At NeuPSIG, we are passionate about supporting Early Career Researchers (ECRs), particularly PhD students, postdocs and fellows.
Please join us in Berlin and benefit from:
- Prioritisation of workshop submissions that include an ECR presenter
- The opportunity for your poster abstract to be chosen as a datablitz presentation that you will deliver in front of a plenary audience
- Trainee registration rates
- Financial aid for ECR poster presenters from low-income countries
- An opportunity to win one of our poster and presentation prizes
Trainee Reception
The Trainee Reception will take place on Friday, 05 September 2025, from 18:00 – 20:00.
The evening will kick off with a 30-minute moderated Q&A session focused on career paths in the field, offering valuable insights and the chance to ask your questions.
Afterwards, we invite all trainees to connect over drinks and finger food in the main catering area on the 1st floor of the Urania Berlin.
We look forward to meeting you and exchanging ideas in a relaxed atmosphere!
Learn more about the participants of the moderated Q&A session by clicking on their name.
Feel free to send us your questions now!
Angelika Lampert, Univ.-Prof. Dr.
Department of Neurophysiology
Director, Scientific Center for Neuropathic pain Aachen SCNAACHEN
RWTH Aachen University
Germany
Key Areas of Expertise: Voltage-gated sodium channels, neuropathic pain, iPSC-derived sensory neurons, electrophysiology – PatchSeq, peripheral nerve fiber excitability.
Career Path in Brief: I studied human medicine and completed my MD thesis on sodium channels at the Max Planck in Jena, Germany (Stefan H. Heinemann). I then pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University in the United States (Stephen G. Waxman, ion channels in pain), established my own research group in Erlangen, Germany (Nav biophysics, iPSC-derived sensory neurons and pain), and subsequently became a professor at RWTH Aachen University.
Most important turning point: Realizing that some of what I was doing was actually being recognized and understanding that if I wanted to pursue the kind of science I am passionate about, I would need to become a professor in academia.
Important Milestone in your career path: Receiving own independent funding of DFG (German research council) for my group in Erlangen.
A message to my 25-year-old self: Relax.
Fun Fact or Personal Motivation: I enjoy gardening, especially growing dahlias.
Favourite Quote: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.“ – Oscar Wilde.
“Wherever you go, go with your heart.” – Chinese proverb.
Esther Miriam Pogatzki-Zahn, MD
Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
W3 Full Professor, Chair: Pain Service and Pain research
University of Muenster, Germany
Key Areas of Expertise: – Translational Pain Research, Neuroscience, Postsurgical Pain, Patient-Reported Outcomes, Meta-Analysis/ Guidelines,
Career Path in Brief: a „normal“ residency training in anesthesiology; a five year postdoc in neuroscience in the US (Univ. Iowa, Iowa City, with Tim Brennan and Gerry Gebhart: and Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, with Srinivasa Raja and Richard Meier); W2-Professor with own research lab in Muenster, Germany; W3-Professor with chair in pain management and research
Most important turning point: first child – changed my view on timing, (in)dependency, and organizing my live (my focus on reasearch did not change J)
Important Milestone in your career path: Participating in large research consortia (Pain-Out, IMI-PainCare, POET-Pain, Stepp-Upp)
A message to my 25-year-old self: worry less, enjoy more your archivements, move your path without looking too much what others are doing
Fun Fact or Personal Motivation: I first met my husband in the lab
Favourite Quote: “As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ted Price, Ashbel Smith Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Director, Center for Advanced Pain Studies
University of Texas at Dallas
Key Areas of Expertise: – 5 keywords – therapeutic development, RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, nociceptor physiology, target identification.
Career Path in Brief: PhD with Ken Hargreaves, Postdoc with Fernando Cervero at McGill, first faculty position at University of Arizona School of Medicine.
Most important turning point: becoming a pain patient myself, causing me to focus more on target identification and drug development
Important Milestone in your career path: Getting first grant, starting to work on human tissues, getting first drug to clinical trials.
A message to my 25-year-old self: Don‘t worry so much about the small things, and take care of your knees.
Fun Fact or Personal Motivation: I would rather be playing basketball.
Favourite Quote: “We are the ones we‘ve been waiting for” – Barack Obama
Edwin Vázquez-Cintrón, PhD
Project Director II, Neurotoxins R&D
Early Portfolio, Global Strategy & Operations
AbbVie
Key Areas of Expertise: – Botulinum Neurotoxins, Discovery Research, Drug Develeopment, Talent Developer, dot-connector
Career Path in Brief:
- Fell in love with biology at the University of Puerto Rico & City College of NY
- Completed PhD at NYU, focusing on immune suppression in tumors
- Founded a biotech during my postdoc to develop treatments for botulism, which led to a role at the U.S. Department of Defense
- Currently at AbbVie, focused on addressing unmet patient needs
Most important turning point: Beliving in myself
Important Milestone in your career path:
- Every discovery in research we make is part of our legacy
- Realizing the reward of seeing colleagues reach their full potential and enable them to make the next discovery
A message to my 25-year-old self: Spend more time with friends & family
Fun Fact or Personal Motivation: I love Ceiba trees, road trips, camping and beaches in Puerto Rico
Favourite Quotes: “You are your own limit” – Virginia Cintron (my mom)
“Clear is Kind. Unclear is unkind” – Brene Brown