Conference Description
The 2020 Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology will bring together neuroscientists from academia and industry to discuss the latest breakthroughs in the study of the nervous system. Recent technological innovations, including optogenetics, genome editing, tissue clearing, super resolution microscopy, and single cell sequencing have empowered the study of the brain at an unprecedented level of detail. Scientific sessions will highlight recent discoveries on the development of the nervous system, synaptic function, neural circuits underlying behavior, brain imaging and connectomics, and molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurological diseases, including neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. 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 neuroscience research. 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. The GRC will also feature a Power Hour, an informal session for all attendees to discuss challenges women face in science and to support the professional growth of women by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring. Finally, 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 neurobiology.
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 March 5, 2020. Please check back for updates.
Keynote Session: Mechanisms of Neurological Disease
Discussion Leaders
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Katja Brose (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, USA)
Speakers
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Carla Shatz (Stanford University, USA)
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Li-Huei Tsai (Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
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Hailan Hu (Zhejiang University, China)
Development of the Nervous System
Discussion Leaders
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Kang Shen (Stanford University, USA)
Speakers
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Daniel Colón-Ramos (Yale University, USA)
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Melissa Rolls (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
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Gordon Fishell (Harvard Medical School, USA)
Synapses and Synaptic Function
Discussion Leaders
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Xiang Yu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
Speakers
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Thomas Sudhof (Stanford University, USA)
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Camin Dean (European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen, Germany)
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Lu Chen (Stanford University, USA)
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Peter Scheiffele (Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland)
Neural Circuits and Behavior
Discussion Leaders
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Shernaz Bamji (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Speakers
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Yi Zuo (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA)
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Nirao Shah (Stanford University, USA)
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Yang Dan (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
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Anna Beyeler (Neurocentre Magendie, INSERM UMR1215, France)
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Steven Flavell (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Brain Imaging and Connectomics
Discussion Leaders
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Yimin Zou (University of California, San Diego, USA)
Speakers
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Tianyi Mao (Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, USA)
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Na Ji (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
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Viviana Gradinaru (California Institute of Technology, USA)
Genetics and Epigenetics of the Nervous System
Discussion Leaders
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Louis Reichardt (Simons Foundation, USA)
Speakers
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Daniel Geschwind (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
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Nancy Bonini (University of Pennsylvania / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA)
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Jie Shen (Harvard Medical School, USA)
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Coleen Murphy (Princeton University, USA)
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Nancy Ip (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR China)
Sensory Systems
Discussion Leaders
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John Ngai (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Speakers
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Amita Sehgal (University of Pennsylvania / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA)
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Sandeep Robert Datta (Harvard Medical School, USA)
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Alexander Chesler (National Institutes of Health, USA)
Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration and Regeneration
Discussion Leaders
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Leonard Petrucelli (Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, USA)
Speakers
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Don Cleveland (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, USA)
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James Shorter (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
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Zhigang He (Harvard Medical School, USA)
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Frank Bradke (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Germany)
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Jun Ding (Stanford University, USA)
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Claire Le Pichon (National Institutes of Health, USA)
Keynote Session: Advanced Technologies for Neuroscience Research
Discussion Leaders
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Yi Sun (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Speakers
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Feng Zhang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
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Alice Ting (Stanford University, USA)
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Ryohei Yasuda (Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, USA)
The GRC Power Hour™
Organizers:
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Shernaz Bamji (University of British Columbia, Canada)
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Aaron Gitler (Stanford University, USA)
