Image: Ulf Asplund
UFBI will celebrate its 25th Anniversary with a Silver Jubilee Symposium on Tuesday–Wednesday, June 16–17, 2026 at Elite Hotel Mimer in Umeå. For a quarter century, our community of PIs, researchers, collaborators, and students has advanced the understanding of the human brain through cutting-edge imaging and interdisciplinary work.
The symposium will feature talks by invited international and national experts, interactive sessions and discussions, poster presentations, networking opportunities, and plenty of Swedish fika.
Venue Location: Elite Hotel Mimer (Kungsgatan 75, Umeå).
Abstract submissions for the poster session will be open from January to March 2026. Anyone interested in presenting a poster is welcome to submit an abstract of up to 250 words using the online submission form. All submissions will be reviewed, and results will be communicated in April 2026. The poster session offers an opportunity for participants at all career stages to share their research, exchange ideas, and engage with the UFBI community.
Note: Abstract submission does not imply conference registration. Please register via the link at the top of this page.
There will be an open pre-conference workshop held at Aula Anatomica, Biology Building at Umeå University (). The workshop is open to attend and no registration is needed.
13.20 - 15.20
“Hallmarks of SuperAging - special focus on cellular homeostasis” - Lars Nyberg
“The Superager Hippocampus: beyond dentate gyrus and CA1” - Bryan Strange
“The relative impact of better beginnings and maintenance of the brain in healthy aging” - Kristine Walhovd and Anders Fjell
“Towards Precision Assessments of Brain Change in Individuals” - Maxwell Elliott
“Four Decades of SuperAgers: Longitudinal Insights from the Betula Study and an APOE ε44 Case” - Emma Rodrigues
PDF-version of the program: Schedule UFBI25years.pdf
08.30 - 09.00 Welcome Fika and Registration
09.00 - 09.15 Welcome - Katrine Riklund
09.15 - 10.15 Plenary Session 1
Odor processing in the human olfactory bulb
Johan Lundström, Karolinska Institutet
Exploring Sensory Gamma Stimulation for Alzheimer's and Neuroprotective Strategies.
Li-Huei Tsai, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
10.15 - 10.45 Fika
10.45 - 11.45 Featured Research Session 1
The Role of Dopamine and Brain Functional Dynamics in Aging.
Alireza Salami, UFBI
Causes and consequences of aging-related dopaminergic losses.
Nina Karalija, UFBI
Dopamine D1 and D2 receptors dissociate working and episodic memory in large-scale human networks.
Lars Stiernman, UFBI
11.45 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 13.30 Mini-concert
13.30 - 14.30 Plenary Session 2
Maintaining exceptional memory function into your eighties: the secrets of Superaging.
Bryan Strange, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
DunedinPACNI: A Next Generation Brain Clock.
Maxwell Elliott, University of Minnesota
14.30 - 14.45 Mini-Information Session
Animal MRI Infrastructure.
Ana Virel, Dep. for Medical and Translational Biology, UMU.
14.45 - 15.30 Poster Talks
15.30 - 17.00 Fika + Poster Session + fNIRs + DataZ demo
18.30 Dinner (invitation only) at Nòr (Storgatan 36)
08.45 - 09.25 Welcome Fika
09.25 - 09.35 Opening Remarks
09.35 - 10.35 Featured Research Session 2
Blood Pressure and Cerebral Blood Flow: Can Systemic BP Serve as a Reliable Surrogate Marker?
Laleh Zarrinkoob, UFBI
Cognitive Dysfunction in COPD: Prevalence, Impact and Treatment.
André Nyberg, UFBI
Assessment of glymphatic function in normal pressure hydrocephalus.
Anders Eklund, UFBI
10.35 - 10.45 Bone-Stretcher
10.45 - 11.45 Plenary Session 3
Brain image processing of neurovascular disease for routine clinical examinations.
Maria Valdés Hernandez, University of Edinburgh
To integrate or not to integrate: Solving the binding problem in a multisensory world.
Uta Noppeney, Radboud University
11.45 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 14.30 Featured Research Session 3
New approaches to studying consciousness in the brain.
Johan Eriksson, UFBI
An Integrated Perspective on Human Judgment.
Linnea Wirebring, UFBI
Atypical brain activity in autistic adults during observation preparation and observation of sequential manual actions.
Erik Domellöf, UFBI
Neurocognitive effects of individualized active learning with retrieval practice.
Sara Stillesjö, UFBI
14.30 - 15.00 Fika
15.00 - 15.30 Plenary Session 4
Rethinking autism in women and girls: insights from cognitive neuroscience.
Gina Rippon, Aston University
15.30 - 15.45 Closing Remarks