Conference: SICB Conference, UT Neuronal Mechanisms of Central Pattern Generators

Society For Integrative And Comparative Biology, Herndon VA

Investigators

Abstract

This symposium on Neuronal Mechanisms of Central Pattern Generators will bring together distinguished neuroscientists to exchange recent results of their research and to discuss new directions that their research should follow. The symposium will be a day-long set of oral presentations at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (or SICB) in Salt Lake City, Utah. The SICB meeting is a major U.S. gathering for biologists from all branches of biological study, and symposia of this kind are a major activity there. Many activities that we take for granted, such as walking, chewing, and breathing, depend upon the functioning of specialized neural circuits in the brain and spinal cord. These neural circuits are known as Central Pattern Generators (or CPGs) because their activity forms the basic patterns from which rhythmic behaviors are derived. Similar neural circuits produce the rhythmic swimming of fish and the rhythmic wing-beats of flying birds and insects. Despite the deep importance of CPGs for animal life, there remain many unanswered questions about how nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord of vertebrates like ourselves (and in the nervous systems of invertebrate animals like insects, shrimp, and snails) work together to form rhythmic, regular patterns of activity. The invited speakers work on a wide range of animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, because details gathered by analysis of a range of animals will yield insights that would not be found in the study of any single animal species. In addition, many invertebrate animals and cold-blooded vertebrates are easier to study at a detailed, cellular level. Basic research of this kind has broad impacts that include future treatments for spinal cord injuries and other motor impairments. For example, until the organization of the normal, functioning spinal CPG for walking is known, it will be difficult to develop a rational plan to repair the locomotor CPG when it has been damaged. A symposium offers participants an opportunity for more intense interaction than would otherwise occur. The public presentations of their research allow other biologists to join the discussion and contribute ideas. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the symposium will be attended by graduate students and researchers who are just beginning their careers, and who may be drawn to enter this vital area of research.