Many scientific projects funded by NIH investigate neural functions in the avian brain. However, there have been very few efforts by NIH projects to directly link discoveries in the avian brain with mammalian brain. This is due in part, because of a current dilemma on nomenclature of the avian brain. Nearly 100 years ago, scientists decided that the avian brain, above the level of the thalamus, is one large basal ganglia, a ventral portion of the mammalian telecephalon. In the 1960s, using several molecular markers, this conclusion was shown to be incorrect. However, since then there has been very little consensus on the correct correspondences between the avian and mammalian brains. As a result, the 100-year basal ganglia terminology is still in effect, creating confusion and inaccurate comparisons in basic and biomedical research. The objective of the Avian Brain Nomenclature Forum is to bring together experts in the field of avian neuroscience and comparative neuroanatomy for the purpose of making historical revisions of avian brain nomenclature. The Forum will take place July 18th, 19th, and 20th, of 2002, at the Duke University Medical Center, Searle Center. There will be a web site for forum participants to prepare themselves with hypotheses and knowledge, as well as post-forum publication of nomenclature changes in established scientific journals. The participants include professors, post-docs, and graduate students. The forum is expected to lead to significant changes in avian brain research and impact neurobiology research in general. Since it is the goal of NIH to improve public health, a mammalian group, it is imperative that the relationship between the avian and mammalian be updated and that serious comparative errors be removed.
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| Reiner, Anton; Perkel, David J; Mello, Claudio V et al. (2004) Songbirds and the revised avian brain nomenclature. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1016:77-108 |
