The basal ganglia are a richly interconnected set of forebrain, diencephalic and mesencephalic nuclei that control movement and thought. Basal ganglia disorders include a number of diseases with significant burden on the US population, such as Parkinson disease, Huntington disease, dystonia, impulse control disorders and certain autistic behaviors. The growing awareness of the clinical importance of basal ganglia circuitry and the rapid expansion of experimental tools available for their study have led to an explosion in basal ganglia research in the last decade. In spite of the explosion of work in this area, there had been until recently only one meeting devoted to basal ganglia research, which was triennial and often held outside the U.S. Thus, there is a compelling need for a more frequent, domestic meeting that provides a forum for cutting-edge basal ganglia research and its translation to improve the lives of individuals affected by basal ganglia dysfunction. The proposed Gordon Research Conference (GRC) meeting brings together leading laboratories in this and related fields to critically discuss emerging topics and to identify new directions for research. The inaugural Basal Ganglia GRC meeting met with great success in 2014 and has been approved for a 2016 meeting. For this second meeting, we have expanded to include (1) enhanced efforts to promote translational research by incorporating practicing physicians throughout the program and holding an optional Translational Caf featuring NIH and pharma representatives and (2) fostering strong growth of early career scientists by holding a Gordon Research Seminar, an event organized by and dedicated to early career scientists. Both the GRC and GRS formats create a unique opportunity for students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty to gain a deeper understanding of fundamental questions facing the basal ganglia field and to build cross-cutting collaborations that could lead to breakthroughs. Enrollment is expected to be 150-200. The NIH is being asked to help cover costs to support registration and travel of early career investigators and URM attendees and to defray costs associated with childcare needs.
Dysfunction within basal ganglia circuitry has far-reaching ramifications for the health of US citizens because it is involved in diverse disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, dystonia, Tourette's syndrome, addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, impulse control disorders, autism and schizophrenia. A critical need to accelerate research to improve the lives of those affected by these conditions is to provide a venue for researchers with diverse technical approaches and viewpoints to come together to discuss the latest advances and identify future priorities. This conference aims to fill this need by providing a meeting dedicated to understanding the molecular, cellular, circuit and behavioral mechanisms of the basal ganglia in health and disease, and will include basic science, translational and clinical perspectives and ample discussion of the latest discoveries.
| Hernandez-Martinez, Ricardo; Calakos, Nicole (2017) Seq-ing the Circuit Logic of the Basal Ganglia. Trends Neurosci 40:325-327 |
