Behavior, Biology, and Chemistry: Translational Research in Addiction

描述（由申请人提供）：本修订后的R13申请要求支持2011-2013年每年在圣安东尼奥举行的题为“行为、生物学和化学：成瘾转化研究”（BBC）的会议。这次为期两天的会议延续了BBC在2009年和2010年举办的非常成功的会议，参加会议的有各种各样的成瘾研究人员，从本科生到资深科学家，涵盖了从分子生物学到精神病学的广泛学科。BBC会议得到了主办大学（德克萨斯大学健康科学中心）和其他大学的高水平财政和机构支持。这种由初级和高级研究人员、在读研究生和研究生组成的跨学科混合体为年轻科学家提供了榜样，同时也为他们提供了一个机会，在一个与大多数国家会议相比，展示门槛较低的环境中展示他们自己的研究成果。BBC会议的跨学科和转化主题将培育新的科学倡议，并促进传统学科约束之外的思维。会议的形式有助于培训新一代生物医学研究人员，并在此过程中提供了一个深入了解成瘾研究中令人兴奋的新主题的机会。每次会议将举行一次专题讨论会，汇集特定领域的专家，就成瘾研究中的一个重要问题提供最新的概述；会议的剩余部分是关于成瘾生物学的任何话题。会议包括开放式交流（两个学生演讲环节）和海报环节。受邀的演讲者将在成瘾研究中进行化学、生物学和行为方面的介绍。本次会议的具体目的如下：1)促进化学家、生物学家和行为科学家之间的互动，从而促进各学科之间思想和概念的交流；II)为成瘾领域的年轻科学家，特别是代表性不足的少数民族和妇女提供一个有吸引力和负担得起的场所，以展示他们的研究并了解成瘾行为生物学的最新研究；提供免费的全体会议专题讨论会和其他主题演讲的电子档案。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This revised R13 application requests support for a meeting, entitled Behavior, Biology and Chemistry: Translational Research in Addiction (BBC), to be held annually in San Antonio in 2011-2013. The 2-day meeting continues highly successful BBC meetings in 2009 and 2010 that were attended by a diverse group of addiction researchers, from undergraduate students to senior scientists and encompassing a wide range of disciplines, from molecular biology to psychiatry. BBC meetings receive a high level of financial and institutional support from the hosting university (University of Texas Health Science Center) as well as other universities. This transdisciplinary mixture of junior and senior investigators, pre- and post-graduate students provides role models for young scientists while at the same time gives them an opportunity to present results from their own research in a context where there is a lower threshold for presentation, compared with most national meetings. The transdisciplinary and translational theme of the BBC meeting will foster new scientific initiatives and promote thinking that is outside the constraints of traditional disciplines. The format of the meeting contributes to training a new generation of biomedical researchers and, in the process, provides an intensive exposure to new and exciting topics in addiction research. A single symposium at each meeting will bring together experts in a specific area to provide a state-of-the-art overview of an important issue in addiction research; the remainder of the meeting is open to any topic in addiction biology. The meeting includes open communications (two sessions for student presentations) and a poster session. Invited speakers will make presentations that bridge chemistry, biology and behavior in addiction research. The specific aims of this meeting are as follows: I) facilitate interactions among chemists, biologists and behavioral scientists, thereby stimulating cross-fertilization of ideas and conceptualizations among disciplines; II) provide an attractive and affordable venue for young scientists, especially underrepresented minorities and women, in the addiction field to present their research and to learn about state-of-the-art research on the behavioral biology of addiction; and III) provide a freely available electronic archive of the plenary symposium and other keynote lectures. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This application requests support to continue a highly successful scientific meeting that brings together students, junior and senior scientists from different disciplines (molecular biology to psychiatry) in order to promote new collaborations and creative transdisciplinary and translational thinking about novel targets for developing medications for addiction. This meeting will promote new scientific initiatives and introduce young scientists, especially underrepresented minorities and women, to cutting-edge research in addiction biology.