Conference 2000

MNN Conference: The role of the ventral striatum in learning and plasticity, April 15-17, 2000 at Seabrook Resort, Charleston S.C.

The first biennial meeting of the Motivational Neuronal Network Society was a 2-day conference held at Seabrook Island, South Carolina on April 15-17th. The energy and excitement for this conference was evident throughout the meeting, fueled primarily both by the topic and the unusual format. The purpose was to address theoretical issues relating to the function of the ventral striatum and related structures. The format consisted of a series of workshops and discussion groups that addressed key questions about the role, mechanisms, and function of the ventral striatum in plasticity and learning. There were two Invited Speakers: Dr. Robert Malenka, "Synaptic plasticity in the ventral striatum and VTA" and Dr. Paul Worley, "Long-term Synaptic Plasticity; Novel Insights from Immediate Early Genes". Other than these speakers, there were no formal data presentations. Drs. Lennart Heimer and Trevor Robbins gave an informal Saturday evening opening address.

The format involved intensive work prior to the meeting by five focus groups whose charge was to summarize their field and pose questions and issues to be discussed at the conference. The focus groups were: anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, behavior, and gene regulation. The topics for the workshops were developed through interaction and discussion between members of the focus groups. A workbook was compiled from these discussions which was distributed at the beginning of the meeting. These discussion points were developed into questions to be discussed in the five workshops. Four of the five workshops were held twice, one in the morning and again in the afternoon, with different participants at each one. The workshops were an open forum drawing on the expertise of those who attended the meeting. A combined summary of these workshops were published in the September 2000 issue of TINS. Click here to view the TINS article.