2007 Oculomotor System Biology Gordon Research Conference

描述（由申请人提供）：经过大约40年对清醒、有行为的动物的行为和单单元研究，眼动系统可以说是最容易理解的运动控制系统。传统上，科学家们一直在孤立地研究这五个动眼肌子系统。直到最近才开始推动系统范围的集成。此外，该领域已经开始利用成像技术、非灵长类动物模型（小鼠、斑马鱼）和体外方法，对健康和疾病中的动眼肌系统产生真正的多学科观点。2005年，我们举办了第一届戈登研究会议（GRC），题为“眼动系统生物学”。第一次会议的巨大成功导致了GRC的另一次赞助。该提案要求支持召开一次会议，其目的是将这一成熟领域的科学家和医生聚集在一起，以全新的眼光看待动眼肌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。下一届（2007年）会议的重点将放在五个新兴的主题上，这些主题涵盖了眼动系统生物学的广泛问题。首先，快速发展的眼外周概念需要重新检查和重新解释已知的神经信号和现有的模型。其次，动眼肌子系统不是孤立运行的；会议将特别强调动眼肌和前庭子系统的整合。体外研究对理解神经机制的贡献也将被强调。第三，动眼肌系统通常是从工程控制系统的角度来看待的。一种典型的实验方法是对系统施加扰动并观察其响应。然而，不同类型的摄动的局限性和优点往往没有被考虑。我们的目标是包括一个会议，提高认识和讨论摄动技术的局限性。第四，眼动系统越来越多地被用作研究认知过程的工具。将强调对注意力、预测和运动准备机制的新见解。最后，生理学和动眼力行为有时可以在灵长类动物以外的动物模型中得到更好的解决，因此，已经引发了关于定向反应的神经行为学会议。因此，我们寻求将通常不在同一地点的想法和调查人员聚集在一起。眼球运动系统疾病包括斜视、眼球震颤和核间眼麻痹。在运动控制疾病（帕金森氏症、斜颈）、感觉综合征（眩晕）和认知缺陷（空间忽视）中，动眼肌反应受到干扰。其他疾病如先天性纤维化也可改变眼外肌本身的机械特性。因此，动眼肌系统与健康有着巨大的关联。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): After approximately 40 years of behavioral and single unit studies in awake, behaving animals, the oculomotor system is arguably the best understood motor control system. Traditionally, scientists have investigated the five oculomotor subsystems in isolation. Only recently has there been a push to pursue system-wide integration. Moreover, the field has begun to utilize imaging techniques, non-primate models (mouse, zebrafish), and in vitro approaches to generate a truly multidisciplinary view of the oculomotor system in health and disease. In 2005, we held the first ever Gordon Research Conference (GRC) entitled "Oculomotor System Biology". The immense success of the first meeting has resulted in another sponsorship by the GRC. This proposal requests support for a conference, whose objective is to bring together scientists and physicians of this mature field to take a fresh look at how the diverse components of the oculomotor system interact and to stimulate increased interdisciplinary research. The emphasis of the next (2007) meeting will be upon five emerging topics that span the breadth of issues in oculomotor system biology. First, rapidly evolving concepts of the extraocular periphery require a re-examination and reinterpretation of known neural signals and existing models. Second, oculomotor subsystems do not operate in isolation; the conference will specifically emphasize the integration of oculomotor and vestibular subsystems. The contributions of in vitro studies to understanding neural mechanisms will also be highlighted. Third, the oculomotor system is often viewed from an engineering control system perspective. A typical experimental approach has been to apply a perturbation to the system and observe its response. However, the limitations and advantages of the different types of perturbation are often not considered. Our goal is to include a session that raises awareness and discusses limitations of perturbation techniques. Fourth, the oculomotor system is increasingly being used as a tool to study cognitive processes. Emerging insights into mechanisms of attention, prediction and movement preparation will be emphasized. Finally, both physiology and oculomotor behavior can sometimes be better addressed in animal models other than primates and, hence, has prompted a neuroethology session on orienting responses. Hence, we seek to bring together ideas and investigators that are often not at the same venue. Disorders of eye movement systems include strabismus, nystagmus and internuclear ophthalmoplegia. Oculomotor responses are disturbed 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 system is of immense relevance to health.