This application is a request for funds to support the inaugural Marmoset Scientific Meeting to be held on October 17, 2019, in Chicago, IL, two days before the start of the annual Society for Neuroscience (SFN) meeting. This meeing will be registered as an SFN satellite symposium. The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) has experienced unprecedented growth in research across the United States and is rapidly emerging as a likely keystone biomedical model system in the next chapter of scientific discovery. The major goal of the 2019 inaugural meeting is part of a multiple-pronged approach to establish a U.S.-based consortium aimed at highlighting cutting-edge research in marmosets and promoting marmosets as a key model system. The meeting will provide a networking forum for both established investigators and junior scientists from diverse backgrounds to interact and communicate their research findings. Critical to the success of the marmoset model is fostering the development of junior scientists in the field. The meeting is also aimed at attracting investigators who are currently not using marmosets in their research. The principal objectives of the 2019 Marmoset Scientific Meeting (IMSM) include (1) To communicate and disseminate new findings from using marmosets as a model organism in diverse fields and development of new genetic, viral and analytic tools that will advance research in marmosets; (2) To provide an open forum for discussion of new hypotheses and approaches and discrepancies in the literature and to facilitate exchange of reagents such as antibodies, protocols and viral toolbox, including viral vector targeting specific neuronal cell types; (3) To increase interactions and collaborations between basic scientists and translational and clinical groups interested in modeling human disease in the marmoset. They include human geneticists and psychiatrists; and (4) To provide an atmosphere in which researchers wishing to use marmosets in their research may interact directly with established investigators. The 2019 IMSM is highly relevant to the programmatic mission of multiple ICs. The meeting consists of a Keynote Lecture, a Young Investigator talk, invited talks from trainees (graduate students and post-doctoral fellows) and young investigators that are selected from submitted abstracts, and poster sessions. IMSM offers a unique combination of features, including: (1) breadth of research, (2) cutting-edge questions and technologies, (3) mingling of investigators from all ranks and diverse sub-fields and locales, and (4) intimate size and extended discussion time, allowing for sustained interactions. Three tentative themes are planned; (1) Social behavior, physiology and neural circuits, (2) Aging and neurodegenerative disease and (3) Genetic, viral and analytic tools development for marmoset research. Finally, participation by women and those from underrepresented groups will be emphasized. Half of the oral presentations will be from these groups and half of the travel awards will be given to women. The leadership of the IMSM itself also has a large number of women: the current Program Committee is ~40% female.
The major goal of the 2019 inaugural scientific marmoset meeting is part of a multiple-pronged approach to establish a U.S.-based consortium aimed at highlighting cutting-edge research in marmosets and promoting marmosets as a key model system in the next chapter of biomedical research. The meeting will provide a networking forum for both established investigators and junior scientists from diverse backgrounds to interact and communicate their research findings.
