Meeting: 2012 Meeting of the Society for Social Neuroscience (October 2012, New Orleans)

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

The neurosciences have traditionally considered the nervous system as an isolated entity. However, recent research has amply demonstrated the considerable impact of social structures (e.g., mother-infant attachments, pair-bonds, stable versus unstable families) on brain development and function. These factors operate on the individual through a continuous interplay of neural, neuroendocrine, metabolic, immunologic, and genetic factors, in which the brain is the central regulatory organ and a malleable target of social factors. It is critical that the next generation of scientists be prepared to bring animal models and human studies together to bear on how precisely social factors are impacting human brain and biology. The current proposal contributes to this critical need through support for the forthcoming meeting of the Society for Social Neuroscience a meeting that emphasizes students and young scientists and that promotes a dialog across diverse disciplines, model systems, and methodologies. A major goal of the meeting is to provide graduate student trainees with interdisciplinary and international perspectives on social neuroscience. The program has been designed to ensure balance across gender, topics and career stage and to provide time and opportunities for discussions and interactions among student and faculty participants. In addition, the grant funds small but prestigious awards that subsidizes the travel of junior PIs and promising graduate students. The keynote speaker, the internationally renowned neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti who discovered the mirror neuron system, is the recipient of many honors including the Golgi Prize for Physiology and the Grawemeyer Prize. As the keynote speaker in this year's meeting, Rizzolatti will illustrate the value of comparative research and will stimulate discussions among our members and our students regarding the importance of opening new dialogues between researchers who study animal models and those who study humans. The dissemination plan ensures these messages reach an audience beyond the attendees.