To get to Institut Pasteur using public transportation, you can take the metro line 6 and get off at the Pasteur station, which is just a few minutes' walk from the institute.
Comparative Brain Meeting
27–30 April 2026, Institut Pasteur, Paris
Comparative Brain Meeting 2026
The Comparative Brain Meeting aims at stimulating exchanges on brain evolution, its organisation, and development and comparative analyses across the tree of life. It unites researchers from diverse backgrounds, exploring various species and employing a wide range of data modalities and scales, from cell counts to behaviour. Our goal is to facilitate cross-lab collaborations, share methods for comparative neuroanatomy, and build a coherent framework and a community for comparative neuroscience. This hybrid event offers both in-person and virtual participation. Join us in advancing the frontiers of comparative brain research.
The meeting will take place 27–30 April 2026 at Institut Pasteur, 205 rue de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris. It will combine several topics: comparative MRI, comparative brain beyond MRI, fossils, histology, connectivity, brain development and behaviour, and a Hackathon Day to discuss questions and challenges that emerged from the meeting and start collaborative projects.
Programme — 27–30 April 2026
The meeting spans 3 days of talks and poster sessions (27–29 April), followed by a Hackathon Day (30 April) to discuss questions & challenges that will have emerged from the meeting and start collaborative projects.
Here, you can find the program for the 3 days with scheduled presentations. The Hackathon day has no schedule to give space to spontaneous discussion and unconferences around coffee & croissants and a gigantic white board.
Schedule
Day 1 — Monday 27 April
Welcome
9:00–9:05
Katja Heuer, Roberto Toro, Julia Sliwa — Welcome & Introduction
Opening Keynote
9:05–9:40
Mari Sepp — An Evo-Devo view of the mammalian cerebellum: from cellular diversity to gene regulatory programs
Macro-Evolution & Fossils
9:45–10:10
Chris Venditti, Jorge Avaria-Llautureo & Rob Barton — New phylogenetic approaches to unpacking brain structure evolution
10:10–10:30
Amélie Beaudet — Brain evolution within the hominin lineage
10:30–10:55
Victor Giolland & Ameline Bardo — Brain-behaviour coevolution
Coffee break
10:55–11:20
Brain Cells, Numbers & Diversity
11:20–11:55
Paul Manger — Thalamic and Cortical Volumetric Relationships: Does thalamotype predict cognitotype in mammals?
11:55–12:20
Pavel Nemec & Kristina Kverkova — Evolution of neuron numbers in vertebrates and effect of domestication on cellular brain composition
Poster Flash Talks
12:20–13:08
All poster presenters — 2-minute flash presentations (24 posters)
Lunch break
13:08–14:00
Poster Session I
14:00–14:35
Open poster viewing
Principles of Brain Organisation
14:45–15:05
Katja Heuer — An evolutionary perspective on the emergence of brain anatomy and cognition
15:05–15:25
Rogier Mars (online) — Cross-species neuroscience: From comparative to clinical
15:25–15:45
Camille Giacometti — Pareto task inference reveals neurochemical trade-offs in the macaque brain
15:45–16:05
Henry Evrard (online) — Comparative organisation of the interoceptive pathways and insular cortex
Coffee break
16:05–16:30
Neural Architecture of Language & Cognition
16:30–17:05
Angela Friederici — Brain Basis of Language Evolution
17:05–17:30
Alfred Anwander & Yannick Becker — Evolutionary connectivity: ultra-high resolution dMRI and the arcuate fascicle across great apes
17:30–17:50
Sébastien Bouret — Using comparative anatomy to bridge the gap between cognition and behavioral ecology in primates
Open Discussion — 18:10–18:30
End of Day 1
18:30
Social & Dinner – Start at 6.30 PM
We would like to meet you all at la Felicità to continue our discussions over drinks & dinner in a creative atmosphere. You can check out photos of the place. There is a direct metro line 6 connection from station Pasteur to station Chevaleret.
