Support for a Workshop on Circuits of the Circadian System

描述（由申请人提供）：大约50名初级和高级研究人员将参加一个正式的研讨会，题为“组装多细胞昼夜节律起搏器：寻找无脊椎动物和脊椎动物大脑中神经回路组织的原理”，暂定标题为“昼夜节律系统电路”。本次研讨会是对昼夜节律研究领域几个新兴主题的必要回应。一方面，在确定构成昼夜节律计时基础的分子时钟方面已经取得了很大的进展。另一方面，稳定的昼夜节律被认为是生物钟的产物，通过一个相互连接的神经元系统来表达，该系统控制着调节行为和生理事件的传出信号的时间。在感觉方面，以光感受器为重点，周期性的环境刺激为昼夜节律系统提供同步输入。在中央昼夜节律钟内，神经元系统的各个组成部分被检测和选择性地评估。在昆虫（最著名的是黑腹果蝇）的解剖学和功能上，这些成分中的许多都是已知的。相比之下，关于哺乳动物生物钟中单个细胞类型的信息缺乏，特别是关于它们的连接和细胞-细胞信号，这些信号可能控制着影响身体事件时间的时间信息的编码。提议的研讨会将在荷兰莱顿大学洛伦兹中心举行。它将汇集国际公认的研究昆虫或哺乳动物的资深教师，与更多的初级教师、博士后或学生在一个亲密的论坛上，对数据、思想和原理进行生动的展示和讨论。与会者的人数和讲习班相对狭窄的重点预期将促进信息的流动。研讨会的目标是建立一个关于多细胞昼夜节律系统的已知领域的感觉。这将在默认情况下和设计上表明缺乏什么样的信息，以及未来应该把研究重点放在哪里。研讨会将产生一个产品，以多作者评论的形式，将总结关于昼夜节律系统的已知内容。它还将提供未来研究目标的概念，可能为调查人员和监督机构提供有用的指导。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Approximately 50 junior and senior investigators will convene in a Workshop formally titled, "Assembling a Multi-Cellular Circadian Pacemaker: Seeking Principles of Neural Circuit Organization Across Invertebrate and Vertebrate Brains," with a working title of "Circadian System Circuits." This Workshop is a necessary response to several emerging themes in the field of circadian rhythm research. On the one hand, great strides have been made with respect to identification of the molecular clockworks which form the foundation of circadian timekeeping. On the other, stable circadian rhythmicity is recognized as a product of the clockworks being expressed through a system of interconnected neurons which govern the timing of efferent signals that regulate behavioral and physiological events. On the sensory side, with emphasis on photoreceptors, periodic environmental stimuli provide synchronizing input to the circadian system. Within the central circadian clock, individual components of the neuronal system are being detected and selectively evaluated. Many of these components are known anatomically and functionally in insects (most notably, Drosophila melanogaster). In contrast, there is a paucity of information about individual cell types in the mammalian clock, particularly with respect to their connections and the cell-cell signaling that presumably governs the coding of temporal information affecting timing of bodily events. The proposed Workshop is to be held in the Lorentz Center, Leiden University, The Netherlands. It will bring together internationally recognized senior faculty who study insects or mammals to mix with more junior faculty, post docs or students in an intimate forum for lively presentation and discussion of data, ideas and principles. The number of participants and the relatively narrow focus of the Workshop is expected to facilitate the flow of information. The goal of the Workshop is to create a sense of where the field is with respect to what is known about the multicellular circadian system. This will, both by default and design, demonstrate what kind of information is lacking and where research emphasis should be placed in the future. The Workshop will generate a product, in the form of a multi-author review that will summarize what is known about the circadian system. It will also provide a sense of future research goals that may provide useful guidance of investigators and oversight agencies. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The circadian rhythm system governs the timing of virtually all behavioral and physiological events. As such, it is an organizing principle in all life forms. An understanding of how the circadian system receives sensory information, generates an oscillatory output and conveys that output to target systems elsewhere in the brain and body is essential to the understanding of normal animal and human health. The proposed Workshop on Circuits of the Circadian System will gather established, new and still emerging scientists to examine the circadian system circuitry in order to determine the depth of knowledge about its organization and the extent to which scientific ignorance obstructs its understanding.