14th CONGRESS of the
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR
AUTONOMIC NEUROSCIENCE
Joint Meeting with EFAS - European Federation of Autonomic Societies
Bologna – Italy, 2-5 September 2026
DAY ONE
WEDNESDAY, 2 September 2026
ROOM C
09.030 – 10.00 — Registration for the EFAS session
10.00 – 13.00 — EFAS session — Practical session: Hands on
10:00 – Introduction Alessandra Fanciulli – EFAS President
10:10 – 10:40 | Overview of the autonomic nervous system functions in health and disease EFAS Council / EFAS members
10:50 – 11:00 – Break
11:00 – 12:00 | Workshops EFAS Rep / AINV Rep
Reception Area
13.00 – 14.00 — Registration
ROOM B
14.00 – 15.00 — Opening ceremony
15.00 – 16.00 — Keynote lecture ISAN Sympathetic neuroimmunity in obesity
Ana Domingos, University of Oxford, UK
ROOM A
16:00 – 18:00 — Symposium 1: Chemoreflex and Autonomic Dysfunction: From Mechanisms to Therapeutic Targets Across Diseases
Chair: Rodrigo Del Rio (University of Kansas Medical Center, USA)
16:00 – 16:20 Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: Role of chemoreflex drive on tunning disease progression
Rodrigo Del Rio (University of Kansas Medical Center, USA)
16:20 – 16:40 Chemoreflex Adaptations in Metabolic Disease and Obesity
Silvia Conde (University NOVA Lisboa, Portugal)
16:40 – 17:00 Fructose Ingestion during the Peripubertal Period increase Blood Pressure and Sympathetic Activity in Adult Male but not in Female Rats
Deborah Colombari (UNESP, Brazil)
17:00 – 17:20 Chemoreflex Sensitivity as a Therapeutic Target in Sleep Apnea and Heart Failure
Alberto Giannoni (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy)
Selected Abstracts
17:20 – 17:35 Brainstem respiratory network activity during the hypoxic ventilatory response
Rishi Dhingra (Case Western Reserve University, United States)
17:35 – 17:50 Memantine rescues cardiorespiratory chemoreflex dysfunction following acute irreversible cholinesterase inhibition in female rats
Lopes Macedo Breno (Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil)
17:50 – 18:00 Discussion
ROOM B
16:00 – 18:00 — Symposium 2: Central and Peripheral Investigation of the Autonomic Regulation of Cardiovascular Function in Health, Disease and Injury
Chairs: Clement Menuet (Aix-Marseille University, France) – Davi J.A. Moraes (University of São Paulo, Brazil)
16:00 – 16:20 Acute intermittent carotid bodies stimulations induce long-term facilitation of respiratory-cardiovascular coupling in rats
Ambre Linossier (Aix-Marseille University, France)
16:20 – 16:40 Lateral parafacial neurons evoked expiratory oscillations driving neurogenic hypertension
Davi J.A. Moraes (University of São Paulo, Brasil)
16:40 – 17:00 Investigating end-organ regulation through direct cardiac autonomic nerve recordings
Julia Shanks (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
17:00 – 17:20 Heart and respiratory central regulation changes during the acute phase of brain injury
Baptiste Balanca (Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France)
Selected Abstracts
17:20 – 17:35 Spontaneous bursts of muscle sympathetic nerve activity transiently reduce skeletal muscle vascular compliance in humans
Iannarelli Nathaniel (Brock University, Canada)
17:35 – 17:50 A glutamatergic interneuron circuit in the lateral parafacial region controlling active expiration and arterial pressure in mice
Juliana Reis Souza (University of São Paulo, Brazil)
17:50 – 18:00 Discussion
ROOM G
16:00 – 18:00 — Symposium 3: Beyond the Average Human: New Insights from Interindividual Variability in Autonomic Control
Chairs: Lauro C. Vianna (University of Brasília, Brazil) – James P. Fisher (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
16:00 – 16:20 Interindividual Variability in Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity at Rest and During Exercise: Disconnection with Blood Pressure
Philip Millar (University of Guelph, Canada)
16:20 – 16:40 Interindividual Variability in Sympathetic Contributions to Hypertension and Response to Interventional Therapies
Jens Jordan (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany)
16:40 – 17:00 Interindividual Variability in Autonomic and Hemodynamic Responses in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Michael Plunkett (Royal Brompton Hospital, UK)
17:00 – 17:20 Interindividual Variability in Orthostatic Disorders: Mechanistic and Clinical Insights
Marie-Claire Seeley (University of Adelaide & CEO, Australian POTS Foundation, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Australia)
Selected Abstracts
17:20 – 17:35 Who Benefits from Slow Breathing? Mindfulness, Anxiety, and Worry Contribute to Heterogeneity in Blood Pressure Responses
Erica Wehrwein (Michigan State University, USA)
17:35 – 17:50 Cardiac autonomic response to active standing and olfactory function in older adults
Sae Uchida (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Japan)
17:50 – 18:00 Discussion
ROOM C
16:00 – 18:00 — Symposium 4: Early Detection and Monitoring of Disease Progression in Protein Misfolding Diseases and Lysosomal Storage Disorder
Chairs: Astrid Juhl Terkelsen (Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark) – Max Hilz (Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Germany & Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA)
16:00 – 16:20 Screening of patients with polyneuropathy and neurogenic autonomic dysfunction for early detection of amyloidosis and Lewy Body Disease
Astrid Juhl Terkelsen (Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark)
16:20 – 16:40 Polyneuropathy as an early manifestation of Lewy body disease?
Naja Helt Andersen (Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark)
16:40 – 17:00 Monitoring of patients and asymptomatic carriers with hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis to identify disease progression
Pietro Guaraldi (IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Italy)
17:00 – 17:20 Similarities and differences between Fabry Disease and TTR Amyloidosis
Max Hilz (Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Germany & Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA)
Selected Abstracts
17:20 – 17:35 Cardiovascular autonomic failure in hereditary non-transthyretin amyloidosis
Laura Sander (University Hospital Basel, Switzerland)
17:35 – 17:50 Real-World Impact of Vutrisiran on Autonomic Dysfunction and Disability in Hereditary Transthyretin Amyloidosis
Micol Gianoli, Bologna (AUSL Bologna, Italy)
17:50 – 18:00 Discussion
18:00 – 20:00 — Welcome cocktail