédéric Zubler (Dept. of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern) und Urs Albrecht (University of Fribourg) accepted our invitation. They both created a very interactive atmosphere and their contribution was highly valuated.
2nd SYSWCN symposium at the SSSSC annual meeting
The 24th Congress of the ESRS (2018) took place in Basel. Therefore, the SSSSC annual meeting 2018 was a 1-day meeting traditionally taking place on the day of the opening ceremony. We were very happy to receive the opportunity to organise and chair the SYSWCN symposium despite the shorter duration of the meeting. Christian Cajochen (Basel, CH), Francesca Siclari (Lausanne, CH), and Derk-Jan Dijk (Surrey, UK) accepted our invitation. The talks were of excellent scientific quality but also entertaining and with a very personal touch. Their individual perspectives illustrated the interdisciplinarity and how thrilling it is to scientifically and clinically work in the field of sleep-wake and chronobiology.
2nd SYSWCN workshop
The second workshop took place in Zurich, from the 14th to the 15th April 2018. It started off with the speed dating – successfully introduced at the previous workshop – where participants paired up and introduced themselves and their work. Each participant had the opportunity, later on, to further explain their work in a short presentation. In addition, the programme contained three workshops of which two were held by invited speakers: Peter Achermann succinctly illustrated signal errors that should be considered and how they can be avoided, and Leila Tarokh not only presented her work with EEG in twins but also illustrated her career combined with career advice, which was very much appreciated by participants. The third workshop was held by David Schreier, who gave an overview of clinical sleep-wake disorders. Finally, Rachel van Sluijs talked about the “Philosophy of Ph.D.” and addressed the history of the terminology and to which extent philosophy is still present in the Ph.D. in her view.
1st SYSWCN symposium as part of the SSSSC annual meeting
The symposium was dedicated to cover several topics relevant for young scientists and clinicians. The SYSWCN was honoured to welcome Alexander Borbély as a very experienced and long-standing scientist who was talking about “My life as a scientist: Sharing some insights”. The second talk was held by Cornelia Schöne, postdoc (lab of Prof. Adamantidis, Bern) and mother of twins. She held a very nice talk regarding the management of family and research simultaneously. Last but not least, the 1-day old past president of the SSSSC, Raphael Heinzer, illustrated and addressed the critical points in a scientific career of a clinician and how to overcome them in a very convenient way.
1st SYSWCN workshop
The first workshop of the SYSWCN took place in Kandersteg 08.-09. April 2017. From all over Switzerland, 16 young very motivated basic and clinical researchers, as well as young clinicians out of the fields of sleep, wake, and chronobiology participated. The speed dating, in which participants coupled up and rotated every few minutes, enabled to already get in touch with everyone in the beginning of the workshop. In the scientific sessions, every participant got a chance to present their work. The social programme included a quiz, powerpoint karaoke, and fantastic meals with great drinks.
