Conference: FASEB SRC: Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing Steamboat Springs, Coloroda: July 29-August 3, 2012

本申请为“视网膜神经生物学和视觉处理”会议申请部分资金，该会议由美国实验生物学学会联合会（FASEB）管理，将于2012年举行。本届论坛每两年举办一次，非常成功。这个独特论坛的主要目标是将来自不同学科的参与者聚集在一起，包括：神经生物学、计算生物学和视觉研究，讨论最先进的技术，并应用创造性的科学思维来理解视觉的神经生物学基础，重点是视网膜处理。我们的200名参与者包括成熟的和年轻的研究人员，他们都积极参与视觉研究。会议为他们提供了广泛互动的机会，并为活跃的思想交流创造了一个刺激和自由的氛围。本申请中提供的拟议计划和数据清楚地表明，本次会议为博士前和博士后学员以及早期独立研究者提供了机会，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。我们的演讲者包括大量的研究生，博士后研究员和年轻的研究者。他们的加入突出了令人兴奋的新主题，并促进他们成为视觉研究社区的新成员。从历史上看，会议为研究生提供了了解新的研究领域和探索博士后可能性的机会，并为我们的博士后研究员提供了一个展示他们已经准备好担任初级教师职位的机会。此外，在这次会议上出现的讨论被认为会产生新的合作，并带来出版物，其结果代表了我们对视觉处理的理解的里程碑。由于视觉系统是我们理解感觉处理的主要模型，因此这次会议及其相互作用对神经科学领域具有短期和长期的影响。

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 2012. This is the 11th meeting of this highly successful biennial conference. The primary goal of this unique forum is to bring together participants from diverse disciplines including: neurobiology, computational biology, and vision research to discuss state-of-the-art techniques and apply creative scientific thinking to understanding the neurobiological basis of vision, with an emphasis on retinal processing. Our 200 participants include established and young investigators, all actively involved in vision research. The meeting provides the opportunity for them to interact extensively and produces a stimulating and free atmosphere for the lively exchange of ideas.The proposed program and data provided in this application clearly demonstrate that this meeting provides opportunities for pre- and postdoctoral trainees, as well as early-stage independent investigators, to meet and share their ideas with each other and with established leaders in the field. Our speakers include a significant number of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and young investigators. Their inclusion highlights exciting new topics and promotes them as up and coming members of the vision research community. Historically, the conference provides opportunities for graduate students to learn about new areas of research and explore postdoctoral possibilities and gives our postdoctoral fellows a chance to show that they are ready to assume junior faculty positions. In addition, the discussions that arise at this meeting are known to give rise to new collaborations that bring about publications whose results represent milestones in our understanding of visual processing. Because the visual system is a leading model for our understanding of sensory processing in general, the meeting and its interactions have both short and long-term impact on the field of Neuroscience.