Conference: SICB Conference, UT Neuronal Mechanisms of Central Pattern Generators

这次研讨会的中枢模式发生器的神经机制将汇集杰出的神经科学家交流他们的研究的最新成果，并讨论他们的研究应该遵循的新方向。 研讨会将是一个为期一天的口头报告集在2011年年会的社会综合和比较生物学（或SICB）在湖城，犹他州。SICB会议是美国生物学研究各个分支的生物学家的一次重要聚会，这类专题讨论会是那里的一项主要活动。 许多我们认为理所当然的活动，如行走，咀嚼和呼吸，都依赖于大脑和脊髓中专门神经回路的功能。 这些神经回路被称为中央模式发生器（或CPG），因为它们的活动形成了节奏行为的基本模式。 类似的神经回路产生了鱼类有节奏的游动，以及飞鸟和昆虫有节奏的拍打翅膀。 尽管CPG对动物生命有着深刻的重要性，但关于像我们这样的脊椎动物的大脑和脊髓（以及昆虫、虾和蜗牛等无脊椎动物的神经系统）中的神经细胞如何共同工作以形成有节奏的、有规律的活动模式，仍然有许多未解的问题。 受邀的演讲者研究范围广泛的动物，包括脊椎动物和无脊椎动物，因为通过分析一系列动物收集的细节将产生在任何单一动物物种的研究中找不到的见解。 此外，许多无脊椎动物和冷血脊椎动物更容易在详细的细胞水平上进行研究。这类基础研究具有广泛的影响，包括未来脊髓损伤和其他运动障碍的治疗。 例如，在知道正常的、功能性的用于行走的脊髓CPG的组织之前，当运动CPG受损时，将难以制定合理的计划来修复运动CPG。 研讨会为与会者提供了一个比其他方式更激烈的互动机会。 他们的研究的公开演示允许其他生物学家加入讨论并贡献想法。 最后，也许是最重要的，研讨会将由研究生和研究人员谁是刚刚开始他们的职业生涯，谁可能会被吸引进入这个重要的研究领域参加。

This symposium on Neuronal Mechanisms of Central Pattern Generators will bring together distinguished neuroscientists to exchange recent results of their research and to discuss new directions that their research should follow. The symposium will be a day-long set of oral presentations at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (or SICB) in Salt Lake City, Utah. The SICB meeting is a major U.S. gathering for biologists from all branches of biological study, and symposia of this kind are a major activity there. Many activities that we take for granted, such as walking, chewing, and breathing, depend upon the functioning of specialized neural circuits in the brain and spinal cord. These neural circuits are known as Central Pattern Generators (or CPGs) because their activity forms the basic patterns from which rhythmic behaviors are derived. Similar neural circuits produce the rhythmic swimming of fish and the rhythmic wing-beats of flying birds and insects. Despite the deep importance of CPGs for animal life, there remain many unanswered questions about how nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord of vertebrates like ourselves (and in the nervous systems of invertebrate animals like insects, shrimp, and snails) work together to form rhythmic, regular patterns of activity. The invited speakers work on a wide range of animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, because details gathered by analysis of a range of animals will yield insights that would not be found in the study of any single animal species. In addition, many invertebrate animals and cold-blooded vertebrates are easier to study at a detailed, cellular level.Basic research of this kind has broad impacts that include future treatments for spinal cord injuries and other motor impairments. For example, until the organization of the normal, functioning spinal CPG for walking is known, it will be difficult to develop a rational plan to repair the locomotor CPG when it has been damaged. A symposium offers participants an opportunity for more intense interaction than would otherwise occur. The public presentations of their research allow other biologists to join the discussion and contribute ideas. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the symposium will be attended by graduate students and researchers who are just beginning their careers, and who may be drawn to enter this vital area of research.