The Society for Neuroscience is the major professional organization for scientists who study the nervous system. An important goal of this organization is to encourage scientists in training to undertake research related to diseases of the nervous system. The objective of this grant application is to support teaching workshops that introduce young neuroscientists to current concepts about the etiology and pathogenesis of disorders of the nervous system. For each workshop, about 12 faculty are chosen by the organizing committee. Clinical presentations provide enrollees with an experience of the human dimension of particular diseases. Lectures cover both clinical research and relevant laboratory work. In addition to lectures, enrollees are given a choice of small group workshops that emphasize either specific conceptual or methodological issues. Since its inception, sixteen workshops have been held, usually on the day prior to the start of the Society for Neuroscience Meeting. Topics have included: Stroke, AIDS in the nervous system, Epilepsy, Huntington's and Parkinson's disease, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Prion diseases, Drug Addiction, Pain and Affective Disorders, Stroke and Excitotoxicity, Neuromuscular diseases, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Schizophrenia, Migraine, Mental Retardation and developmental disorders. Enrollment generally runs between 100 and 200 attendees. Most enrollees are graduate students or postdoctoral fellows. Current plans are to cover the following topics in the near future: Tourette's Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the neurobiology of brain tumors, AIDS Dementia, Peripheral Neuropathy, Pain, Language Disorders, and Affective Disorders. Other topics will be chosen depending on their potential interest to young neuroscientists, their impact on society, and the quality of recent research related to that disease area. We are especially interested in covering diseases of the nervous system that are important clinically, but which are in need of enhanced basic cellular and molecular understanding.
