WCBR Conference Grant

 描述（由申请人提供）：本申请是为年度冬季脑研究会议（WCBR）申请三年的资金。2016年会议将于1月24日星期日至1月28日星期四在Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center，Breckenridge，CO举行。本次会议是探索物质使用障碍（SUD）领域新发展的理想论坛。WCBR有一个独特的格式，有76个会议（93个提交），包括73个2小时的小组，6个1小时的迷你小组（3个会议），以及2015年的2个短期课程。有463名科学家参加了会议。每天都有海报会议（星期日至星期二），包括一个特别的评判海报会议，其中包括主要由年轻研究人员在星期二晚上提交的顶级海报。新的2015年是一个职业发展研讨会的研究生，博士后研究员，和初级教师是如此良好的出席，2届会议正在计划2016年（一个包括predocs和早期博士后;另一个高级博士后和Jr教师）。为分组讨论、建立联系和科学讨论留出了较长的时间。WCBR是初级调查员和学员在轻松的气氛中与资深调查员互动的绝佳机会。对最近会议的评价突出表明，这次会议通常对新兴科学家和老牌科学家产生强烈影响。由于分配给新兴科学家的差旅费跟不上参加小型专门会议的费用上涨，我们正在请求其他来源提供资金。我们希望，我们的请求的结果使我们能够支持一位主旨发言人以及大量初级调查员参加会议。会议包括一位主旨发言人，他还举行了一次大脑谈话城镇会议，该会议将向整个布雷肯里奇社区开放。对于2016年WCBR会议，Miguel Nicolelis，医学博士，博士神经工程中心，杜克U将是主题演讲和大脑谈话城市会议的发言人。 与当地初中和高中教师合作，每年组织一次学校外联方案，最多有10名妇女儿童康复科学家访问社区学校。WCBR的项目每年根据每年8月提交的摘要进行开发。在WCBR 2015上，大约三分之一（每届两个小组）专门讨论滥用药物，另外六分之一（每届一个小组）专门讨论奖励。因此，至少一半的会议应该与NIDA直接相关（其余的小组占计划的1/3，主要与NIMH和1/6 NINDS相关）。因此，会议是高度相关的了解药物成瘾以及神经和神经精神疾病的神经生物学基础。WCBR总是提供一个独特的机会来讨论这些条件的病理生理学和治疗的理解的最新进展。事实上，很大一部分参与者是初级研究人员，相当多的人将是研究生和博士后，确保这次会议可能会对未来几代神经科学家如何看待这些问题产生影响。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is to request three years of funding for the annual Winter Conference on Brain Research (WCBR). The 2016 meeting will take place at Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center, Breckenridge, CO between Sunday January 24 to Thursday January 28. This conference is an ideal forum for exploring new developments in the field of substance use disorders (SUDs). WCBR has a unique format with 76 sessions (out of 93 submissions), including 73 2-hr panels, 6 1-hr mini-panels (3 sessions), and 2 short courses in 2015. There were 463 scientist attendees. There are daily poster sessions (Sun-Tue) including a special judged poster session that includes the top-ranking poster submissions predominantly presented by young investigators on Tue evening. New in 2015 was a Career Development Workshop for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty that was so well-attended that 2 sessions are being planned for 2016 (one including predocs and early postdocs; another for senior postdocs and Jr faculty). Extended periods of time are set aside for breakout groups, networking and scientific discussions. WCBR is an excellent opportunity for junior investigators and trainees to interact with established investigators in a relaxed atmosphere. The evaluations of recent conferences highlight the strong impact this meeting typically has on emerging as well as established scientists. As the travel funds allocated for emerging scientists have not kept pace with the rising costs of attending small, specialized meetings, we are requesting funding from other sources. We are hoping that the results of our requests enable us to support a keynote speaker as well as a large number of junior investigators to participate in the meeting. The conference includes one keynote speaker who also holds a Brain Talk Town Meeting that will be open to the entire Breckenridge community. For the 2016 WCBR meeting, Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D. Center for Neuroengineering, Duke U will be the Keynote and Brain Talk Town Meeting speaker. There is an annual School Outreach Program organized in collaboration with local middle and high school teachers in which up to 10 WCBR scientists visit community schools. WCBR's program is developed annually based on abstract submissions in August each year. At WCBR 2015, approximately 1/3 (two panels in each session) were specifically on abused drugs and another 1/6 (one panel in each session) was on reward. Thus, at least half of the conference should be of direct relevance to NIDA (with the remaining panels making up 1/3 of the program primarily NIMH- and 1/6 NINDS- relevant). Thus, the sessions are highly relevant to understanding the neurobiological bases of drug addiction as well as neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. WCBR always provides a unique opportunity to discuss recent advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of those conditions. The fact that a large proportion of the participants are junior investigators and a significant number will be graduate students and postdocs ensure that this conference may have an impact on how future generations of neuroscientists view these issues.