NEURAL CIRCUITS & PLASTICITY GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE

自1977年以来，戈登神经回路和可塑性研究会议（GRC）每隔一年举行一次。我们请求部分支持2007年7月1日至6日的会议，以及2009年和2011年在罗德岛新港萨尔维里贾纳大学举行的会议。GRCs的建立是为了在非正式环境中促进科学交流。会议的非正式性质和会议期间用于讨论问题的大量时间促进了交流。GRC禁止出版或引用会议和演示文稿的规则促进了对最新结果和当前想法的公开讨论。这种形式在神经回路和可塑性会议上特别有用，这是一个高度跨学科的会议，在分子、细胞、系统和计算水平上探索神经回路的形成、功能和可塑性。2007年的会议将有9个科学会议，其中有两个主题演讲。理查德·阿克塞尔和利根川进，他们都是诺贝尔奖获得者，也是研究神经回路功能和可塑性的最著名的科学家。科学会议将涵盖该领域当前感兴趣的一系列主题，比较不同的电路和分析水平。演讲者和会议主席要么是各自领域的世界领袖，要么是崭露头角的初级研究者。下午的海报会议为所有感兴趣的参与者提供了一个展示和讨论他们工作的机会，每个会议将包括从提交的摘要中选择的1或2个简短的演讲。这种形式在前几年很好地促进了年轻的研究人员。问答时间被慷慨地安排，社交活动将允许新参与者非正式地与演讲者和会议主席会面。过去的与会者发现这些非正式的互动是会议的一个亮点，也是年轻人们科学进步的重要来源。最后，邀请的演讲者中有50%是女性，我们还请求支持，为代表性不足的群体的出席提供资金。

DESCRIPTION: The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Neural Circuits and Plasticity (formerly Neural Plasticity) has been held in alternate years since 1977. We are requesting partial support for the July 1-6, 2007 meeting, and the 2009 and 2011 meetings, at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. The GRCs were established to stimulate scientific interchange in an informal setting. Interchange is promoted by the informal nature of the conference and by the large amount of time committed to questions during the sessions. The GRC rule prohibiting publication or citation of the meetings and presentations promotes open discussion of the latest results and current ideas. This format has been particularly useful for the Conference on Neural Circuits and Plasticity, a highly interdisciplinary meeting in which the formation, function, and plasticity of neural circuits is explored at the molecular, cellular, systems, and computational levels. The 2007 Conference will have 9 scientific sessions, with two keynote talks by Drs. Richard Axel and Susumu Tonegawa, both Nobel Laureates and among the most reknowned scientists studying circuit function and plasticity. The scientific sessions will cover a range of topics of current interest in the field, comparing different circuits and analysis levels. The speakers and session chairs are all either world leaders in their fields or up-and-coming junior investigators. Afternoon poster sessions provide an opportunity for all interested participants to present and discuss their work, and each session will include 1 or 2 short talks selected from the submitted abstracts. This format worked very well in previous years to promote young investigators. Question and answer periods are generously scheduled, and social events will permit new participants to meet speakers and session chairs informally. Past participants have found these informal interactions to be a highlight of the meeting, and an important source of scientific advancement for junior people. Finally, 50% of the invited speakers are women and we are also requesting support to fund the attendance of underrepresented groups.