The Auditory System Gordon Research Conference (Auditory GRC) consisting of ~125-150 scientists of diverse expertise will convene on July 10-15, 2016, at Bates College, to discuss and debate new findings in hearing research and related fields, under the theme of The Plastic and Dynamic Auditory System. The Auditory GRC is preceded by a smaller Gordon Research Seminar (Auditory GRS, July 9-10) and will comprise of talks and posters by 40-50 investigators-in-training, thereby serving as a gateway to the GRC. Together the Auditory GRC & GRS offer a unique combination of features, including: breadth of research, cutting-edge emphasis, mingling of investigators from all ranks and diverse sub-fields and locales, and intimate size and extended discussion time, allowing for close and sustained interactions. Some of these features arise from unique qualities of the hearing research field and others from the Gordon Conferences' established nature. Since the 1920s, the GRC organization has supported meetings famous for their unfettered debate and discussion of emerging results. The program of the 2016 Auditory GRC emphasizes plasticity in the auditory system and the diverse ways in which the auditory system adapts to genetic, environmental, and developmental changes, and the reduction and restoration of acoustic signals in the system. Investigators will present new results in areas from genetics to central nervous system physiology and behavior. Topics include genetic regulation of inner ear epithelia, hair bundles, and echolocation, hair cell transduction and synaptic transmission, noise trauma at cochlear and systems levels, and neural encoding of sound location and speech. We have learned from experience to spread different model systems and technologies throughout the sessions, so that each session has something for everyone - encouraging unusually high attendance throughout the meeting and cross-fertilization across disciplines. The clinical importance of auditory research will be highlighted with presentations that consider the mechanisms underlying human disorders (e.g. noise trauma and aging) and translational efforts to fix them (e.g., hair cell regeneration, cochlear implant). For the Auditory GRS, talks are selected from registrants' submitted abstracts and anchored by a keynote address by an invited mentor-participant who is an assistant professor. Mentoring is an active component of the GRS - in addition to the keynote speaker, the GRC organizers (also senior investigators) are available for discussion, and a mentoring session, featuring a representative from NIDCD and other grant agencies, is planned.
The auditory nervous system performs sophisticated sound analysis, permitting sound localization and speech processing, with the loss of these and other hearing functions through aging, noise trauma, or disease resulting in major personal and societal costs. The 2016 Auditory System Gordon Research Conference will bring together first-rate scientists spanning all career levels to share novel experiments directed toward understanding the adaptable and plastic nature of auditory information processing, which is broadly interpreted to include approaches with diverse model systems, technologies, and questions ranging from the organization of inner ear structures to auditory scene analysis. Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and others with equivalent training will also present their results to peers at a smaller gateway meeting, the Auditory System Gordon Research Seminar, which prepares trainees for the larger conference and also includes a mentorship session involving more senior investigators.
