Cephalopod Genomics, Neural Circuits, and Behavior

Cephalopods represent a unique opportunity in neuroscience. They are the only branch of the animal kingdom besides vertebrates to have evolved large brains, and they have remarkable sensory, motor, and cognitive capabilities. They can independently control eight flexible arms, they can rapidly change their skin patterning to camouflage based on the visual environment, and they exhibit learning and flexible behavior unlike any other invertebrates. Despite the many intriguing questions surrounding the cephalopod nervous system, we have relatively little understanding of how their brains function at the mechanistic level. However, the past few years have witnessed a rapid growth in cephalopod neuroscience, due to the emergence of new tools and the increased recognition of the need to understand brain organization beyond the limited range of standard model species. These rapid developments in the field have led to the establishment of a new Gordon Research Conference focused on Cephalopod Neuroscience. This meeting will bring together the growing community of researchers across cephalopod neuroscience, including genomics, neural development, systems neuroscience, as well as computation and tool development.

To be considered for a talk, the deadline to apply and submit an abstract is October 10, 2025.