2011 Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function GRC

描述(由申请人提供)：这项提案请求R13支持一个长期的、出席人数众多、广受欢迎的关于兴奋性突触和脑功能的戈登研究会议(GRC)。突触是我们理解电路功能和行为的核心。在中枢神经系统中，兴奋性突触是局部回路信息处理和脑区间交流的主要手段。突触是许多常用药物的作用场所，它们的破坏会导致许多神经和精神疾病。这些疾病包括精神分裂症、自闭症、抑郁症、药物滥用和成瘾、帕金森氏症、阿尔茨海默病、创伤性脑损伤、中风和癫痫。在某些情况下，突触功能障碍是疾病的原因，而在另一些情况下，它代表着一个或多个潜在分子缺陷的下游后遗症。在任何一种情况下，对突触的形成、结构、分子组织、信号功能和可塑性的基本了解对于减轻人类神经疾病的负担以及预测和改善心理健康是至关重要的。这次会议的重点是兴奋性突触，与会者包括结构生物学家、分子和发育生物学家、细胞生物学家、生物化学家、细胞/分子成像仪、生物物理学家和神经生理学家等多学科小组，这一点是独一无二的。这次会议的目的是将兴奋性突触功能的基本见解与疾病中发生的突触功能损害以及物质滥用中发生的适应不良可塑性联系起来。会议的目标是确定和强调从主题方法对突触功能和功能障碍的基本新见解。该计划还旨在突出尖端方法，并在基础神经科学的健全生物学框架内激发新的概念、方法和技术。会议将把世界各地的专家科学家聚集在一个有利于讨论和交流思想的环境中。这次会议上的思想交流一直是这一领域的推动力。我们预计2011年关于兴奋性突触和脑功能的GRC将塑造未来的科学方向，并为包括NIMH、NINDS、NIDA和NIA在内的多个研究所的任务提供关键支持。 与公共健康相关：突触是我们大脑中信息处理的基本单位。突触功能障碍是导致许多神经和精神疾病的原因。这次会议汇集了兴奋性突触和大脑功能方面的专家，以更新进展并刺激新的方法来改善精神健康和减轻神经疾病的负担。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests R13 support for a longstanding, well-attended, and well-received Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function. The synapse is central to our understanding of circuit function and behavior. In the central nervous system, excitatory synapses represent the primary means of information processing by local circuits and communication between brain regions. Synapses serve as the site of action for many commonly prescribed medications and their disruption contributes to many neurological and psychiatric disorders. These include schizophrenia, autism, depression, substance abuse and addiction, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke and epilepsy. In some cases, synaptic dysfunction is causal in disease, whereas in other cases it represents the downstream sequelae of one or more underlying molecular defects. In either case, a fundamental understanding of the formation, structure, molecular organization, signaling function, and plasticity of synapses is essential to progress in lessening the burden of human neurological disease and for predicting and improving mental health. This conference is unique in its focus on the excitatory synapse, and in its multidisciplinary group of participants including structural biologists, molecular and developmental biologists, cell biologists, biochemists, cell/molecular imagers, biophysicists and neurophysiologists. The conference is intended to relate fundamental insights in excitatory synaptic function to the impairments in synaptic function that occur in disease, as well as the maladaptive plasticity that occurs in substance abuse. The goal of the conference is to identify and highlight fundamental new insights into synaptic function and dysfunction from a thematic approach. The program has been designed to also highlight cutting edge approaches and to stimulate new concepts, methods and technologies within a sound biological framework of fundamental neuroscience. The conference will bring together expert scientists worldwide in an environment that is conducive to discussion and exchange of ideas. The exchange of ideas at this conference has been a driving force for the field. We expect the 2011 GRC on Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function will shape future scientific directions, and provide critical support for the mission of multiple institutes at NIH including NIMH, NINDS, NIDA and NIA. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The synapse is the fundamental unit of information processing in our brain. Synaptic dysfunction is responsible for many neurological and psychiatric diseases. This conference brings together experts on excitatory synapses and brain function to update progress and stimulate new approaches to improve mental health and reduce the burden of neurological disease.