2017 Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar

摘要 该提案要求R13支持长期、备受关注且广受欢迎的Gordon Research 关于兴奋性突触和脑功能的会议。突触是我们 了解电路的功能和行为。在中枢神经系统中，兴奋性突触代表 信息处理的主要方式是通过局部回路和大脑区域之间的通信。 突触是许多常用药物及其破坏的作用场所 会导致许多神经和精神疾病。这些疾病包括精神分裂症、自闭症、抑郁症 物质滥用和成瘾、帕金森氏病、阿尔茨海默病、创伤性脑损伤、中风和 癫痫。在某些情况下，突触功能障碍是疾病的原因，而在另一些情况下，它代表着 一个或多个潜在分子缺陷的下游后遗症。在任何一种情况下，一个基本的 了解突触的形成、结构、分子组织、信号功能和可塑性 对于在减轻人类神经系统疾病负担方面取得进展以及预测和 改善心理健康。这次会议的独特之处在于它对兴奋性突触的关注，以及它的 参与者包括结构生物学家、分子生物学家和发育生物学家在内的多学科小组， 细胞生物学家、生物化学家、细胞/分子成像学家、生物物理学家和神经生理学家。这次会议是 旨在将兴奋性突触功能的基本见解与突触功能的损害联系起来 在疾病中发生的，以及在药物滥用中发生的不适应可塑性。的目标是 会议旨在确定和突出对突触功能、神经回路动力学的基本新见解 以及来自主题方法的功能障碍。该计划的设计还突出了尖端技术 在一个健全的生物框架内促进新的概念、方法和技术 基础神经科学。这次会议将把世界各地的专家科学家聚集在一个环境中 这有利于讨论和交流思想。这次会议上的思想交流是一种 赛场的驱动力。我们预计2017年关于兴奋性突触和脑功能的GRC将形成 未来的科学方向，并为NIH的多个研究所的任务提供关键支持，包括 NINDS、NIMH、NIDA和NIA。

Summary This proposal requests R13 support for a longstanding, well-attended, and well-received Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function. The synapse is central to our understanding of circuit function and behavior. In the central nervous system, excitatory synapses represent the primary means of information processing by local circuits and communication between brain regions. Synapses serve as the site of action for many commonly prescribed medications and their disruption contributes to many neurological and psychiatric disorders. These include schizophrenia, autism, depression, substance abuse and addiction, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke and epilepsy. In some cases, synaptic dysfunction is causal in disease, whereas in other cases it represents the downstream sequelae of one or more underlying molecular defects. In either case, a fundamental understanding of the formation, structure, molecular organization, signaling function, and plasticity of synapses is essential to progress in lessening the burden of human neurological disease and for predicting and improving mental health. This conference is unique in its focus on the excitatory synapse, and in its multidisciplinary group of participants including structural biologists, molecular and developmental biologists, cell biologists, biochemists, cell/molecular imagers, biophysicists and neurophysiologists. The conference is intended to relate fundamental insights in excitatory synaptic function to the impairments in synaptic function that occur in disease, as well as the maladaptive plasticity that occurs in substance abuse. The goal of the conference is to identify and highlight fundamental new insights into synaptic function, neural circuit dynamics and dysfunction from a thematic approach. The program has been designed to also highlight cutting edge approaches and to stimulate new concepts, methods and technologies within a sound biological framework of fundamental neuroscience. The conference will bring together expert scientists worldwide in an environment that is conducive to discussion and exchange of ideas. The exchange of ideas at this conference has been a driving force for the field. We expect the 2017 GRC on Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function will shape future scientific directions, and provide critical support for the mission of multiple institutes at NIH including NINDS, NIMH, NIDA and NIA.