This award will provide partial funding for a multi-day Friday Harbor Laboratory Centennial Symposium. The focus of the symposium is to summarize the important contributions that Gastropod mollucs have made to neuroscience research and to lay out ideas for future directions. Gastropods such as Tritonia, Aplysia, Helisoma, Helix, Lymnaea, Clione, Melibe, Hermissenda, and Pleurobranchaea have served as important model systems in neuroscience, in particular for studying motor pattern generation, learning, memory, development, ion channels and signal transduction. Leaders in this field are to be gathered together to create an opportunity to discuss in depth the directions Gastropod neuroscience should go in the future and plot courses to get it there.
More than twenty leaders in Gastropod neuroscience research have agreed to speak at this Friday Harbor Laboratory Centennial Symposium (http://depts.washington.edu/fhl/events.html). The intimate setting will provide an excellent opportunity to reflect on the current and future state of the field. The speakers will be asked to begin their talks by summarizing the important advances that have been made using their model systems and to end by discussing which direction they think the field should go and what will be needed to get it there. Round table discussions will be held that unite the themes of the talks and address the questions of "Where does the science go from here?" and "What tools are needed to get there?" A discussion will also be held on the use of new common tools such as the Aplysia Genome Project and NeuronBank.org. Posters will provide an outlet for young researchers to discuss their projects.
The meeting is seen as a way to promote cooperation in the field of Gastropod Neuroscience. Currently, there is no common venue for researchers in this field, yet there are many common issues that researchers face. The meeting will promote future research using Gastropod Molluscs by producing an accessible, innovative Wikipedia-style reference on Gastropod Neuroscience. It will also initiate a community web portal that will facilitate communication among researchers including job and meeting announcements.
