Funding is requested to offset costs for scientists participating in Boston '99, the first joint meeting of the U.S. Behavioral Pharmacology Society (BPS) and the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS) in Boston, MA on Sept 1-4, 1999. Funding is requested for 25 students, 25 invited symposium speakers, and 3 plenary speakers. Behavioral pharmacology is the scientific discipline by which the behavioral effects of drugs are rigorously determined, permitting the examination of the behavioral and neurobiological underlayment of addiction and the evaluation of psychoactive drugs for abuse potential or therapeutic promise as anti-addictive medications. Boston '99 is a 4-day conference and symposia relevant to drug abuse and addiction processes will form the major part of the meeting (15 of 22 symposia). The first day will comprise symposia examining the promise of molecular technologies in behavioral pharmacology and workshop presentations offering a practicum for research with genetically altered subjects. On subsequent days, themes will include alcohol dependence, advances in human behavioral pharmacology relevant to substance abuse and addiction, and the role of monoamines in addiction and other behavioral pathologies. Each morning, one theme will be introduced in a plenary lecture and continued through the day in a series of related symposia. As well, the topic of reinforcement processes central to addiction will course throughout the meeting. This will form a major focus for symposia regarding the measurement of reinforcing efficacy, the evaluation of neurochemical, genetic, and contextual determinants of dependence, and the contribution of impulsivity and other behavioral processes to addiction. Workshops on research methodologies, ethopharmacology, theories of tolerance and dependence, and additional free communication and poster sessions will allow young investigators to fully participate in the meeting. Overall, this meeting will offer a forum for junior and senior U.S. and European scientists to exchange information and ideas, and, thereby, impel new research to meet the challenges of drug and alcohol addiction. Finally, proceedings of the meeting will be published in high-impact international journals, assuring their timely dissemination to the entire scientific community.
