2006 Genes & Behavior Conference

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funds are requested to help support the second Gordon Research Conference on Genes and Behavior, to be held on February 12th to 17th, 2004 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel Ventura, California. Funds received from NIH would be used to partially defray the travel and meeting costs for invited speakers and discussion leaders from the US. In addition, support is requested for young investigators (postdocs and graduate students) from the US, with preference to be given to members of under-represented groups. The Conference will focus on selected, important topics at the interface of animal behavior, neurobiology, genetics, molecular biology, and evolutionary biology. Emphasis will be placed on catalyzing the integration of molecular genetics, biotechnology and the behavioral sciences. The aim of the second conference is the same as the highly successful first conference namely to bring together scientists developing genetic tools to study behavior in "model behavioral systems" with those who study behavior in "model genetic systems." All of the invited speakers and discussion leaders are highly regarded experts in their fields and were selected by the Conference Chair in consultation with a conference program committee. Special attention has been given to include experts from diverse disciplines in order to achieve a broadly based understanding of genes influence behavior. Recent advances in genomics and molecular biology are making it possible to examine in exquisite detail the relationship(s) between genes and behavior. We believe that much of the progress in this frontier area will come from two directions: expanding the range of behaviors studied in model genetic organisms, and applying the techniques developed in model genetic systems to model behavioral systems. We seek to use the Gordon Conference as the mechanism catalyze this process. The first Gordon Conference on Genes and Behavior was seen by nearly all participants as highly successful (based on the results of the GRC exit poll). The discussions were lively and by all accounts substantial progress was made in finding the common parameters among scientists from remarkably different backgrounds. We believe the second conference will be even more successful than the first.