13 November 2008

Washington to Host International Neuroscience Meeting

More than 30,000 scientists to meet, discuss groundbreaking research

The Dalai Lama talks with the press following his lecture at the 2005 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.

By Daniel Gorelick
Staff Writer

Washington — In an impressive concentration of brain power, thousands of scientists will assemble in Washington for five days of lectures and discussions on the latest breakthroughs in brain research.

Organizers expect more than 30,000 people to attend the 38th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SFN), which begins November 15. More than 25 percent of the 32,180 attendees at the 2007 meeting came from outside the United States. Similar numbers are expected this year.

SFN is a professional association of scientists and physicians who study the brain, nervous system and related diseases.

The 2008 annual meeting “will offer an exciting look at significant new advances in brain research, from basic cellular understanding to behavioral research affecting human health,” said Eve Marder, professor of biology at Brandeis University and president of SFN. “Scientists around the globe are making significant progress understanding brain function and health. As always, every new discovery reveals new mysteries about how the brain works.”

LECTURES, AWARDS AND EXHIBITS

More than 15,000 scientific presentations are scheduled for the meeting. They range from 10-minute seminars to hour-long special lectures.

The bulk of the research data will be presented in daily poster sessions. In a cavernous hall the size of an airplane hangar, thousands of scientists will stand before posters, describing their latest findings and discussing their work with any interested passerby.

The meeting also will feature several special lectures and award ceremonies, as well as a large exhibit hall where biotechnology and medical device companies will showcase their newest products. Highlights include:

• Award-winning choreographer Mark Morris, founder of the Mark Morris Dance Group, discussing movement, dance and the brain.

• “Sex and Smell,” a lecture by French scientist Catherine Dulac on how male and female mice respond to pheromones, chemicals released by one animal that trigger a behavioral response in another animal of the same species.

• Canadian-American philosopher Patricia Churchland discussing how brains navigate their social and moral worlds.

SFN will also award more than a dozen prizes recognizing scientific achievement in various branches of neuroscience.

The $25,000 Julius Axelrod Prize honors a senior scientist in neuropharmacology who has also displayed “exemplary efforts” mentoring young scientists, and the $2,500 Donald B. Lindsley Prize will recognize an “outstanding” doctoral thesis in behavioral neuroscience.

Uruguayan scientist Mauro Costa-Mattioli will receive the 2008 Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology for identifying a protein that controls the formation of long-lasting memories (See “Uruguayan Scientist Wins International Neurobiology Prize.”)

INFORMAL CONNECTIONS

The 2008 SFN meeting also offers scientists a chance to gather and discuss their work informally.

The diplomatic community in Washington plans to welcome scientists in a series of embassy receptions meant to encourage networking. Canada, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Spain, Switzerland and New Zealand are among the nations hosting events.

Several regionally oriented events are being held in conjunction with the SFN meeting. The Society for Arab Neuroscientists, which aims to foster collaborations between Arab neuroscientists and to promote neuroscience in the Arab world, is hosting its third annual meeting on the evening of November 16. Events for Armenian, Chinese, Greek, Iranian, Korean and Dutch neuroscientists are also planned.

More information on the 2008 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience is available on the organization’s Web site.