Recent Discoveries and Technological Advances in the Study of the Nervous System During Development, Health and Disease

Modern neuroscience research is being rapidly accelerated by recent technological disruptions – in high-throughput DNA sequencing, optogenetics, genome editing, computation, and optical and other imaging modalities – that enable the study of the cells and circuits of the nervous system at unprecedented levels of breadth and detail. The 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology will convene neuroscientists working at the leading edge of genetics, genomics, cell biology, circuit analysis, behavior, and imaging technologies to uncover the mechanisms underlying nervous system function across the lifespan in health and disease. Scientific sessions will highlight recent discoveries on the development of the nervous system, synaptic function, the neural circuits underlying behavior, genome- and brain-wide analysis of the diversity of neuronal cell types and their connections, the molecular and systems biology of sensory systems, and experimental models of neurologic and neuropsychiatric diseases. A major goal of this international conference will be to foster interactions among scientists at all levels and from different backgrounds in order to stimulate new collaborations and directions of neuroscientific research across the boundaries of traditionally defined disciplines in the biological, computational, physical and engineering sciences. Discussion will be encouraged both in the scientific sessions as well as during time set aside for more informal interactions. To promote the next generation of neuroscientists, short talks will be selected from abstracts submitted by students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members. In addition, this GRC will be preceded by a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, which will feature a keynote speaker and be open only to students and postdoctoral fellows. The GRS will serve as a forum for trainees to broaden their peer network and will complement the GRC in bringing together scientists from around the world to discuss and identify new directions in molecular and cellular neuroscience.