This proposal requests funds to support the Tenth Annual Meeting of The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society's (IBNS) that will be held in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico, April 25-29, 2001. The funds requested in this proposal are to support Young Investigator Travel Awards, reimburse expenses for invited symposium speakers, and defray some of the expenses associated with the publication of the meeting abstracts. The 2001 meeting format includes the Presidential Address (Jacqueline Crawley on galanin in learning and memory; using transgenic mice), two Keynote Addresses (Mark Geyer on sensorimotor-gating; Stephen Woods on metabolic signals and food intake), a Slide """"""""Blitz"""""""" 5 min presentations by attendees of exciting new data, and five Special Symposia: (Transgenic and Knockout Mice: Powerful Tools for Behavioral Neuroscience; Feeding and Body Weight Regulation: Current Perspectives; Antisense Oligonucleotides in Behavioral Neuroscience; The Reductionistic Dopamine Hypothesis of ADHO: Hyper, Hypo, or Both? Animal Models of Age-Related Cognitive Dysfunctions). Scientific communications are Oral Presentations and Poster Presentations. Special Interest Sessions are designed by the student members (e.g., grant writing workshops; job opportunities in science-related areas, etc.). In addition to the formal scientific program, three additional programs help carry out the mission of the Society. First, a Young Investigator Travel Awards Program sponsors pre- and post-doctoral students to attend the meeting in an effort to educate and nurture developing young scientists in behavioral neuroscience. A second, recently instituted program is the """"""""Public Lecture"""""""" series, where one of the members of the Society delivers a public lecture in the local language to the hosting community to help increase awareness of the importance of basic research and it's relevance. A third program is the Awards Banquet Program where, the Travel Awardees are honored and the recipient of the Myers Lifetime Achievement Award in Behavioral Neuroscience is announced. The IBNS was formed to encourage research and education in the field of behavioral neuroscience. Founded in 1992, the IBNS has approximately 600 members from 33 different countries and consists of scientists, clinicians, teachers and others with a background and interest in the relationship between the brain and behavior. The IBNS is governed by an elected president and officers, an elected council representing approximately 7 countries, including 2 student council members, and 13 standing committees. The Central Office of the IBNS is located in the United States.
