Keynote Speakers 2025

Opening Keynote

Prof. Nick Ramsey

Details on this talk will follow soon, so stay tuned!

Afternoon Keynote I

Jeniffer Sanguino-Gómez, PhD Candidate

Jeniffer Sanguino Gòmez is a PhD candidate in the Brain Plasticity Group at the University of Amsterdam. Born and raised in Madrid, (Spain), she holds a BSc in Health Biology and an MSc in Neuroscience from the prestigious Cajal Institute. Currently based in Amsterdam, Jeniffer collaborates with Sorbonne University (Paris, France) and the Leiden University Center (Leiden, the Netherlands). Her research explores the interplay between stress and cognition, with a strong focus on behavior, complex datasets, and computational neuroethology.

Machine learning phenotyping of behavior reveals how coping strategies are shaped by early life experiences

The ingrained survival response to a threat is traditionally described as a fight-or-flight response. However, this dichotomous view is being challenged by evidence suggesting a broader repertoire of coping strategies, which can be shaped by previous life experiences. In a model of early life stress (ELS) induced by fragmented and unpredictable maternal care, we used unsupervised machine learning approaches to capture the behavioral response patterns of mice in a fear conditioning paradigm. ELS animals spent less time in passive states and displayed shorter durations in such states, favoring more active behaviors associated with exploration. Their range of behaviors was also less diverse, and they transitioned between behavioral states in a more repetitive manner, exhibiting lower entropy — a hallmark of stereotypy. Interestingly, we identified a subset of ELS animals that demonstrated behavioral patterns similar to controls. In these resilient animals, the frequency, duration, dynamics, and entropy of their behaviors normalized to levels observed in control subjects. From these findings, we can conclude that animals with a history of early-life stress tend to respond to threats in a less flexible and adaptive manner, characterized by stereotypical behavior. However, a subset of these animals appears to be resilient. Future research should aim to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying this resilience.

Afternoon Keynote II

Dr. Natascha Roos

Natascha obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, in 2016. One year earlier she came to Radboud University as an Erasmus student where she learned about the CNS Research Master, which she completed in 2018 under supervision of Dr. Vitória Piai. In 2025, she obtained her PhD from Radboud University with her dissertation ‘Naming a picture in context: Paving the way to investigate language recovery after stroke’, conducted under supervision of Vitória Piai, Robert Oostenveld, Anil Tuladhar, and Roy Kessels. She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Language Function and Dysfunction Lab at the Donders Centre for Cognition.

Investigating how the brain adapts to lesions over time

Abstract coming soon!