Advances in Oculomotor and Vestibular Systems

描述（由申请人提供）：动眼神经系统和前庭系统是系统神经科学中最古老和最深入研究的两个主题。这些系统所提供的知识的广泛性和丰富性使我们在不同的方向上取得了快速的进展，从而对健康和疾病中的动眼肌和前庭功能产生了多学科的看法。越来越明显的是，在动眼肌和前庭研究人员之间建立跨学科联系的论坛将大有裨益。该提案要求支持召开一次会议，其目的是将这些成熟领域的科学家和医生聚集在一起，重新审视动眼神经和前庭系统的不同组成部分是如何相互作用的，并刺激跨学科研究的增加。本次会议名为“眼动和前庭系统的进展”，是运动神经控制学会年会的附属会议，将于2010年4月18日至20日在佛罗里达州那不勒斯的那不勒斯海滩酒店举行。具体方案将强调四个新兴主题在动眼肌和/或前庭系统。首先，我们将重新评估上丘的活动。我们将检查感官信号是否依赖于颜色（传统上，它们被认为不是），并访问其运动命令是否编码期望目标或实际运动矢量的争议。其次，我们将考虑皮层和皮层下结构在视觉认知中的作用。研究使用视觉，动眼力和前庭线索来获得洞察注意力，目标选择和空间方向将被代表。第三，内部模型的框架已经成为另一个新兴的话题。眼球运动系统是研究内部模型的理想模型系统，因为眼球运动的准确反应，因为可以从干扰它们中获得见解。前庭系统也因其用于研究模仿概念而备受关注。小脑已被提出作为内部模型的所在地，并将强调解决这一假设的研究。最后，我们将重点介绍临床医生和计算科学家最近在模拟几种眼运动障碍的病理生理方面的合作努力。目前方法的一个独特之处在于将功能障碍归因于特定的细胞膜特性，而不是将一般病变归因于动眼肌结构的传统观点。除了专题会议，奖学金获得者和其他与会者也将有机会展示他们的研究海报。总的来说，我们的目标是创造一种充满科学活力的氛围，将经常不在同一地点的想法和研究人员聚集在一起。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The oculomotor and vestibular systems are two of the oldest and most thoroughly studied topics in systems neuroscience. The wealth and breadth of knowledge these systems offer produces progress at a rapid pace and in divergent directions, yielding a multidisciplinary view of oculomotor and vestibular functions in health and disease. It is increasingly apparent that a forum to forge interdisciplinary links among oculomotor and vestibular researchers would be of great benefit. This proposal requests support for a conference, whose objective is to bring together scientists and physicians of these mature fields to take a fresh look at how the diverse components of the oculomotor and vestibular systems interact and to stimulate increased interdisciplinary research. The proposed conference, entitled "Advances in Oculomotor and Vestibular Systems," is a satellite to the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement and will be held April 18-20, 2010, at the Naples Beach Hotel in Naples, Florida. The specific program will emphasize four emerging topics in oculomotor and/or vestibular systems. First, we will re-evaluate the actions of the superior colliculus. We will examine whether sensory signals are color-dependent (traditionally, they are assumed not to be) and visit the controversy of whether its motor command encodes the desired goal or the actual movement vector. Second, we will consider the role of the cortical and subcortical structures in visual cognition. Research that uses visual, oculomotor, and vestibular cues to gain insights into attention, target selection, and spatial orientation will be represented. Third, the framework of internal models has become another emerging topic. The oculomotor system is an ideal model system for the study of internal models because of the accurate response of eye movements and because of the insights that can be gained from perturbing them. The vestibular system has also shared the limelight with its use to study efference copy concepts. The cerebellum has been proposed as the locus of internal models, and studies that address this hypothesis will be emphasized. Finally, we will highlight the recent collaborative efforts of clinicians and computational scientists to simulate the pathophysiology of several ocular motility disorders. One uniqueness of the present approach has been to attribute the dysfunction to specific cell membrane properties, in contrast to the traditional view of a generic lesion to an oculomotor structure. In addition to the thematic sessions, scholarship recipients and other attendees will also have the opportunity to present posters of their research. Collectively, our objective is to create a scientifically vibrant atmosphere that brings together ideas and investigators that are often not at the same venue. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Disorders of oculomotor and vestibular systems include strabismus, nystagmus, vertigo, and postural imbalance. Contributions of these systems are reflected in motor control diseases (Parkinson's, torticollis), sensation syndromes (vertigo), and cognitive deficits (spatial neglect). Other disorders such as congenital fibrosis can also alter mechanistic properties of the extraocular muscle itself. Hence, the oculomotor and vestibular systems are of immense relevance to health.