FASEB Summer Research Conference on Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing

描述(由申请者提供)：摘要/摘要本申请请求为2010年7月11日至16日在佛蒙特州萨克斯顿河举行的由美国实验生物学学会联合会(FASE B)管理的“视网膜神经生物学和视觉处理”会议提供部分资金。这是这一系列非常成功的两年期会议中的第十次会议，这些会议为具有不同背景的研究人员建立了一个讨论远景的独特论坛。会议的主要目标是将来自神经生物学、计算生物学和视觉研究不同领域的与会者聚集在一起，讨论最先进的技术，并应用创造性的科学思维来了解视网膜视觉的神经生物学基础。我们的170名参与者包括积极参与视网膜研究的知名和年轻研究人员，他们在历史上进行了互动，提供了一种刺激、自由和活跃的思想交流。拟议的方案提供了对该领域最新研究的批判性审查，解决了远景社区高度感兴趣的及时问题，并作为未来工作的指南。全体会议的主要议题是：1)发育和细胞命运，2)反应疾病的回路重塑，3)带状突触，4)视觉信号的可塑性，5)新陈代谢信号动力学，6)进出视网膜的信息流，7)视网膜内部的突触和回路机制，以及8)来自其他感觉系统的教训。计划举办一次关于视网膜研究分析技术的互动研讨会。最后，第九届会议的特色是从初级同事提交的海报摘要中挑选出令人兴奋和及时的工作。为了宣传我们的两个海报会议，并从一开始就让我们的年轻参与者参与进来，第一个上午的会议以“数据闪电战”为特色，我们的20名初级同事提供了五分钟的海报演示摘要。从这份申请中提出的计划和数据可以看出，我们会议的一个独特目标是为博士后和博士后实习生以及早期独立调查人员提供机会，让他们彼此见面并与该领域的知名领导者分享他们的想法。为此，我们的演讲者名单包括相当数量的研究生、博士后研究员和年轻的研究人员。他们的加入突出了令人兴奋的新主题，并促进了我们视觉研究社区的新成员。通过这一战略，我们的会议为研究生提供了了解其他研究领域和探索博士后可能性的机会，并为博士后研究员提供了一个宝贵的机会，以表明他们已经准备好担任初级教师职位。 与公共健康相关：在美国和世界其他地区，视网膜疾病困扰着相当一部分人口。视网膜是一种神经组织，位于眼后部，将有关视觉世界的信息发送到大脑的其他部分。根据美国国家眼科研究所的数据，超过300万40岁以上的美国人患有严重的视力障碍，其中约100万人是盲人。在同一年龄段，超过170万人患有晚期老年性黄斑变性(AMD)。另有400万人患有糖尿病视网膜病变。对健康视网膜的功能和疾病对视觉处理的影响的基础研究是由NEI资助的正在进行的防盲斗争研究的重要组成部分。在这一努力中，至关重要的是视觉科学家群体之间公开交流新的研究成果。FASEB视网膜神经生物学和视觉处理会议是视网膜生物学和视觉处理领域的首要会议。这一广泛关注的前沿会议吸引了来自世界各地的最好的视网膜科学家，并提供了一个亲密的环境，以最大限度地提高最高水平的科学互动。在过去的20年里，这个会议每两年举行一次，促进了许多合作，产生了影响很大的新奇作品。这一令人兴奋的趋势将在7月11日至16日在佛蒙特州萨克斯顿河举行的2010年会议上继续实施。将探讨视网膜研究的不同领域，具体全体会议将讨论：视网膜电路的发展；针对疾病的电路重塑；视网膜神经元之间专门的突触连接在功能上的重要性；视网膜电路和视觉信号的活动依赖变化；由神经递质谷氨酸触发的细胞内信号通路的动力学；视网膜神经元通过视神经发送到大脑其他部分的信号的信息内容；视网膜网络内部的电路处理；以及神经科学研究在其他感官系统中的见解。一天下午专门举办了一个关于视网膜研究分析技术的非正式、互动的研讨会。我们在本次会议上大力促进这一领域的年轻人的参与：全体会议上有相当多的发言者是研究生或博士后研究员，整个口头会议的特点是他们令人兴奋和及时的工作，这些工作摘自海报会议摘要。此外，第一个上午的会议以“数据闪电战”为特色，由我们的年轻调查人员介绍非常简短的概要，将他们介绍给整个小组，并宣传他们的海报和我们的两个海报会议。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Summary/Abstract This application requests partial funding for the conference on "Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing", administered by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), to be held in Saxtons River, VT July 11-16, 2010. This is the tenth meeting in this series of highly successful biennial conferences that have established a unique forum for researchers with varied backgrounds to discuss vision. The primary goal of the meeting is to bring together participants from diverse areas of neurobiology, computational biology and vision research to discuss state-of-the-art techniques and apply creative scientific thinking to understanding the neurobiological basis of retinal vision. Our 170 participants include both established and young investigators actively involved in retinal research and who historically interact, providing a stimulating, free and lively exchange of ideas. The proposed program provides a critical review of recent research in the field, addresses timely questions that are of high interest to the vision community and serve as a guidepost to future work. The major session topics that will be present in plenary sessions are: 1) Development and Cell Fate, 2) Circuit Remodeling in Response to Disease, 3) Ribbon Synapses, 4) Plasticity of Visual Signaling, 5) Metabotropic Signaling Dynamics, 6) Information Flow In and Out of the Retina, 7) Synaptic and Circuit Mechanisms in the Inner Retina, and 8) Lessons from Other Sensory Systems. An interactive workshop on Analytical Techniques for Retinal Research is planned. Finally, a ninth session features exciting and timely work selected from submitted poster abstracts from junior colleagues. To advertise our two poster sessions and involve our younger participants from the outset, the first morning session features a "Data Blitz" in which 20 of our junior colleagues provide five-minute synopses of their poster presentations. As