The Wu Tsai Institute invites you to its annual conference on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at 100 College Street.
Chaired by Daniel Colón-Ramos, Director of the Center for Neurodevelopment and Plasticity, the full-day event explores how energy shapes neural function, cognition, and intelligent systems, and examines what energy means at different scales—from molecules to minds to machines. Participants will help identify shared principles, tensions, and open questions across fields that can guide future exploration in the Institute’s next Grand Challenges in Cognition.
Refreshments and lunch will be provided to those who register. All Yale community members are welcome. View the working agenda below, and please send questions to wti@yale.edu.
Working Agenda
Please note, details are subject to change.
Attendees can pick up their badges, and refreshments will be available in the lounge area.
Daniel Colón-Ramos, WTI Associate Director and Director of the Center for Neurodevelopment and Plasticity, will welcome guests and give opening remarks.
Session one:
“Energy constraints from organelle to organism,” by Martin Picard (Columbia University Irving Medical Center)
Primer: Douglas Rothman (Radiology and Biomedical Imaging)
Session two:
“The astrocyte-neuron metabolic unit: more than fuel for thought,” by Juan Bolaños (University of Salamanca, Spain)
Flash talks: Matthew Merrins (Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Aaron Wolfe (Neuroscience)
Lunch will be provided for registered attendees.
Session three:
“Molecular and structural adaptations of brain energy supply,” by Vidhya Rangaraju (Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience)
Session four:
Flash talks: Tamas Horvath (Comparative Medicine and Neuroscience), Hilary Blumberg (Psychiatry, Child Study Center, and Biomedical Imaging), Elizabeth Jonas (Endocrinology and Neuroscience), Marc Hammarlund (Genetics and Neuroscience), Damon Clark (Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology and Neuroscience)
Session five:
Benjamin Machta (Physics), Ruslan Medzhitov (Immunobiology), Fameed Hyder (Radiology and Biomedical Imaging)
Refreshments will be available in the lounge area.