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, intimate size and extended discussion time. Some of these features arise from unique qualities of the hearing research field and others from the Gordon Conferences? established nature and highly successful format. The general theme of the 2020 meeting leverages innovation in approaches and theory, focusing on an integrated understanding of preventing loss and recovering function of the auditory system. These topics are broadly construed to span research on basic and pathological mechanisms that pose limitation and destroy normal auditory function to translational efforts to treating disorders and novel therapeutic and biological interventions to recover function. The general theme of the 2022 meeting has not yet been determined, but it will use a similar approach of integrating research across all levels of the auditory system. Sessions will traverse the auditory system from its fundamental peripheral mechanisms to the central pathways, multi-sensory integration, and behavioral output. The program will include the etiology and pathology of normal auditory function, disruption of function through disease and trauma, and innovative approaches to preventing hearing loss and to recovering function after loss. Investigators will highlight different model systems and technologies, clinical relevance, and potential translational tools for repairing damaged auditory systems, including stem cell therapy, hair cell regeneration, gene therapy, and next generation cochlear implants. We will design sessions that have something that will appeal to scientists with diverse backgrounds. We endeavor to highlight different model systems, from zebrafish to humans, and technologies from molecular & genetic to systems and behavior. Throughout the sessions we will include a broad mix of talks that focus on studies of central and peripheral auditory neuroscience and will include the broader thematic topics for the 2020 and 2022 Auditory GRC. Our goal is to encourage unusually high attendance throughout the meeting and cross- fertilization across disciplines. For the Auditory GRS, talks will be selected from submitted abstracts and anchored by a keynote address by an invited mentor-participant. In addition, mentoring is an active component of the GRS. The keynote speaker, as well as the GRC organizers, will be available for informal and formal discussions including a research funding session, featuring a representative from NIDCD, and a career session, featuring individuals working in diverse fields, such as academia, industry, publishing and policy.
The healthy human auditory system performs complex and exquisite analysis, permitting localization and identification of sounds, processing speech and appreciation of music. Loss of these functions through inherited genetic factors, aging, noise, trauma, or disease results in major personal and societal costs; however, there remains a dire need to know how we can prevent loss and recover function of the auditory system. The 2020 and 2022 Auditory Systems Gordon Research Conference and Seminar will convene scientists from around the world, at all career levels, to share and discuss novel and unpublished experimental data regarding the function, dysfunction and restoration of the auditory system with the goal of accelerating an understanding how the auditory system works, how to prevent loss of function and what can be done to recover function.