can be seen from the proposed program and data provided in this application, a unique goal of our meeting is to provide opportunities for pre- and post-doctoral trainees, as well as early stage independent investigators, to meet and share their ideas with each other and with established leaders in the field. To this end, our speaker list includes a significant number of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and young investigators. Their inclusion highlights exciting new topics and promotes our new members of the vision research community. Through this strategy, our conference offers opportunities for graduate students to learn about other areas of research and explore postdoctoral possibilities and gives postdoctoral fellows a valuable chance to show that they are ready to assume junior faculty positions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Diseases of the retina, the neural tissue that lines the back of the eye and sends information about the visual world to the rest of the brain, afflict a significant fraction of the population in the United States and the rest of the world. According to the National Eye Institute, more than 3 million Americans over the age of 40 suffer from serious visual impairment, about 1 million of whom are blind. More than 1.7 million in that same age group suffer from advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Diabetic retinopathy afflicts another 4 million. Basic research into the function of the healthy retina and the effects of disease on visual processing is a crucial component of the research funded by the NEI in the ongoing fight to prevent blindness. Of critical importance in this endeavor is the open exchange of new research findings among the community of vision scientists. The FASEB conference on Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing is the premier meeting in the field of retinal biology and visual processing. This broadly focused, cutting-edge meeting attracts the best retina scientists from around the world and provides an intimate setting to maximize scientific interactions at the highest level. This conference has been held biennially over the past 20 years and has stimulated many collaborations resulting in novel work with high impact. This exciting trend will continue with the proposed program at the 2010 conference, to be held July 11-16 in Saxtons River, Vermont. Diverse areas of retinal research will be explored, with specific plenary sessions addressing: development of retina circuitry; circuitry remodeling in response to disease; the functional importance of specialized synaptic connections between retinal neurons; activity dependent changes in retinal circuitry and visual signaling; the dynamics of intracellular signaling pathways triggered by the neurotransmitter glutamate; the information content of signals sent from retinal neurons through the optic nerve to the rest of the brain; circuit processing in the inner part of the retinal network; and insights from neuroscience research in other sensory systems. One afternoon is devoted to an informal, interactive workshop on analytical techniques for retinal research. We make a strong effort at this meeting to foster participation by young people in the field: a significant number of speakers in the plenary sessions are graduate students or postdoctoral fellows, and an entire oral session features their exciting and timely work, which is drawn from poster session abstracts. In addition, the first morning session features a "Data Blitz" wherein very brief synopses are presented by our young investigators, introducing them to the entire group and advertising their posters and our two poster sessions.