AREADNE 2010 Conference, June 17-20, 2010 in Santorini, Greece

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

1005436 Pezaris This project will support AREADNE 2010 Research in Encoding and Decoding of Neural Ensembles, to be held 17-20 June 2010, at the Nomikos Conference Centre, in Santorini, Greece. This is the third conference in the biennial AREADNE series that provides unparallelled opportunities for US students and scientists studying neural ensembles to interact with their international peers and develop long-term professional relationships. The AREADNE Conference series serves an important role, providing a unique forum in the developing field of neural ensembles where investigators from a wide variety of subfields can exchange ideas and interact in an intensive, focused environment. Under the leadership of the two co-founders who serve as co-chairs, the AREADNE Organizing Committee has successfully run the conference in 2006 and 2008; the 2010 session will be the third in the series. Many novel mechanisms are employed to ensure complete engagement from the speakers and attendees that result not only in successful, invigorating meetings, but in a strengthening of the field. Many cutting-edge and provocative results have been premiered at the first two AREADNE Conferences, a pattern that is expected to continue in the third. The conference sessions focus on either experimental or analytical/theoretical approaches to understanding neural ensemble processing, or combine presentations from different approaches on the same brain area. Sessions are currently planned as (1) olfactory systems, (2) hippocampus and dentate gyrus, (3) stimulation techniques, (4) advanced functional labeling techniques, (5) network dynamics, (6) visual systems, and (7) motor systems. For each theme, presentations emphasize how sensory, cognitive, and motor states are encoded in the interaction of multiple neurons and in turn how these states can be reconstructed from neuronal ensembles. About half of the attendees from previous meetings have been from the United States, and half from Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Across all attendees, one-third are students, one-third post-docs or junior faculty, and the remainder senior faculty. Speakers are selected from the world experts in the field, and include one-third women, reflective of the general attendance. The Organizing Committee consists of systems neuroscientists with wide and varied backgrounds. Hybridization within the committee is reflected in the range of invited speakers and thus at the conference itself where cross-disciplinary discussions among attendees, rather than being exceptional, are the norm. Feedback forms from attendees are overwhelmingly positive, including specifically on the aspect of discussion and interaction. The conference proceedings are provided to attendees in printed form and on CD-ROM, and shortly after the end of each meeting, are published on the conference web site. In the 12 months ending on 1 October 2009, slightly more than 4,500 copies have been downloaded, demonstrating a very broad impact.