During the past decade it has become increasingly clear that information transfer from neuron to neuron, the hallmark of brain function, requires the active participation of other cell types. The biology of glial cells is poorly understood, and glial-neuronal and glial-glial interactions are essential for many critical functions in the central and peripheral nervous systems. As nervous system research becomes increasing integrative, the interactions between different cell types must be included in data analysis and system response models.
This application is a request for partial funding to support a Gordon Research Conference entitled "Glial Biology: Functional Interactions Among Glia and Neurons". This conference brings together investigators working on glial biology and neuron-glial and glia-glia interactions from a variety of perspectives. The glial biology/cell-cell interaction conference is designed to be broad in its scope, and it should provide the platform for discussing and integrating current research. The chair of the conference Vladimir Parpura, M.D. Ph.D., University of California Riverside, who is the principal director of this proposal, was elected by the leading researchers within this field. This election combined with and the past experience in organizing similar events as well as his standing in the field is the best testimony to his qualifications to conduct the proposed project. Parpura was the vice-chair of the previous conference on Glial Biology in 2005.
Broad impact includes helping to integrate sub-fields of neuroscience research, improving the understanding and teaching of how the nervous system works, and fostering direct interactions among junior and senior scientists to help develop networks among scientists and act as a catalytic seed for enhancing the communication infrastructure of glial biologists. The meeting is expressly advertised as open to all scientifically-qualified applicants of any race, color, gender, or national and ethnic origin, and there are accommodations for disabled conferees at the Gordon Research Conference. All conferees, and especially graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior scientists, will be encouraged to contribute to poster sessions. To ensure inclusion of promising young investigators, funds are requested for travel awards; explicit invitation to apply for the merit travel awards will be made to balance geographic representation, gender and minority representation, and to include scientists with disabilities. The Gordon Research Conference tradition emphasizes free, vigorous discussion and, therefore, does not permit recording (tape or photographic) or publication of the conference proceedings, and abstracts of poster sessions may not be published or distributed. Scientists are, however, free to publish their own research material, but they are not allowed to cite the Gordon Conference presentation. The conference program will be posted on the Gordon Research Conference free-access web site.
