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On January 9, 2019 Giorgi Lobzhanidze gave a presentation on his doctoral research project at the Doctoral Forum. Giorgi’s research specifically focuses on the subject “Propionic acid model of Autism” on which he is writing his doctoral thesis within the frame of the “Cellular Neuroscience PhD program” at Ilia State University.

With his presentation Giorgi did not only give some general insights into autism and its causes but also focused particularly on Propionic Acid as one of the causes. He explained how this acid is generated in the human organism, why its elevated concentration is dangerous for human beings and in which ways he conducts his research.
Giorgi furthershowed that his research activities are divided in two major parts, which are behavioral experiments on rats conducted in various mazes and exploration of their brains by using optical and electronic microscopes. Furthermore, Giorgi briefly introduced some results of his past experiments to the audience.

Subsequent to the presentation the participants of the Doctoral Forum gladly used the opportunity to ask their questions, which amongst others concerned the problem of autism, ways and measures of prevention and technical details of Giorgi’s experiments as well.