WCBR Conference Grant

 描述(由申请者提供)：本申请是为一年一度的冬季脑研究会议(WCBR)申请三年的资金。2016年的会议将于1月24日周日至28日周四在科罗拉多州布雷肯里奇的海狸跑步度假村和会议中心举行。这次会议是探索物质使用障碍(SUDS)领域新发展的理想论坛。WCBR有一种独特的形式，有76次会议(93次提交)，包括73次2小时的专题讨论会、6次1小时的小型专题讨论会(3次会议)和2015年的2次短期课程。有463名科学家参加了会议。每天都有海报会议(星期日-星期二)，包括一个特别的评判海报会议，其中包括主要由年轻调查人员在星期二晚上提交的顶级海报提交。2015年新增了一个面向研究生、博士后研究员和初级教师的职业发展研讨会，参加人数如此之多，以至于计划在2016年举办两次会议(一次包括博士后和早期博士后；另一次是为高级博士后和初级教师举办的)。为分组、联网和科学讨论留出了较长的时间。WCBR是初级调查人员和受训人员在轻松的气氛中与老牌调查人员互动的绝佳机会。对最近会议的评价突显了这次会议通常对新兴科学家和老牌科学家产生的强烈影响。由于分配给新兴科学家的旅行资金跟不上参加小型专业会议的不断上涨的费用，我们正在从其他来源申请资金。我们希望，我们请求的结果使我们能够支持一名主旨发言人以及大量初级调查人员参加会议。会议包括一位主旨演讲者，他还举行了一次Brain Talk镇会议，该会议将向整个布雷肯里奇社区开放。在2016年WCBR会议上，杜克大学神经工程中心医学博士Miguel Nicolelis将担任主旨演讲和Brain Talk城市会议演讲人。与当地初中和高中教师合作组织了一年一度的学校外展计划，多达10名WCBR科学家访问社区学校。WCBR的计划是根据每年8月提交的摘要每年制定的。在2015年WCBR会议上，约有三分之一(每届会议两个小组讨论)专门讨论滥用药物问题，另有六分之一(每届会议一个小组讨论)专门讨论药物滥用问题。因此，至少一半的会议应该与NIDA直接相关(剩余的小组主要占方案的三分之一，与NIMH和1/6的NINDS相关)。因此，这些会议与了解药物成瘾的神经生物学基础以及神经和神经精神障碍高度相关。WCBR总是提供一个独特的机会来讨论在理解这些疾病的病理生理学和治疗方面的最新进展。与会者中有很大一部分是初级研究人员，相当一部分将是研究生和博士后，这一事实确保了这次会议可能会对未来几代神经科学家如何看待这些问题产生影响。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is to request three years of funding for the annual Winter Conference on Brain Research (WCBR). The 2016 meeting will take place at Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center, Breckenridge, CO between Sunday January 24 to Thursday January 28. This conference is an ideal forum for exploring new developments in the field of substance use disorders (SUDs). WCBR has a unique format with 76 sessions (out of 93 submissions), including 73 2-hr panels, 6 1-hr mini-panels (3 sessions), and 2 short courses in 2015. There were 463 scientist attendees. There are daily poster sessions (Sun-Tue) including a special judged poster session that includes the top-ranking poster submissions predominantly presented by young investigators on Tue evening. New in 2015 was a Career Development Workshop for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty that was so well-attended that 2 sessions are being planned for 2016 (one including predocs and early postdocs; another for senior postdocs and Jr faculty). Extended periods of time are set aside for breakout groups, networking and scientific discussions. WCBR is an excellent opportunity for junior investigators and trainees to interact with established investigators in a relaxed atmosphere. The evaluations of recent conferences highlight the strong impact this meeting typically has on emerging as well as established scientists. As the travel funds allocated for emerging scientists have not kept pace with the rising costs of attending small, specialized meetings, we are requesting funding from other sources. We are hoping that the results of our requests enable us to support a keynote speaker as well as a large number of junior investigators to participate in the meeting. The conference includes one keynote speaker who also holds a Brain Talk Town Meeting that will be open to the entire Breckenridge community. For the 2016 WCBR meeting, Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D. Center for Neuroengineering, Duke U will be the Keynote and Brain Talk Town Meeting speaker. There is an annual School Outreach Program organized in collaboration with local middle and high school teachers in which up to 10 WCBR scientists visit community schools. WCBR's program is developed annually based on abstract submissions in August each year. At WCBR 2015, approximately 1/3 (two panels in each session) were specifically on abused drugs and another 1/6 (one panel in each session) was on reward. Thus, at least half of the conference should be of direct relevance to NIDA (with the remaining panels making up 1/3 of the program primarily NIMH- and 1/6 NINDS- relevant). Thus, the sessions are highly relevant to understanding the neurobiological bases of drug addiction as well as neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. WCBR always provides a unique opportunity to discuss recent advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of those conditions. The fact that a large proportion of the participants are junior investigators and a significant number will be graduate students and postdocs ensure that this conference may have an impact on how future generations of neuroscientists view these issues.