Workshop on
CIRCUITS & CONNECTIVITY
IN THE VERTEBRATE BRAIN
July 6 - 21, 2011
Application Deadline: May 15, 2011

Instructors:
Partha Mitra, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Kathy Rockland, RIKEN-MIT Center
Menno Witter, Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Norway

In comparison with complete reference genomes now available for multiple species, our knowledge about the neuronal and circuit architecture of the vertebrate nervous systems is relatively sparse. However, this situation is rapidly changing, enabled by technical advances as well as resurgent and widespread interest in the neuroscientific community in mapping out neural circuitry at unprecedented scales, ranging from the reconstruction of local micro-circuits to the mapping of brain-wide meso-circuits. This circuit architecture naturally and logically complements the molecular architecture as delineated by the mapping of brain-wide gene expression patterns. Experimental efforts are under way in multiple species, promising to advance our knowledge of the wiring logic of the vertebrate brain. This will fundamentally impact our understanding of brain function and evolution, and also play an essential role in understanding pathological changes in circuitry that underlie neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.

This two week workshop will bring together classical neuroanatomical approaches along with the new techniques that are enabling a new generation of neuroanatomical research into the circuit and molecular architecture of the vertebrate brain. The workshop will have three main components: classical, molecular and computational neuroanatomy. An experimental component of the workshop will involve injection based tract tracing in the mouse, employing classical and viral tracer substances, in wild type and transgenic mice. Lectures will cover classical (tracer injections, sectioning, histochemistry, imaging) and molecular (genetic engineering of mice as well as viral tracers, optogenetic probing of circuits) techniques. Material will be presented by simultaneous viewing of slides under light microscopy as well as digital images, including an in-depth orientation to internet resources. The computational component will involve hands on algorithmic analysis and interpretation of digital neuroanatomical data sets, from both EM and light microscopy. Species covered will include rodents, human and nonhuman primates, with special lectures on other vertebrate lineages.

Speakers include:
Katrin Amunts, Institute of Nueroscience and Medicine, Germany
Helen Barbas, Boston University School of Medicine
Jason Bohland, Boston University
Mihail Bota, University of Southern California
Andreas Burkhalter, Washington University
Winfried Denk, Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research, Germany
Lynn Enquist, Princeton University
Suzanne Haber, University of Rochester
Michael Hawrylycz, Allen Institute for Brain Science
Moritz Helmstaedter, Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research, Germany
Patrick Hof, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
Josh Huang, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Harvey Karten, University of California, San Diego
David Kleinfeld, University of California, San Diego
Jin-hyung Lee, University of California, Los Angeles
Kevan Martin, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Claudio Mello, Oregon Health and Sciences University
Pavel Osten, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Daniel Peterson, Rosalind Franklin University
Marcello Rosa, Monash University, Australia
Joseph Safdieh, Weill Cornell Medical College
Clifford Saper, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Helen Scharfman, Helen Haye’s Hospital
Nicholas Schiff, Cornell University Medical College
Nick Strausfeld, University of Arizona
Kamil Ugurbil, University of Minnesota
Karl Zilles, Juelich Research Center, Germany