ASN 2026 Plenary Speakers

Christian Gonzalez-Billault received his initial training in Biochemistry at the Universidad de Chile. He subsequently earned a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa in Madrid, Spain, under the supervision of Jesús Avila. Following his doctoral studies, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the Madrid Regional Government. In 2003, he joined the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science at the Universidad de Chile, where he currently holds the position of Full Professor. More recently, he has assumed partial appointments in the Department of Neuroscience at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad de Chile, as well as in the Public Health Unit of the Institute for Nutrition and Food Technology at the same university.

From 2015 to 2023, he served as Director of the Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism (GERO), an aging research center funded through the Priority Areas Program of the Chilean Commission for Scientific and Technological Research. In 2023, he was appointed Vice President for Research and Development at the Universidad de Chile, while continuing to serve as Deputy Director of GERO.

Professor Gonzalez-Billault has played an active leadership role in the Chilean scientific community. He served as President of the Chilean Society for Biology, the country’s oldest and most traditional scientific society, and the Chilean Society for Neuroscience. He previously directed the PhD Program in Cell, Molecular, and Neuroscience at the Universidad de Chile and was a member of the Frontiers in Science group of the Chilean Academy of Sciences. In 2021, he became the first Chilean scientist to be appointed as an EMBO Associate Member.

The research conducted in his laboratory focuses on elucidating the role of cytoskeletal proteins in neuronal function, encompassing both physiological and pathological contexts. He initiated and has led a successful series of biennial workshops entitled “Emerging Concepts of the Neuronal Cytoskeleton,” held in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, and 2025 with an additional meeting scheduled for 2027. This workshop series has received support from organizations such as ISN, EMBO, The Pew Foundation, IUBMB, IBRO-LARC, The Company of Biologists, Andor Technology, Nikon, Zeiss.

More recently, Professor Gonzalez-Billault’s research is centered on understanding the impact of aging on brain cells, including both neurons and glial cells. His group employs neurons derived from skin cells to model aging in vitro and investigates the functional and metabolic coupling between astrocytes and neurons during normal aging and in neurological disorders. In addition, he examines the consequences of cellular senescence on neuronal morphology and function, as well as the potential beneficial effects of the ketogenic diet on brain aging.

Diane Lipscombe is the Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Director of the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science and the Thomas J Watson Jr. Professor of Science in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University.

Lipscombe studies ion channel regulation and function with particular focus on neuronal voltage-gated calcium ion channels in health and disease including chronic pain and neurological disorders. Lipscombe has uncovered molecular mechanisms that control the form and the function of calcium ion channels in different cell-types and disease states. The lab has shown that one class of calcium ion channel, Cacna1b gene, underlies dynamic changes in the responsiveness of nerves innervating the skin to heat. Pharmacological inhibition of these channels inhibits heat hypersensitivity associated with neuroinflammation and cytokine release. Lipscombe has also defined the molecular mechanisms that underlie cell-specific and developmentally regulated expression of functionally and pharmacologically distinct splice isoforms. The Lab is funded by NINDS.

Lipscombe is a past President of the Society for Neuroscience, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and honorary fellow of the Physiological Society (London, UK). At Brown, Lipscombe participates in student teaching and mentorship and numerous governance roles. Lipscombe chaired the Task Force on the Status of Women Faculty at Brown and has received several awards including the Harriet W Sheridan Award for Distinguished Contribution to Teaching and Brown’s Distinguished Research Achievement Award.

Michael Heneka is a board-certified neurologist and clinician-scientist with over 25 years of experience in studying neurodegenerative diseases at experimental, preclinical and clinical levels. He has a long-standing interest in immunology and neuroscience. While the main focus of his work is related to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, he has also been working on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

At the clinical level, he had established a neurodegenerative outpatient unit at both the University of Münster and the University of Bonn in Germany. From 2016 to 2021, he led the department of Neurodegenerative Disease and Geriatric Psychiatry in Bonn. From January 2022 onwards, he is the Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg and Principal Investigator of the Neuroinflammation group (Heneka Lab).

Dr. Lu has been interested in neuroscience and cancer biology to uncover the mechanisms and pathways underlying neurological disorders and cancer. His current research focuses on 1) how distinct glial cell types such as myelinating oligodendrocytes and their progenitor cells contribute to neurological diseases, and 2) how dysregulated developmental programs and tumor microenvironment cross-communications contribute to brain tumorigenesis, recurrence and metastasis.

During his postdoctoral work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School, Dr. Lu discovered a pair of bHLH transcription factors, Olig1 and Olig2, which are critical for oligodendrocyte lineage development and myelination. These findings have set a key milestone in understanding the molecular mechanisms of gliogenesis and brain tumorigenesis. Dr. Lu’s work as an independent investigator, starting at UT Southwestern and then at Cincinnati Children’s, has used a combination of state-of-the-art molecular genetic approaches and adopted novel concepts to address the mechanisms underlying neurological diseases including demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis and autism spectrum disorders as well as brain tumorigenesis. My lab has a strong translational theme with two major directions: 1) development of novel therapeutics for promoting myelin repair to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis; 2) development of targeted therapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy to treat brain tumors such as medulloblastoma and malignant gliomas, including glioblastoma and diffuse midline gliomas (DMG/DIPG). Our research goals include dissecting the etiological mechanisms of these neurological diseases and cancers to develop effective therapies by promoting functional regeneration while blocking brain tumorigenesis and recurrence. Dr Lu is the recipient of several awards, including Javits Neuroscience Award from the NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Harry Weaver Neuroscience Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and Best Research Award at the Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center.