Linking Diversity in Cells, Circuits, and Brain Architecture to Ecologically Relevant Behaviors

Neuroscientists have a growing appreciation that the neural circuit dynamics that underlie complex behaviors vary strikingly based on context, and hence studies of natural behaviors in diverse animals are critical for a meaningful understanding of the neural basis of behavior. The goal of this conference is to present a multidisciplinary perspective on how features of individual neurons (e.g. biochemistry, connectivity) impact circuit function, and how recent history, homeostatic mechanisms, and energetics shape neural circuit output and hence behavioral performance. Talks cover several related themes that help advance our understanding of brain function in the real world. Many talks address variability in neural circuits, including both plasticity and homeostatic mechanisms that stabilize circuit output. Speakers will consider the dynamic links between ion channel expression, synaptic tuning, and neural circuit function. A session on state-dependent communication will address how internal state – as measured by neurophysiological, neuromodulatory, and hormonal analyses – alters behavioral outputs. Other sessions leverage new technological advances to link morphology, biochemistry, and physiology of individual neurons to address fundamental questions about cell types and their contributions to circuit and behavioral outputs. Talks will explore a range of real-world sensory-motor problems – from genetics to circuit coding – to understand the temporal dynamics of behavior or various constraints of localization. Several speakers will address themes related to neural circuit efficiency that will be further developed in a session on energetic constraints that brings together diverse approaches to studying efficiency and energetics to highlight tradeoffs that are ubiquitous in neural coding. Other speakers will explore evolution of sleep as well as the ways new elements are integrated into functional neural circuits on developmental and evolutionary time scales.