Neuroscience Day 2015 will take place at Miami University, Oxford, OH on May 29th, 2015. Driving directions to the meeting location and a campus map can be found here.  We hope that you will consider attending the meeting and presenting at the poster session.

Dr. Michael Nusbaum will be the keynote speaker. Dr. Nusbaum is a professor in the Department of Neuroscience, the Director of the Biomedical Graduate Studies program and the Associate Dean for Graduate Education in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Nusbaum’s research group aims to elucidate, at the cellular/ synaptic/circuit levels, how the nervous system selects and generates distinct motor patterns from a multifunctional neural network. The issues currently being addressed by his group include determining (1) if the network response to activating all members of a projection neuron population is the same as more strongly activating only some of those projection neurons, and (2) the feeding state-dependent influence of co-circulating hormones on a feeding-related motor network.

Dr. Nusbaum uses a small model system, the crab stomatogastric nervous system (STNS). This extension of the central nervous system of decapod crustaceans includes several distinct but interacting circuits underlying rhythmic behaviors. There are many advantages to studying this preparation for obtaining a cellular-level understanding of neuronal circuit function. All of the circuit neurons are readily recorded both intra- and extracellularly and their synaptic connectivity is known (i.e. fully defined connectome). Additionally, many identified modulatory transmitters are locally co-released by descending and ascending neurons and/or influence these circuit neurons as circulating hormones. By working with a set of identified projection and sensory neurons, his research has revealed a number of important principles regarding how neural circuit output is regulated, including consequences of co-transmitter release and how the effects of neuronal release can differ from bath application of modulatory transmitters. Using a combination of electrophysiological and anatomical techniques, his research has led to general principles of neural circuit dynamics that have been extended to many other systems, ranging from other invertebrates to mammalian systems.

Additional information and links to Dr. Nusbaum’s research and publications can be found here.

In addition to Dr. Nusbaum’s Keynote Address, Neuroscience Day 2015 will include a Professional Development Session, invited Oral Presentations, and Poster Presentations. The deadline for poster title submission is May 22, 2015. Please go to the following link  to submit your poster title.

Even if you are not presenting, we hope that you will attend the meeting. If you are a member of OMV-SfN, there is no fee for registration. If you would like to become an OMV-SfN member or have not yet renewed your membership for 2015, please join/renew now! Though walk-up registration is permitted, please be aware that in order to be confirmed for luncheon attendance, advanced registration is required. Please go to the following link to register to attend Neuroscience Day 2015.  The deadline for advanced registration is also May 22, 2015.