2009 Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function Gordon Research Conference

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案要求R13支持一个长期的、出席率高、受到好评的戈登兴奋性突触和脑功能研究会议（GRC）。在我们对大脑的理解中，也许没有其他结构比突触更重要了。在中枢神经系统中，兴奋性突触是区域间信息传递的主要来源，也是回路内部局部相互作用的主要来源。突触也是许多常用处方药的作用部位，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、帕金森病、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，而在其他情况下，它代表一种或多种潜在分子缺陷的下游后遗症。无论哪种情况，对突触的形成、结构、分子组织、信号功能和可塑性的基本理解对于减轻人类神经系统疾病的负担以及预测和改善精神健康至关重要。本次会议的独特之处在于其对兴奋性突触的关注，以及其多学科的参与者群体，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/分子成像学家、生物物理学家和生理学家。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伤以及药物滥用中发生的适应性不良可塑性联系起来。会议的目的不是调查每种疾病的异常情况，而是从主题方法探索突触功能和功能障碍的新基本见解。该计划旨在突出尖端的方法，并在基础神经科学的健全生物学框架内刺激新的概念，方法和技术。这次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。在这次会议上的思想交流一直是该领域的推动力。我们期望2009年兴奋性突触和脑功能GRC将塑造未来的科学方向，并为NIH的多个研究所（包括NIMH、NINDS、NIDA和NIA）的使命提供关键支持。突触是我们大脑中信息处理的基本单位。突触功能障碍是许多神经和精神疾病的原因。本次会议汇集了兴奋性突触方面的专家，以更新进展并激发改善精神健康和减轻神经系统疾病负担的新方法。

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. Perhaps no other structure is more fundamental to our understanding of the brain than the synapse. In the central nervous system, excitatory synapses represent the primary source of information transfer between regions as well as for local interactions within circuits. Synapses also 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 physiologists. 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 not to survey abnormalities in each disease, but rather to probe new fundamental insights into synaptic function and dysfunction from a thematic approach. The program has been designed to 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 2009 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. 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 to update progress and stimulate new approaches to improve mental health and reduce the burden of neurological disease.