NEURAL CIRCUITS & PLASTICITY GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE

描述：戈登研究会议(GRC)关于神经电路和可塑性(以前的神经可塑性)自1977年以来每隔一年举行一次。我们请求为2007年7月1-6日的会议以及2009和2011年的会议提供部分支持，这些会议在位于里士满纽波特的Salve Regina大学举行。建立GRCs是为了在非正式的环境中促进科学交流。会议的非正式性质以及会议期间花在提问上的大量时间推动了交流。GRC规则禁止发表或引用会议和演示文稿，促进对最新结果和当前想法的公开讨论。这种形式对神经电路和可塑性会议特别有用，这是一个高度跨学科的会议，在分子、细胞、系统和计算水平上探索神经电路的形成、功能和可塑性。2007年的会议将有9个科学会议，理查德·阿克塞尔博士和Susumu Tonegawa博士将做两次主旨演讲，他们都是诺贝尔奖获得者，也是研究电路功能和可塑性的最知名的科学家之一。科学会议将涵盖该领域当前感兴趣的一系列主题，比较不同的电路和分析水平。发言者和会议主席都是各自领域的世界领袖或崭露头角的初级调查人员。下午的海报会议为所有感兴趣的参与者提供了一个机会来介绍和讨论他们的工作，每个会议将包括从提交的摘要中挑选出来的1到2个简短的演讲。这种形式在前几年很好地促进了年轻调查人员的晋升。问答时间安排得很慷慨，社交活动将允许新参与者非正式地会见演讲者和会议主席。过去的与会者发现，这些非正式的互动是会议的一个亮点，也是年轻人科学进步的重要来源。最后，50%的受邀发言者是妇女，我们还请求提供支持，以资助代表人数不足的群体出席会议。

DESCRIPTION: The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Neural Circuits and Plasticity (formerly Neural Plasticity) has been held in alternate years since 1977. We are requesting partial support for the July 1-6, 2007 meeting, and the 2009 and 2011 meetings, at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. The GRCs were established to stimulate scientific interchange in an informal setting. Interchange is promoted by the informal nature of the conference and by the large amount of time committed to questions during the sessions. The GRC rule prohibiting publication or citation of the meetings and presentations promotes open discussion of the latest results and current ideas. This format has been particularly useful for the Conference on Neural Circuits and Plasticity, a highly interdisciplinary meeting in which the formation, function, and plasticity of neural circuits is explored at the molecular, cellular, systems, and computational levels. The 2007 Conference will have 9 scientific sessions, with two keynote talks by Drs. Richard Axel and Susumu Tonegawa, both Nobel Laureates and among the most reknowned scientists studying circuit function and plasticity. The scientific sessions will cover a range of topics of current interest in the field, comparing different circuits and analysis levels. The speakers and session chairs are all either world leaders in their fields or up-and-coming junior investigators. Afternoon poster sessions provide an opportunity for all interested participants to present and discuss their work, and each session will include 1 or 2 short talks selected from the submitted abstracts. This format worked very well in previous years to promote young investigators. Question and answer periods are generously scheduled, and social events will permit new participants to meet speakers and session chairs informally. Past participants have found these informal interactions to be a highlight of the meeting, and an important source of scientific advancement for junior people. Finally, 50% of the invited speakers are women and we are also requesting support to fund the attendance of underrepresented groups.