This proposal seeks partial support for the 4th biennial Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on the Cerebellum and its new component, the Gordon Research Seminar on the Cerebellum (GRS). The GRC and GRS are to be held July 29-August 4, 2017 at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine USA. The cerebellum is a brain structure that is essential for learning and controlling movement, and has recently been implicated in various sensory and cognitive functions. Disease or damage of the cerebellum is thought to play a role in a growing number of disorders ranging from genetic ataxias to autism spectrum disorder to schizophrenia. The increasingly broad involvement of cerebellar circuits in normal function and disease, coupled with rapid advances in techniques for probing this system, raise important questions that can only be answered through information sharing and interactions across disciplines. Many researchers that are engaged in study of the cerebellum have common overarching research questions and scientific goals, but use diverse methodologies and different levels of study in different animal systems. As such, there are precious few opportunities for these individuals to meet as a group and discuss their newest and most cutting edge research.
The aims of the Cerebellum GRC are to provide the venue for cerebellar researchers to present and discuss their hypotheses, results, and discoveries; to bring together scientists from multiple career stages and different backgrounds, who otherwise would be unlikely to have the opportunity to interact closely; and to develop scientific relationships that will lead to collaborative work and new approaches to investigating the cerebellum in health and disease.
These aims will be achieved within the GRC via 8 sessions of oral presentations by leaders in the field and up- and-coming junior investigators, ample discussion time with active facilitation of participation by young scientists and trainees, poster presentations for maximum exposure of all attendees? research, and unstructured time between scientific sessions for in-depth, spontaneous discussions. Inclusion of sessions addressing psychiatric disease, genetic ataxias, cerebellar development, and long range cerebellar circuit interactions promise to generate a healthy exchange of ideas, and educate investigators about how their work pertains to and can best be brought to bear on the treatment of neurological and mental disorders. The GRS is a new component of this that will precede the GRC at the same site. The GRS consists of both posters and talks, but will be solely attended by graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and early career scientists whose work is related to the structure, function, disease, or development of the cerebellum. Importantly, it is organized by students and postdocs for their peers, and allows a venue for interactions between the future leaders of our field.
The 2017 Gordon Research Conference on the Cerebellum will bring together scientists who are studying the cerebellum, a brain structure that is essential for learning and controlling movement, as well as aspects of sensory and cognitive functions. The exchange of information that will take place at this conference will allow scientists and their trainees to learn from a diverse set of researchers, so that they can start to apply new ideas and technical methods to their studies directed toward understanding the cerebellum, how it develops from birth to adulthood, how it coordinates muscle movements, how it contributes to learning, how it participates in cognitive function, as well as other topics in the field. Since disruption of cerebellar function by hereditary disorders or physical damage causes ataxia, and is associated with dystonia, dyslexia, and autism, the communication and discussion of ideas that will be fostered at this Conference will be central to developing strategies to combat these conditions.
