: The Gordon Research Conference on Neural Plasticity has been held in alternate years since 1977. We are requesting partial support for the Neural Plasticity Conference planned for June 23-27, 2003, at the Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. The Gordon Research Conferences were established to stimulate scientific interchange in an informal setting. Interchange is promoted by the informal nature of the conference, by the large amount of time committed to question and answer periods in the scientific sessions, and by the many opportunities for discussion in other settings, such as meals, poster sessions and structured and unstructured social activities. The Gordon Research Conference rule prohibiting publication or citation of the meetings and presentations promotes open discussion of the latest results and current ideas. This format has been particularly useful for the Conference on Neural Plasticity, a highly interdisciplinary meeting in which the subject of modifiability of the nervous system is explored at molecular, cellular, systems, and computational levels. The 2003 Conference will have 9 scientific sessions, with a keynote talk by Dr. Bill Newsome, one of the most renowned scientists in systems/cognitive neurobiology. The scientific sessions will cover a range of topics of current interest in Neural Plasticity, from receptor/channel trafficking to therapeutic aspects of neural plasticity. The speakers and session chairs are all world leaders in their fields. Full participation by conference attendees is encouraged in several ways. Afternoon poster sessions provide an opportunity for all interested participants to present and discuss their work. Each scientific session will include, in addition to the scheduled speakers, 1 or 2 short talks by junior participants, selected from the submitted abstracts. This is something that worked very well in previous conferences. Question and answer periods are generously scheduled. Social events permit new participants to meet speakers and chairs informally. The beautiful environment provided by the Salve Regina campus is an attractant for speakers and participants to linger long after the end of each session. Past participants have found these informal interactions to be the distinct advantage of the Gordon Conference, giving rise to a stimulating and productive meeting.
