9th Annual Skirball Symposium on Molecular Neurobiology

Newswise — The faculty of the NYU Skirball Institute are pleased to invite you to the Ninth Annual Skirball Symposium on Friday, June 1, 2007. Each year, one of the four programs in our institute hosts this symposium and this year the Molecular Neurobiology Program is hosting. This year's symposium title is "Genes, Environment and Behavior" If you would like more information, please view the web at: http://saturn.med.nyu.edu/research/symposium/ The 2007 Skirball Symposium is open to the public, with no registration fee.Feel free to spread the word! June 1, 200710:00 AM ¬ 5:00 PM Farkas AuditoriumNew York University School of Medicine, 540 First Ave., NY All of our behaviors, whether simple or complex, reflexive or contemplative, are determined by the function of synapses between neurons in our central nervous system. Defects in the formation or function of these synapses, as well as a failure to modify synaptic connections as a consequence of experience, can lead to profound behavioral disorders. This year's Skirball Symposium will present a forum for understanding how the brain solves complex computational problems, essential for normal behavior, and how defects in this processing can lead to profound and striking behavioral disorders. The speakers will discuss how the brain recognizes distinct objects in a complex visual environment, how maternal care and stress regulate behavior, how mutations in individual genes can lead to defects in neurogenesis and behavioral disorders resembling depression and schizophrenia, and how complex behaviors can be analyzed in a genetically tractable organism. Speakers:Dr. Cori Bargmann: Rockefeller University Dr. Gerald Fischbach: Columbia University Dr. René Hen Columbia: University Dr. Steve McKnight: Southwestern University Dr. Michael Meaney: McGill University Dr. David Porteous: University of Edinburgh Dr. Nancy Kanwisher: Massachusetts Institute of Technology