In this multi-year Conference Application, we request partial funding support for the 18th Annual National Neurotrauma Society Symposium which will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, November 3 and 4, 2000 and the subsequent four meetings. In order to facilitate attendance of a diverse spectrum of neuroscientists, the meetings are being held in conjunction with the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting. The program for the 2000 meeting will feature 19 invited lectures and 11 presentations selected from abstracts submitted by the membership. Speakers from outside the Neurotrauma Society have been specifically selected to bring new insights into the field. The 18th Annual Neurotrauma Symposium will focus on areas of controversy and debate in neurotrauma research. New areas of research in neuroscience, rich for translation into the neuronal injury arena will be discussed. The theme for the meeting will be Neurotrauma: Questions for the New Millennium. Special features of this meeting will be debates on apoptosis, inflammation, inhibitory factors in regeneration, relevance of animal models, and experimental endpoints. There will also be a panel discussion designed to enhance interactions between academia and industry. Poster presentation sessions totaling four hours are included in the two-day symposium. The session topics include: 1) Apoptosis: Good, Bad, or Indifferent? 2) Inflammation: a double-edged sword? 3) How detrimental are growth-inhibitory molecules on axonal regeneration? 4) How can brain and spinal cord be repaired? 5) How relevant are our models? 6) Are our endpoints the best? In addition, there will be three open communication sessions, a panel discussion entitled The Glass Ceiling for Women in Research, and another entitled Neurotrauma Academia/Industry. Specific information regarding the organization of future meetings is also discussed.
