We seek $49,000 in support from NIMH and NIDA to host the Seventh International Symposium on Functional Neuroreceptor Mapping of the Living Brain (NRM08) from July 17-19, 2008, in Pittsburgh, PA. This symposium is a biennial meeting of preeminent scientists and physicians in academia and the pharmaceutical industry whose efforts focus on the development of non-invasive imaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), to functionally characterize and quantify populations of neuroreceptors (e.g. serotonin-2A, dopamine D2) and receptor-like proteins (e.g. brain amyloid) in the living human brain. The overarching goals of this group are to apply non- invasive imaging methods to: 1) improve the understanding of the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders, addiction, and normal aging; 2) to develop improved methods of quantifying neuroreceptor function in vivo; 3) to effectively use neuroreceptor imaging techniques to accelerate the process of central nervous system (CNS) drug development; and 4) to use neuroreceptor imaging to monitor the efficacy of novel CNS drugs in patients. The scientific program for the meeting will focus on basic and clinical research that is of direct relevance to NIMH and NIDA sponsored research. The main component of the symposium program will include approximately 30 platform presentations and 150 poster presentations of abstracts submitted to the meeting from meeting participants. The program will also include two keynote lectures, thematic lectures that highlight two or more conference themes, panel discussions of key issues, and networking events. This symposium will leverage the breadth of expertise of a truly multidisciplinary and international audience of scientists and physicians working in the area of functional neuroimaging to advance the understanding of the pathophysiology of disease, develop improved techniques and methods, identify and explore translational research opportunities that may advance clinical diagnostics and drug development, and to establish and foster communication, collaboration, and fellowship among this group of functional imaging experts. The Seventh International Symposium on Functional Neuroreceptor Mapping of the Living Brain (NRM08) will leverage the breadth of expertise of a truly multidisciplinary and international audience of scientists and physicians working in the area of functional neuroimaging to advance the understanding of the pathophysiology of disease, develop improved imaging techniques and methods, identify and explore translational research opportunities that may advance clinical diagnostics and drug development, and to establish and foster communication, collaboration, and fellowship among this group of functional imaging experts. The overall benefit of this meeting is realized locally, nationally, and internationally, as this forum supports focused concentration on scientific issues that can significantly impact research developments within this strong and vibrant multimodality neuroimaging research community, yield novel clinical and technical research findings, and support state-of-the-art educational opportunities for graduate students, medical students, and faculty in multimodality imaging techniques. ? ? ?
| Jagust, W J; Landau, S M; Shaw, L M et al. (2009) Relationships between biomarkers in aging and dementia. Neurology 73:1193-9 |