Day 2 — Tuesday 28 April
Evolution of Communication, Cognition & Language
9:00–9:35
Cédric Boeckx — Cognitive biology of language evolution
9:35–9:55
Catherine Crockford — Assessing primate vocal behaviour for brain studies
9:55–10:15
Adrien Meguerditchian — Longitudinal development of handedness and its brain specialisation in baboons
10:15–10:35
Andrea Ravignani — Evolving brains: towards integrative knowledge from cognitive neuroscience and ethological fieldwork
10:35–10:55
Pier Francesco Ferrari — Evolution of mirror neuron systems: from behavior to cognition
Coffee break
10:55–11:20
The Social Brain
11:20–11:40
Julia Sliwa — Neuroimaging the primate social brain
11:40–12:00
Sébastien Ballesta — Toward neuroanatomical and cognitive foundations of social tolerance across macaque species
12:00–12:20
Marius Braunsdorf — Social structure shapes macroscale white matter organisation in macaques
12:20–12:40
Rui Oliveira — Artificial selection for sociality drives the evolution of neuronal numbers and brain activity in zebrafish
12:40–13:00
Magda Teles — Early social environment regulates brain structure and function in zebrafish
Lunch break
13:00–14:00
Poster Session II
14:00–14:30
Open poster viewing
Brain Wiring across Scales
14:30–15:05
Moritz Helmstaedter — Cerebral Cortex Connectomics
15:05–15:25
Kathleen Rockland, Alvaro Duque & Martin Parent (online) — High Structural Complexity of the Anterior Commissure
15:25–15:45
Shaun Warrington — High-resolution diffusion MRI tractography in the NHP brain using a human 10.5T scanner
15:45–16:05
Maëlig Chauvel — Sulcus-based topology of short-range white matter in humans and chimpanzees
Coffee break
16:05–16:30
Mechanisms and Constraints on Brain Function
16:30–17:05
Marieke Schölvinck & Martha Havenith — Catching cognition in the act: New ways to track naturalistic cognitive processing across species
17:05–17:10
Ilaria Sani — Neural and Behavioral Trajectories of Attention in Semi-Free-Ranging Macaques
17:05–17:25
Stefan Everling — Chemogenetic modulation of the marmoset pregenual anterior cingulate cortex
17:25–17:45
Michel Mickael — The brain barriers: evolution and role of immune cell migration regulation
17:45–18:05
Alexandra de Sousa (online) — Do expensive brain regions increase less in humans?
Discussion: Cross-Cutting Themes — 18:05–18:30
End of Day 2
18:30
Social & Dinner – Start at 6.30 PM
We would like to meet you all at la Felicità to continue our discussions over drinks & dinner in a creative atmosphere. You can check out photos of the place. There is a direct metro line 6 connection from station Pasteur to station Chevaleret.
Day 3 — Wednesday 29 April
Development & Evo-Devo
9:00–9:35
Denis Jabaudon — Prenatal assembly of cortical circuits in a precocious rodent
9:35–9:55
Alex Donovan — Gene-regulatory mechanisms in the evolution of human brain size
9:55–10:15
Idoia Quintana Urzainqui — The shark embryo as a model to study the origin and evolution of the vertebrate brain
10:15–10:35
Roberto Toro — Mechanical morphogenesis of brain folding
Coffee break
10:35–11:00
Cetacean Brains
11:00–11:20
Kamilla Souza — Cetacean brains in Brazil
Broader Brains for Broader Research
A joint session with Anastasia Tsingotjidou, Tommaso Gerussi, Jean-Marie Graïc, Nina Patzke & Mehdi Behroozi (presentation + group discussion).
11:20–12:10
Tsingotjidou, Gerussi, Behroozi, Graïc, Patzke — The use of large brains in neuroscience
Receptor architecture
12:10–12:30
Nicola Palomero-Gallagher — Cross species analyses of receptor architecture
Carnivoran Brains I
12:30–12:50
Thomas Kirkwood — Neocortical shape evolution across the land-to-water transition in caniform carnivorans
Lunch break
12:50–13:50
Poster Session III
13:50–14:20
Open poster viewing
Carnivoran Brains & Brain Aging
14:20–14:40
Erin Hecht — Brain-behaviour evolution in domestic dogs
14:40–15:00
Magdalena Boch — Carnivoran social neuroecology
15:00–15:20
Christine Charvet (online) — Cat brains age like humans: translating time shows pet cats as natural models for human aging
15:20–15:40
William Hopkins — Brain aging in chimpanzees, rhesus monkeys and baboons
Coffee break
15:40–16:05
Methods & Tools
16:05–16:25
Clément Garin — EvoDevo NeuroImaging Explorer (EDNiX): brain evolution and development across species
16:25–16:45
Antoine Bourlier — 3DBrainMiner: an open-source platform for modelling and visualising the brain as graphs
16:45–17:05
Elodie Chaillou — Customised Brain Box (CuBBox): standardised serial brain sectioning
Snack break
17:05–17:20
Community Session: Looking Forward
17:20–18:45
Open discussion — State of the Field & Open Questions • Perspective Piece Planning • Special Issue & Collaborative Projects
End of Day 3
18:45
Social & Dinner – Start at 6.45 PM
We would like to meet you all at Ground Control to continue our discussions over drinks & dinner in a creative atmosphere with homemade food from countries around the world. You can check out photos of the place. There is a direct metro line 6 connection from station Pasteur to station Dugommier.
