The Simian Collective Conference

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Project Summary. This application is a request for funds to support a conference entitled the ‘Simian Collective’ that highlights nonhuman primate neuroscience research in the United States, its unique role as a translational model of human neuropsychiatric disorders, and how it seeks to build crucial community effort to address the key challenges facing the field in the 21st Century. The conference is strategically organized to stress that maximizing the impact of primate neuroscience research in the modern era necessitates complementary goals of Science, Ethics, Education and Advocacy. Owing to the shared functional organization of the primate brain, our simian cousins are uniquely powerful models to elucidate many facets of human brain function in both health and disease. This cutting-edge research must continue to grow and receive renewed investments to prosper. The meeting will also emphasize that the phylogenetic advantages of using a primate model, which shares many unique neural and cognitive characteristics with humans, for investigative research must also be balanced by the crucial neuroethical considerations that inevitably emerge because of these similarities. Furthermore, the Simian Collective will also emphasize the responsibility of the field to educate our scientific colleagues and the general population about the unique importance of primate research and to advocate for its significance. The program of the meeting has been designed to emphasize the complementary relationship between these core tenets, and to build a community initiative to build and promote primate neuroscience research in the coming years.