Integrative Approaches to
Brain Complexity
October 1 - 5, 2008
Abstract Deadline - July 30, 2008

Organizers:
Seth Grant, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK
Nathaniel Heintz, HHMI/The Rockerfeller University, USA
Jeffrey Noebels, Baylor College of Medicine, USA

Understanding the structural and functional complexity of the vertebrate nervous system is the theme of this meeting. Advances in genomics and proteomics are defining the molecular building blocks that underpin the structural complexity of the brain and it behavioural output. Combining genetic discoveries with anatomical, electrophysiological and behavioural findings, it is now feasible to integrate this knowledge.

This meeting will address approaches ranging from molecular biology to behaving animal studies, from single gene to complex sets of genes, from synapses to networked brain functions. Emphasis will be placed on large scale approaches that generate accesssible molecular and biological databases. Strategies for acquisition of molecular, physiological and behavioural data on a large scale and the analysis and integration of this data will be addressed. In keeping with traditional Cold Spring Harbor meetings, the majority of oral presentations will be drawn from openly submitted abstracts.

Tentative Topics
Genetic technologies: QTL / Targeted gene mutation / Chemical mutagenesis / DNA microarrays / Proteomics
Genomics and Bioinformatics
Comparative neurogenomics
Brain transcriptome & gene expression mapping
Protein interactions & biochemical pathway mapping
Brain atlases & anatomical pathway mapping
Electrophysiological approaches
Behavioural methods
Databases and management
Data integration and systems biology
Clinical genetics

Keynote Speaker (Francis Crick Lecture in Neuroscience)
Nigel Unwin, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK

Discussion Leaders:
Edward Boyden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Karl Deisseroth, Stanford University, USA
Winfried Denk, Max-Planck Institute, Germany
Daniel Geschwind, UCLA Center for Autism Research, USA
Sten Grillner, Karolinska Insitute, Sweden
Arthur Konnerth, Ludwig-Maximillians University, Germany
Anders Lansner, KTH/CSC/CB, Sweden
Gilles Laurent, California Institute of Technology, USA
Joseph LeDoux, New York University, USA
Susana Lima, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA
Tsuyoshi Miyakawa, Kyoto University, Japan
Hannah Monyer, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Lennart Mucke, University of California, San Francisco, Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, USA
Shigetada Nakanishi, Osaka Biosciences Institute, Japan
Andreas Schaefer, Max-Planck-Institute, Heidelberg, Germany
Erin Schuman, HHMI/California Institute of Technology, USA
Peter Seeburg, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Angus Silver, University College London, UK
Jesper Sjostrom, University College London, UK
Peter Somogyi, Medical Research Council, UK
Stephen Williams, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK

All registrations and abstracts MUST be submitted by the abstract deadline, July 30, 2008. Late registration may be accepted after the abstract deadline if the meeting is not oversubscribed. In the event of over subscription, every effort will be made to ensure that all groups who wish to participate will be represented. Status (talk/poster) of abstracts will be posted on our web site as soon as decisions have been made by the organizers.

We look forward to seeing you at Hinxton in October.

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