Motivational Neuronal Network Conference

The April 24-27, 2010, MNN meeting will focus on "The Reward Circuit: Emerging, Reemegering, and Forgotten Brain Areas."

As in the past, this will be an informal meeting centered around workshops and discussion groups. We address key issues centered on the regulation and dysregulation of prefrontal cortex and its associative neural network in psychiatric disorders. There are four workshop topics:

Workshop I: "The subthalamic nucleus and ventral pallidum: Within and without the reward circuit"
Leaders: Christelle Baunez and T. Celeste Napier
Members: Aldridge, J.W., Bergman H., Frank, M., Lardeux, S., Ravel, S., Voon V.

Workshop II: Extending the circuit, part 1: reemerging regions of the so-called, limbic system: the bed n. of the stria terminalis, extended amygdala, and the hypothalamus.
Leaders: Jacqueline McGinty and Gary Aston-Jones
Members: Coolen, L., Georges, F., Dumont, E., Smith, R., Fadel, J., Wilson, M., Jones, S., Borgland, S., Morales, M., Walker, D.L., Wise, R.

Workshop III: Extending the circuit, part 2: the emerging caudal areas, the lateral habenula, the PPTG, LDTG, and RMTG network in disappointment and pleasure.
Leaders: Scott Zahm and Phil Winn
Members: Clark, S., Floresco, SB., Geisler, S., Haber, S.N., Henn, F.A., Humphries, M.D., Jhou, T.C., Mena-Segovia. J, Sesack, S., Shepard, P.D.

Workshop IV: Extending the circuit, part 3: emerging cortical areas, is the subiculum important? It depends on the context.
Leaders: Anthony Grace and Patrico O’Donnell
Members: Hajos, M., Herman, J., Lisman, J., Maren, S., Mayberg, H., Role, L., Schobel, S.

There are no primary data presentations with the exception of two invited speakers who deliver 'perspective' addresses: Dr. Gary Aston-Jones, Medical University of South Carolina; and Dr. Martine Cador, CNRS-University of Bordeaux. Other than these speakers, there are no planned formal data presentations by senior scientists. However, there will be an evening poster session for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior scientists.

This year's theme of focusing on circuits ‘less traveled’ is not targeted by any specialized society or professional organization. The proposed meeting therefore brings together a unique group of scientists specifically interested in the reward network and its role in the development of psychiatric disorders, including addiction. The meeting will advance the field not only through the content and outcomes of the workshops, but also by reinforcing and building on the compatible group of scientists established at our previous meetings who are specifically interested in the neural network that underlies motivation. The mechanisms we have put in place for the preparation of this meeting (the web site and focus groups) will continue to foster interaction between scientists following the meeting as they have in the past. Furthermore we have found that this meeting provides a powerful stimulus for collaborative research across disciplines as well as engaging young scientists in opening new experimental avenues towards understanding the mechanisms underlying dysregulation of cortical and subcortical networks involved in psychiatric disorders.

For more information about this meeting, please contact:

Suzanne N. Haber (suzanne_haber@urmc.rochester.edu), University of Rochester