Spatio-Temporal Control of GABAergic Signaling and Its Breakdown in Brain Disorders

The 2019 GRC and GRS on Inhibition in the CNS aim to increase our understanding of the spatio-temporal control of inhibitory signaling in normal and pathological CNS function. The scientific sessions will focus on the developmental diversification of inhibition, synaptic plasticity, technical and conceptual challenges to capturing GABAergic diversity, and inhibitory circuit control underlying normal behaviors and CNS disorders. A New Focus Topic special emphasis session will explore the implications of recent discoveries that a large part of CNS myelin is on specific sets of GABAergic axons, with discussions encompassing bidirectional glia-interneuron communication and their relevance to pathological states.

The conference will feature an unusually high number of opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees to interact with the invited speakers and other conference participants. Such opportunities will include, in addition to the traditionally well-attended poster sessions, a new mentee-mentor pairing program offering pre-arranged meetings between individual trainees and assigned senior investigators during Monday lunch, and short talks every morning by junior investigators selected from GRS and GRC abstract submissions. In addition, for the first time in the history of this GRC, a Power Hour will be held on Monday afternoon to provide an open forum to support the professional growth of women by discussing the challenges women face in science. The conference will offer in-depth, high-quality scientific discussions aimed at deepening our understanding of the mechanisms of inhibition in CNS function and dysfunction in a collegial, inclusive atmosphere with substantial time for interactions among all participants to accelerate the forging of novel, impactful collaborations to test transformative new ideas.