Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Windows on the Brain: Formation and Function of Synapses and Circuits and Disruption in Disease, organized by Drs. Kristin Scott, Paola Arlotta, Rui M. Costa and Yimin Zou. The conference will be held in Taos, New Mexico from January 21-25, 2019. A fundamental goal of neuroscience is to understand the molecular, cellular, and activity-based mechanisms that control the formation and function of neural circuits and determine how these mechanisms become compromised in neurodevelopmental, psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Over the past two decades, molecular neuroscientists have identified key molecules and mechanisms that underlie synapse development, activity, and stability. Meanwhile, the study of neuronal circuits has been revolutionized by new methods to visualize and map circuits in living animals, as well as the development of approaches to control neuronal activity. Finally, disease researchers have identified genes associated with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Animal models of these diseases are proving useful to understand how dysfunction of affected genes and proteins contributes to disease pathology. Although these fields are working on the same process, no small highly interactive ?Keystone-style? meetings bring these three groups together in the same room. Our symposium will bring together leaders working on synapse development and function, circuit structure and function, and the study of brain disease, believing with confidence that mutually beneficial insights will emerge from discussing each other?s work.
The study of synapses and neuronal circuits has entered a major new era of discovery: genetic and biochemical studies have revealed the ?parts list? of proteins that mediate synapse formation, plasticity, stability, and function. We will bring together experts studying basic molecular mechanisms of synapse and circuit function, technologists developing new approaches to measure and analyze circuit structure and function, clinicians studying brain development and disorders, in a single intimate highly-interactive meeting. The goal is to provide opportunities for technology dissemination, conceptual advances, and collaboration across these disciplines.
