2012 Auditory System Gordon Research Conference & Gordon Research Seminar

描述（由申请人提供）：2012年戈登研究会议（GRC）的“听觉系统”将提供一个论坛，初级和高级科学家从许多学科分享未发表的，创新的研究听觉沟通及其相关疾病。该两年期会议于2008年在全球资源中心的主持下成立，该组织以其会议的高质量和前沿性而闻名。具体目标是促进跨学科的互动，促进听觉研究人员之间的社区意识，为其他领域的科学家提供听觉研究的跳板，并在支持性的科学环境中指导学生。受邀的演讲者包括杰出的学者和有前途的年轻科学家，他们正在将新方法应用于听力科学和其他交叉领域。除了35位受邀演讲者外，所有参与者都可以在高度互动的海报会议上展示他们的研究;从这些会议中，我们选择了11个简短的演讲，在每个会议中交错进行。这次会议的一个显著特点是与学生组织的戈登研究研讨会（GRS）。GRS聚集了约45名研究生和博士后学员，在GRC开始前立即介绍和讨论他们的研究。一些高级调查员被邀请到GRS提供建议和反馈，从而培养我们未来的主要调查员的职业生涯。全球资源中心/全球资源中心的前两次会议因侧重于最新的调查结果并促进非正式、高度互动的形式而获得了极为积极的评价。2012年关于“听觉系统”的GRC将于2012年7月8日至13日在缅因州刘易斯顿的贝茨学院举行，这是一个鼓励在大学氛围中进行激烈和活跃讨论的理想学术环境。GRS将于2012年7月7日至8日举行。一个指导原则，将有助于保持本次会议的新鲜和相关的是我们的承诺，探索新的主题，并收集一个全新的演员发言，为每一个连续的会议。本申请中描述的具体程序具有代表听力科学的广度的总体目标，同时还建立了一组主题焦点。因此，2012年会议将强调听觉系统以外的研究领域，努力引入新的概念供讨论。我们将考虑前庭处理的相关领域，多感觉整合的领域， 注意力等认知因素的影响。最后，会议将整合听力损失和恢复领域的临床相关研究，包括耳蜗和中枢神经系统对损伤的脆弱性，以及挽救正常功能的新策略。在这里，基础研究结果将与前庭和耳蜗假体，再生和中央可塑性机制的最新信息相吻合。2012年全球资源中心/全球资源中心会议将为与会者提供一个理想的环境，以探讨不同层面的研究方法如何相互关联，从而促进新的想法和合作。 公共卫生相关性：听觉交流是人类的一个重要特征，它的受损会危及关键的发育里程碑，或给成年人带来重大的医疗困难。虽然我们作为研究社区的巨大优势可以在耳蜗和CNS处理的复杂方法中找到，但这种技术专业化带来了一个挑战：我们如何相互联系，以便我们发现系统如何运行？“听觉系统”戈登研究会议和研讨会通过召集来自听觉，前庭和多感官研究不同领域的顶级研究人员论坛来解决这一问题，并与新一代的学生科学家分享这些见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The 2012 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on "The Auditory System" will provide a forum for junior and senior scientists from many disciplines to share unpublished, innovative research about aural communication and its associated disorders. This biennial meeting was established in 2008 under the auspices of the GRC, an organization internationally known for the high quality, cutting edge nature of its meetings. The specific objectives are to foster interactions across disciplines, promote a sense of community among auditory researchers, provide a springboard into auditory research for scientists from other fields, and mentor students in a supportive scientific setting. The invited speakers include both prominent scholars and promising young scientists who are applying new approaches to the hearing sciences and other intersecting fields. In addition to the 35 invited speakers, all participants can present their research at highly interactive poster sessions; from these, we select 11 short talks that are interleaved in each session. A distinct feature of this meeting is is association with a student-organized Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). The GRS assembles ~45 graduate and postdoctoral trainees to present and discuss their research immediately before the GRC begins. A few senior investigators are invited to the GRS to provide advice and feedback, thereby nurturing the careers of our future principal investigators. The first two GRC/GRS meetings garnered exceedingly positive reviews for focusing on the most recent findings, and promoting an informal, highly interactive format. The 2012 GRC on "The Auditory System" will be held July 8-13, 2012 at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, an ideal academic setting for encouraging intense and invigorating discussions in a collegial atmosphere. The GRS will be held July 7-8, 2012. A guiding principle that will serve to keep this conference fresh and relevant is our commitment to explore novel themes, and to gather a completely new cast of speakers, for each successive meeting. The specific program described in this application has the overarching goals of representing the breadth of the hearing sciences, while also establishing a set of thematic foci. Thus, the 2012 meeting will emphasize research areas that extend beyond the auditory system in an effort to introduce new concepts for discussion. We will consider the related field of vestibular processing, the field of multisensory integration, and the influence of cognitive factors such as attention. Finally, the meeting will integrate clinically relevant research in the area of hearing loss and restoration, including the vulnerability of both cochlea and CNS to injury, and novel strategies to rescue normal function. Here, basic research findings will dovetail with the latest information on vestibular and cochlear prostheses, regeneration, and central plasticity mechanisms. The 2012 GRC/GRS meetings will provide participants with an ideal setting to explore how research approaches at very different levels relate to one another, thereby facilitating new ideas and collaborations. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Aural communication is a defining human characteristic, and its impairment can jeopardize key developmental milestones or impose significant medical hardships in adulthood. Although our great strength as a research community can be found in the sophisticated approaches to cochlear and CNS processing, this technical specialization introduces a challenge: how do we connect with one another such that we discover how the system operates? "The Auditory System" Gordon Research Conference and Seminar addresses this concern by convening a forum of top investigators from diverse areas of hearing, vestibular, and multisensory research to discuss their most recent discoveries with one another, and to share these insights with a new generation of student scientists.