Sixth Annual Aspen Brain Forum: The Addicted Brain and New Treatment Frontiers

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 DESCRIPTION: Although research advances in neural circuitry and behavior have improved our understanding of the processes underlying addiction, gaps remain in the development of new biologic or pharmacologic therapies, neuroscience-based behavioral treatment and monitoring methods, and access-to-care strategies. To address these unmet needs, the New York Academy of Sciences, together with the Aspen Brain Forum Foundation, and the journal Science Translational Medicine will present a 2.5-day conference titled, "Sixth Annual Aspen Brain Forum: The Addicted Brain and New Treatment Frontiers," on May 18 - 20, 2016, in New York City. This conference will convene approximately 250 attendees - including basic scientists and clinical investigators in academia, industry, and government; physicians and other addiction treatment specialists; pharmaceutical strategists; and lawmakers - in an effort to better understand the neurobiology of addiction. The event will include discussions on neuroplasticity, neurodevelopment, and socio-political issues, with the goals of developing new targets and improving current behavioral and pharmacological treatments. The three central aims of this conference are to: (i) provide a neutral forum through lectures, a keynote presentation, interactive debates, and networking activities for discussing the neurobiological landscape of addiction, therapeutic prospects, and the socio-political environment within which addiction persists; (ii) showcase and encourage the participation of early career, female, and underrepresented minority investigators via short talks, poster presentations, travel fellowships, career mentoring activities, and discounted registration; and (iii) foster collaboration among international investigators from all sectors to promote the translation of research into more effective addiction therapeutics. The conference goals align well with the mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to support the advancement of new knowledge on the neurobiological and behavioral processes underlying addictive behaviors, and the translation of information into interventions that may ultimately reduce substance abuse. In addition, NIDA's specific goal of disseminating information about addiction and advances in research will be met through the publication of a post-conference, enduring, open-access, Section 508- compliant Meeting Report in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences and an online, multimedia report known as an eBriefing, which will distribute the scientific knowledge and ideas exchanged at the meeting to the global research and medical communities. This conference is especially timely given recent advances in neurobiology research and changes to substance laws (e.g., expanded legalization of marijuana usage within many U.S. states and efforts to reform drug criminalization policies). A collaborative examination of this new information among all addiction stakeholders is of significant value for guiding research forward in the field - particularly with respect to potential innovative therapeutic approaches.