Samir Koirala
Vice President & Head of Neurobiology Research Alkermes
Seminars
Tuesday 15th September 2026
Translating Circuit Biology into Biomarkers: Integrating EEG, Electrophysiology, & Neural Signatures in Drug Development
2:30 pm
- Leveraging EEG and complementary neurophysiology approaches to map circuit-level modulation and therapeutic mechanisms
- Combining immediate-early-gene readouts, single-unit recordings, and local field potentials to construct multi-modal circuit signatures
- Building translational frameworks that bridge preclinical circuit modulation to human biomarker endpoints
- Advancing biomarker-driven decision-making to de-risk development and guide dose selection, target engagement, and clinical translatability
Tuesday 15th September 2026
Panel Discussion: Evaluating Unmet Needs in Sleep: Navigating EEG Utility & Limitations Across Complex Sleep Architecture
3:15 pm
- Defining which facets of sleep (onset, maintenance, early awakening, quality, or EEG specific signals) truly matter as clinical biomarkers
- Understanding the practical and scientific limits of EEG in psychiatric sleep research: specificity, invasiveness, and placebo susceptibility
- How sponsors (orexin programs, sleep promoting or circadian targeting drugs) and EEG tech vendors interpret sleep architecture in different disease contexts
- Identifying core unmet needs in insomnia and sleep dysregulation across mood and psychiatric disorders, and what measurement innovation is required
Tuesday 15th September 2026
Panel Discussion: Evaluating Unmet Needs in Sleep: Navigating EEG Utility & Limitations Across Complex Sleep Architecture
3:15 pm
- Defining which facets of sleep (onset, maintenance, early awakening, quality, or EEG specific signals) truly matter as clinical biomarkers
- Understanding the practical and scientific limits of EEG in psychiatric sleep research: specificity, invasiveness, and placebo susceptibility
- How sponsors (orexin programs, sleep promoting or circadian targeting drugs) and EEG tech vendors interpret sleep architecture in different disease contexts
- Identifying core unmet needs in insomnia and sleep dysregulation across mood and psychiatric disorders, and what measurement innovation is required
Tuesday 15th September 2026
Interpreting Insomnia Signals as a Sleep Biomarker Across Mood Disorders
1:30 pm
- Differentiating insomnia subtypes (difficulty initiating vs. maintaining sleep vs. early awakening) and their relevance as biomarkers across depression and anxiety
- How insomnia signatures may stratify patients, predict symptom trajectories, or serve as endpoints across mood disorder trials
- Opportunities and pitfalls when using sleep related EEG and behavioral signals to map emotional blunting, anhedonia, and anxiety phenotypes
- Integrating clinical, sponsor, academic, and technology vendor perspectives to advance insomnia as a validated, scalable biomarker
Wednesday 16th September 2026
Harnessing Orexin Biology to Advance Sleep Regulation & Novel Neuropsychiatric Therapeutics
11:45 am
- Illuminating the mechanistic role of orexin pathways in stabilizing sleep-wake architecture and behavioural states
- Applying emerging orexin targeted strategies to address unmet needs across sleep related and broader neuropsychiatric disorders
- Integrating molecular, pharmacologic, and translational insights to shape next generation therapeutic candidates
- Exploring how expanding orexin centric biology opens doors to new indications beyond traditional mood and psychotic disorders
