Register for Neuroscience 2018

More than 30,000 neuroscientists and clinicians from around the world are expected to attend Neuroscience 2018, November 3–7, in San Diego. Join them by registering for this year’s annual meeting — advance registration is now open.

Neuroscience 2018 will exemplify how interdisciplinary collaboration and scientific diversity forward innovation in approaches to basic and translational research, with real clinical applications.

“This year’s annual meeting will be immensely valuable for connecting with scientists with whom you may not otherwise have an opportunity to meet and interact,” said SfN President Richard Huganir. “By attending lectures, presenting your science — having conversations between sessions — attendees will actively exchange ideas that advance neuroscience research.”

Learn about this year’s featured lectures and expanded sessions for clinician-scientists below, and explore presidential and special lectures; symposia and minisymposia; preconference sessions; workshops, meetings, and events; SfN-sponsored socials; and more in the Preliminary Program.

Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society: "Music and the Brain"
Saturday, November 3, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Pat Metheny, a jazz guitarist and recipient of 20 Grammy Awards, has played in clubs and on stages around the world. He will discuss the capacity of music to register in all of our brains — as a catalyst prompting us to recall memories, as a medium for improvisation, and as a source of creativity in music, art, and science. Joining him will be a panel of SfN members as well as jazz bassist, vocalist, and composer Esperanza Spalding, who has won four Grammy Awards and whose latest album is based on the idea that all that we have experienced throughout our lives has been captured by the mind. She is professor of practice in the Music Department at Harvard University.

Peter and Patricia Gruber Lecture: "Decision, Reward, and the Basal Ganglia"
Sunday, November 4, 2:30–3:40 p.m.

This lecture will comprise three parts:

• In “The Striatum and Decision-Making Based on Value,” Ann M. Graybiel of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will share structural findings that implicate the striatum in modulating a broad range of circuits affecting our behavioral state in health and disease.
• In “Parallel Basal Ganglia Circuits for Cooperative and Competitive Decision-Making,” Okihide Hikosaka of the National Eye Institute will explain how selective processing in parallel circuits in the basal ganglia engenders motivation, attention, and skill.
• In “About Reward,” Wolfram Schultz of the University of Cambridge will describe the properties of neurons in the brain's reward systems and how their action contributes to economic decision-making, as is being investigated through designs based on behavioral theories.

David Kopf Lecture on Neuroethics: “When Is an Adolescent an Adult?: Implications for Justice Policy”
Monday, November 5, 10–11:10 a.m.

BJ Casey of Yale University will share emerging evidence that developmental changes in the brain continue to take place past adolescence and into young adulthood — findings that may require revision or revised interpretation of justice policy.

Albert and Ellen Grass Lecture: “Neural Sequences in Memory and Cognition”
Monday, November 5, 3:15–4:25 p.m.

David W. Tank of Princeton University will discuss new analysis and modeling efforts providing insight into the functional roles and mechanisms of neural circuit dynamics at play in working memory, decision-making, and navigation. Many of these methods have come out of the BRAIN Initiative and involve large-scale neural recording at cellular resolution.

History of Neuroscience Lecture: “Deciphering Neural Circuits: From the Neuron Doctrine to the Connectome”
Tuesday, November 6, 2:30–3:40 p.m.

Since the neuroanatomical drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal led to the enunciation of the Neuron Doctrine in 1891, understanding of neuronal connectivity has advanced significantly, with many scientists now working to map the connectome. In this lecture traversing the history of neuroscience discovery, Marina Bentivoglio of the University of Verona will highlight current challenges and foci of research.

Basic research can inform clinical practice, and observations made in clinical settings can also drive basic research. SfN is providing additional opportunities this year for clinician-scientist attendees to learn about research on the mechanisms, treatment, and diagnosis of conditions related to neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders, including four Basic-Translational-Clinical Roundtable sessions.

Molecular Therapies for Neurological Diseases

This roundtable will highlight spinal muscular atrophy as an example of the progress being made in translating knowledge of the molecular basis of a disease to therapies that transform how the disease is managed.

Neuroprosthetic Devices: A Patient's Perspective on Brain Computer Interfaces

In this unique roundtable, patients will talk about their physical limitations and why they participated in brain-computer interface (BCI) research, speaking to its benefits, how it has changed their lives, and where they believe researchers should push the future of BCI technologies.

Rapid Antidepressant Action: Synaptic Mechanisms and Clinical Aspects

This panel will discuss novel rapidly acting antidepressant treatments, the mechanisms underlying their action, and insight these mechanisms provide into mood disorders and their treatment.

What We Know, What We Don’t Know: How Can We Better Understand Alzheimer’s Disease to Develop Effective Treatments?

This panel will review an update of the main molecules that play a role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and discuss the current understanding of AD, new diagnostic methods, and promising treatments in development.

In addition to the above roundtables, Neuroscience 2018 will offer a Clinical Neuroscience Lecture, “From Axon Regeneration to Functional Recovery After CNS Injury.” Zhigang He of Boston Children’s Hospital will present recently uncovered cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating the processes of neuronal injury responses and axon regeneration in the adult mammalian CNS. He will also discuss progress in developing effective strategies to promote axon regeneration and functional recovery in experimental injury models in vivo, such as spinal cord injuries and optic nerve crush.

Two sessions will be offered the morning of Saturday, November 3, for attendees to hear clinical experts describe their research techniques and accomplishments in a personal context that offers participants a behind-the-scenes look at factors influencing the expert's work. The sessions this year will be presented by Joyce Liao from Stanford University on “How to Make Your Work/Life Relevant” and Christian Luscher from the University of Geneva on “A Circuit Model for Addiction: Construction and Translation.”

Read about the Presidential Special Lectures and the Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society Lecture in this article from the spring issue of Neuroscience Quarterly or view up-to-date descriptions of lectures; symposia and minisymposia; Basic-Translational-Clinical Roundtables; SfN-sponsored socials; preconference sessions; professional development workshops; other sessions and events; and satellite meetings on www.sfn.org. Visit the annual meeting page to sign up for Neuroscience 2018 e-alerts and follow SfN on social media at @Neurosci2018 and #SfN18.

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Esperanza Spaulding is no longer able to participate in the Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society Lecture because of a scheduling conflict. Last updated August 20, 2018.