Conference Description
The basal ganglia are an intricately interconnected group of subcortical brain regions that are critical for the motivation, selection, initiation, and execution of appropriate actions. Consistent with these roles, basal ganglia dysfunction is linked to debilitating psychomotor disorders, including Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, dystonia, addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, and Tourette's syndrome. The Basal Ganglia GRC brings together basic, translational, and clinical research communities to discuss new data on basal ganglia function. The overarching theme is "from thought to action", which reflects the multitude of functions mediated by basal ganglia circuits, ranging from evaluating goals, to deciding and planning, to selecting a movement. Speakers will discuss new studies highlighting the diversity of circuits, cell types, and molecular mechanisms that contribute to cellular plasticity, interactions within and beyond basal ganglia circuits, cognition and decision, and new computational models. This conference will also highlight new discoveries enabled by new tools. Clinical relevance will be indicated by speakers addressing movement disorders, freezing of gait, addiction, and mental health. The collegial atmosphere of the Basal Ganglia GRC, with discussion sessions as well as opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, provides an opportunity for scientists with different perspectives and disciplines to meet and discuss potential cross-disciplinary collaborations that should advance both basic and clinical research on the basal ganglia.
The topics, speakers, and discussion leaders for the conference sessions are displayed below. The conference chair is currently developing their detailed program, which will include the complete meeting schedule, as well as the talk titles for all speakers. The detailed program will be available by November 20, 2021. Please check back for updates.
Models of Basal Ganglia and Learning
Discussion Leaders
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Ann Graybiel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Speakers
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Michale Fee (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
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Michael Frank (Brown University, USA)
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Patricia Janak (Johns Hopkins University, USA)
Functional Heterogeneity of Basal Ganglia Projection Circuits and Dopaminergic Inputs
Discussion Leaders
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Okihide Hikosaka (National Eye Institute, NIH, USA)
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Anatol Kreitzer (University of California, San Francisco, USA)
Speakers
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Rajeshwar Awatramani (Northwestern University, USA)
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Adam Carter (New York University, USA)
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Ana Rodrigues (University of Minho, Portugal)
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Talia Lerner (Northwestern University, USA)
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Vanessa Ruta (The Rockefeller University, USA)
Modulating the Modulators
Discussion Leaders
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Nicolas Tritsch (New York University School of Medicine, USA)
Speakers
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Stephanie Cragg (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
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Christopher Ford (University of Colorado Denver, USA)
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Pascal Kaeser (Harvard Medical School, USA)
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Stephen Rayport (Columbia University, USA)
Basal Ganglia in Health and Disease
Discussion Leaders
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Raffaella Tonini (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy)
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Mary Kay Lobo (University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA)
Speakers
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Mark Bevan (Northwestern University, USA)
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Camilla Bellone (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
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Meaghan Creed (Washington University School of Medicine, USA)
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Robert Edwards (University of California, San Francisco, USA)
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Alexandra Nelson (University of California, San Francisco, USA)
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X. William Yang (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Motivating Movement
Discussion Leaders
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Alexandra Nelson (University of California, San Francisco, USA)
Speakers
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Helen Bronte-Stewart (Stanford University, USA)
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David Leventhal (Dance for PD, Mark Morris Dance Group, USA)
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Paola Ortelli (Moriggia Pelascini Hospital, Italy)
Organization of Basal Ganglia and Extended Circuits in Spontaneous and Motivated Behavior
Discussion Leaders
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Talia Lerner (Northwestern University, USA)
Speakers
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Sandeep Robert Datta (Harvard Medical School, USA)
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Carrie Ferrario (University of Michigan, USA)
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Alexxai Kravitz (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)
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Dayu Lin (New York University, USA)
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Lauren McElvain (University of California, San Diego, USA)
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Mark Schnitzer (Stanford University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA)
Dialogue Between Models of Basal Ganglia Function and Experimental Data
Discussion Leaders
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Carmen Canavier (LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, USA)
Speakers
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Alison Duffy (University of Washington, USA)
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Vikram Gadagkar (Columbia University, USA)
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Naoshige Uchida (Harvard University, USA)
Insights into Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms from New Tools and Novel Approaches
Discussion Leaders
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Veronica Alvarez (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH, USA)
Speakers
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Markita Landry (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
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Yulong Li (Peking University, China)
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David Sulzer (Columbia University, USA)
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D. James Surmeier (Northwestern University, USA)
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Lin Tian (University of California, Davis, USA)
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Laurent Venance (Collège de France, France)
Basal Ganglia and Extended Circuits in Cognition and Decision-Making
Discussion Leaders
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Zayd Khaliq (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, USA)
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Ilana Witten (Princeton University, USA)
Speakers
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Michele Basso (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
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Mitsuo Kawato (Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Japan)
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Richard Krauzlis (National Eye Institute, NIH, USA)
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Daphna Shohamy (Columbia University, USA)
The GRC Power Hour™
Organizers:
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Zayd Khaliq (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, USA)
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Ilana Witten (Princeton University, USA)
