Conference Reports
38th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience
Washington, DC, the US, November 15-19 2008
In the midst of President-elect Obama's triumphant win, over 31,000 people from all four corners of the globe gathered to exchange ideas as well as mingle and network in the capital of the USA, Washington, DC, for the 38th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The Walter E. Washington Convention Center provided the setting for numerous presentations, poster sessions and symposia, all in the interest of sharing knowledge between international researchers.
Neuroscience is a highly diverse and multifaceted field, which
was reflected at the conference by the range of topics, from
potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease to our 'facial perceptions
to the application of make-up'. In the interest of finding
the truth and advancing current knowledge in these sometimes
still poorly-understood areas, world-renowned scientists
brought forward their pioneering research while exercising
their intellect through intense debate with their colleagues. An
example of this depth and variety was exemplified by Mark
Morris, founder of the Mark Morris Dance Group, who chaired
a discussion on dance - specifically, movement in time and
space. Society president Eve Marder was in attendance at the
discussion, which covered the provision of customised dance
classes for people with Parkinson's disease, highlighting how
meaning is encoded in time and space and on the importance
of proprioception for dance.
On the pharmaceutical side of things, a fairly new area of research and recently-added indication to Pharmaprojects, levodopa-induced dyskinesia, was amply covered in the conference by postdoctoral fellows such as Dr. Recchia and others from Merz Pharmaceuticals. The company is actively testing a variety of discontinued, suspended and active glutamate agonist and antagonist compounds in rat models for this indication. Also working in the field of Parkinson's disease, Kyowa Hakko Kirin presented results from preclinical studies of its orally-available A2a receptor antagonist, istradefylline (KW- 6002). In medial prefrontal cortex-lesioned rats, istradefylline 0.1-0.3mg/kg ameliorated cognitive impairments in object recognition testing and Kyowa Hakko Kirin is now seeking collaboration partners for further development of KW-6002. Another drug under development for Alzheimer's disease, a similarly prevalent degenerative disease extensively covered at the conference, was Wyeth's TO-901317, a liver X receptor agonist. In APP transgenic mice, it increased hippocampal ApoE and ABCA1 levels.
The symposia consisted of an array of subjects varying from the dynamics of sleep to 'the role of orbitofrontal cortex in decision-making'. The symposium 'Functional neuroimaging evidence for a brain network underlying impaired insight into illness in drug addiction', chaired by Rita Z. Goldstein, laid the foundation for a hot discussion on the brain's response to errors in one's performance and the subsequent activity of the monitoring systems thereafter. Many a heated debate evolved from the small gatherings of great minds!
The conference provided an interesting and insightful five-day look at current topics in neuroscience, saturated with fun and informative activities. The brain, being the most important organ in the body, by popular opinion, was celebrated to the fullest. After all without our brains we wouldn't have the capacity to interpret the world around us - smell, sight, taste - all wonderful and ever so important senses! For these reasons, the many thousands of research fellows have dug deep and have investigated many of the cranial ailments that afflict so many people worldwide. From schizophrenia to drug abuse, mood disorders, pain, addiction to the molecular basis of human reasoning, the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting continues to enlighten and educate us about that mysterious and ever-elusive grey mass between our ears which controls our bodies and houses our minds.
Naila Shaw
Pharmaprojects Analyst