Day 4 — Thursday 30 April: Comparative Hackathon
Hackathon day Start at 10 AM, entrance 28 Rue du Docteur Roux
This day has no fixed schedule but is for people to connect around their topics of interest, discuss, and start collaborations. It can have a set of unconference sessions where people can spontaneously present topics that are of interest to a larger group.
Discussions
around croissant & coffee and a gigantic white board
Unconference sessions
Spontaneous presentations on the big screen or the projector that emerge from the ongoing discussions
Collaborative projects
Finding collaborators and start working on projects
Posters at the Comparative Brain Meeting
P21
Aidan Murphy — Patterns of cortical connectivity across primates
P18
Branka Hrvoj Mihic — Density of synapses in the cortex and hippocampus of aging chimpanzees
P8
Camille Pluchot — Sensory cortical mapping in voluntary awake and unrestrained sheep
P5
Chloe Jaroszynski — Mouse to human translations in latent spaces
P12
Clément Caporal — Cortex folding effect on pyramidal neuron shape
P4
Cosma Rost — Comparing the social brain connectome in humans and macaques
P15
Daniel Lozano — MRI-based brain atlases of representative species of vertebrates
P9
David Meunier — func_BaboFet: advanced methods for processing fetal NHP functional MRI
P10
Fatma Özge Ozkok — AI-assisted tools for comparative brain data integration
P2
Jérôme Sallet — Sulcal patterns of the temporo-parietal cortex in primates
P3
Katherine Bryant — Comparative carnivoran white matter
P14
Kristina Kverkova — The taming of the brain: How domestication changes brain composition at the neuronal level
P13
Marion Giraud — Self-Supervised Learning for Single Cell Neuroimaging
P22
Mira Sinha — Exploring Whole-Brain Neuroanatomical Divergence Across Great Ape Species
P23
Mónica María Villalba de Alvarado — New insights in the morphology of the brain and endocast in the Ursidae family
P11
Mustafa Ozan Ozkok — Deep learning-based feature extraction for comparative brain MRI analysis
P16
Nicola Palomero-Gallagher — MEBRAINS: a multilevel macaque brain atlas
P20
Ophélie Foubet — Association Between Precentral Gyrus Morphology and Modality-Specific Intentional Communication in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
P7
Sara Binder — Modelling activation in the canine brain: establishing dog BOLD signal properties
P17
Sean Froudist-Walsh — Cortically-Embedded Recurrent Neural Networks for species-specific modelling of cognition
P1
Yannick Becker & Alfred Anwander — Evolution of Language-Related Pathways in Wild and Captive Great Apes
P6
Yasemin Salgirli Demirbas — Approach or Avoid? Can behavioral laterality be a window into feline social behavior
P19
Yufan Wang — Homologous Specialization of Arcuate Fasciculus Ventrolateral Frontal Connectivity in Marmosets and Humans
How to join the meeting
The onsite meeting room 🏢
We'll be in Amphitheatre Duclaux. Please present yourself at the Institut Pasteur reception, 205 rue de Vaugirard.
Your participation has been registered in the system and you will receive your badge upon presentation of an
ID card with name and photo to the reception team. Our local team will pick up small groups of participants on
a rolling basis until 9 am. Your badge will be valid for the entire duration of the meeting and you will need
it everytime you enter or exit the campus.
The online video room 🎥
We will be using Microsoft Teams. It will be monitored throughout the talk sessions so that online participants can post questions in the chat or raise their hand and join the discussion on camera. Our setup combines several devices to maintain good audio quality during the Q&A and discussion sessions. Everybody who would like to share their screen, please install the Microsoft teams app – joining just on the Web iterface has caused problems in the past.
Team of organizers
Katja Heuer (postdoc in the Neurophysiology of Social Cognition Lab, Paris Brain Institute)
@k4tj4
Roberto Toro (Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique Lab, Institut Pasteur Paris)
@r3rt0
Julia Sliwa (Neurophysiology of Social Cognition Lab, Paris Brain Institute)
@juliasliwa
Clément Caporal (postdoc in the Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique Lab, Institut Pasteur)
@caporalclement
Antoine Legouhy (postdoc in the Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique Lab, Institut Pasteur)
Erik Maikranz (postdoc in the Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique Lab, Institut Pasteur)
Kevin Martinez (postdoc in the Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique Lab, Institut Pasteur)
Nicolas Traut (Research engineer in the Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique Lab, Institut Pasteur)
We kindly thank the sponsors of our event
Made with love ❤ Please respect the Code of Conduct.