Please join us in-person or online for exciting BRAIN-relevant events at this week’s annual Society for Neuroscience meeting.
The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will be hosting its 51st annual conference in person from November 12-16, 2022, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. There will also be select virtual components including posters, up to 24 lectures, and a sampling of symposia/mini symposia.
Dr. Walter Koroshetz, Director of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, shares his SfN look ahead in his recent Director’s Message.
BRAIN Initiative investigators, Multi-Council Working Group (MCWG) members, BRAIN Initiative Alliance partners, and the International Brain Initiative will be participating at the conference. Check out the BRAIN Initiative-affiliated lectures, symposiums, sessions, and satellite events outlined below! Please note that all times listed are in Pacific Standard Time (PST).
Conference Lectures, Mini Symposiums, and Sessions
Saturday, November 12
Brain Awareness Campaign Event – Connecting with the Next Generation of Diverse Neuroscientists
2:30 pm – 4 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 16
This event features a keynote address from science communicator Dr. Asma Bashir, founder and host of the “Her Royal Science” podcast, and public engagement specialist Dr. Leigh Wilson to share stories and perspectives on how outreach can engage and support the next generation of neuroscientists.
Diversity Poster Session
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, Halls B-H
The Diversity Poster Session will feature awardees from the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education Experiences (ENDURE) and NIH Blueprint/BRAIN Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) programs as they discuss their research and career goals.
International Fellows Poster Session
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, Halls B-H
The International Fellows poster session will feature participants of the Latin American Training Program (LATP), International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), Japanese Neuroscience Society (JNS), and Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).
Sunday, November 13
Special Lecture – Gene Delivery Across the Blood-Brain Barrier for Precise and Minimally-Invasive Study and Repair of Nervous Systems
12 pm – 1 pm, San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20
Dr. Viviana Gradinaru from the California Institute of Technology will give a special lecture on how protein engineering and data science are helping us better understand neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
Meet-the-Expert: Yu – Studying the Activity of Large Populations of Neurons: Less Is More?
1 pm – 2 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 2
At this special meet-the-expert session, attendees will hear from Dr. Byron Yu of Carnegie Mellon University as he discusses how to interpret neural recordings and large amounts of recording data. Dr. Yu will talk about his own research and how neuroscientists can work together in the scientific process.
Peter and Patricia Gruber Lecture: Expanding Horizons in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience
3 pm – 4:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20
In this presentation with support contributed by The Gruber Foundation, four subtopics in theoretical and computational neuroscience will be discussed. Lecturers include Dr. Larry Abbott of Columbia University; Dr. Emery N. Brown of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School; Dr. Terrence Sejnowski of the Salk Institute and the University of California, San Diego; and Dr. Haim Sompolinsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Harvard University.
Monday, November 14
Mini Symposium – Psychedelics and Neural Plasticity
9:30 am – 12 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6B
Dr. Xiangmin Xu and Dr. Steven Grieco from the University of California, Irvine will be co-chairing one of the conference’s mini symposiums to explain their research on psychedelics and other pharmacological agents and how they impact brain response.
Special Lecture – Understanding Brain Cell Type Diversity
12 pm – 1 pm, San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20
Dr. Hongkui Zeng from the Allen Institute for Brain Science will give a special lecture on the properties of brain cell types and what recent studies explain about cellular diversity.
Dual Perspectives – Population or Single Cell Coding: What Is the Language of the Brain?
2 pm – 3:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6B
Dr. Srdjan Ostojic will moderate this dual perspectives session on the different frameworks of neural coding. Panelists will include Dr. Lisa M. Giocomo of the Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Adam Kepecs of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Dr. Kanaka Rajan of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Mini Symposium – Advances in Behavioral Quantification to Understand the Brain
2 pm – 4:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6CF
One of the conference’s mini symposiums includes a lecture on behavior-driven neuroscience co-chaired by Dr. Timothy Dunn of Duke University and Dr. Talmo Pereira of The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. This talk will discuss some of the newest ways tool developers are using machine learning and behavioral quantification to understand how the brain turns signals into behavior.
Mini Symposium – Cortical Mechanisms of Pain Processing
2 pm – 4:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 28
Another mini symposium is a lecture co-chaired by Dr. Matthew Banghart and Dr. Monique Smith of the University of California, San Diego. They will speak on pain control and how the brain’s cortical circuits process opioids to regulate pain.
Mini Symposium – Cortical Mechanisms of Pain Processing
2 pm – 4:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6A
Also on Monday is a mini symposium on how our bodies store and spend energy through things like feeding, temperature regulation, and communication between the gut and the brain. The session will be co-chaired by Dr. Wei Shen from Shanghai Tech University and Dr. Zhi-Ping Pang from Rutgers University.
Tuesday, November 15
Symposium – Dynamic Interactions Between Excitatory and Inhibitory Synapses in Dendrites
9:30 am – 12 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6A
In this symposium, Dr. Corette Wierenga of Utrecht University and Dr. Elly Nedivi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will co-chair a talk about dendrites and what new research is helping to uncover the excitatory and inhibitory synapses within them.
Special Lecture – Mapping and Rewiring Neural Circuits Underlying Emotions
10:30 am – 11:30 am, San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20
Dr. Kafui Dzirasa from the Duke University School of Medicine will give a special lecture on how neural circuits function and his lab’s work on developing a novel class of electrical synapses to study behavior and emotions. If you missed Dr. Dzirasa’s plenary talk at the 8th Annual BRAIN Initiative Meeting, this is a great opportunity to hear about his fascinating research!
Wednesday, November 16
Symposium – Computational and Neural Mechanisms of Novelty Detection, Seeking, and Avoidance
9:30 am – 12 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6B
Dr. Mitsuko Watabe-Uchida of Harvard University and Dr. Ilya Monosov of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will co-chair this symposium on behavior response to novelty. The researchers will discuss what strategies and systems they use to explore decision-making surrounding novelty.
Special Lecture – From Atoms to Behavior: Creating Tools to Probe Neurobiological Complexity
10:30 am – 11:30 am, San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20
Dr. Polina Anikeeva from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be discussing neuroscience tools that help us understand the mechanisms of behavior at the molecular level.
Panel Session – COVID and Olfaction
10:30 am – 12 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 11
Dr. John Ngai, Director of the NIH BRAIN Initiative, will be chairing a panel on how COVID affects the human sense of smell. Panelists will include Dr. Bradley J. Goldstein of the Duke University School of Medicine, Dr. Eric H. Holbrook of Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Marianna Zazhytska of Columbia University.
Clinical Neuroscience Lecture – Searching for Words: The New Neuroscience of Speech
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20
Dr. Edward Chang of the University of California, San Francisco will give a lecture on the neuroscience behind speaking—specifically, what research has led us to understand about speech sounds and gestures.
Mini Symposium – Functionalized Brain Organoids: Going Beyond the Neuroectoderm
2 pm – 4:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6A
Dr. Galina Popova from the University of California, San Francisco and Dr. Guo-li Ming from the University of Pennsylvania will co-chair this mini symposium on brain organoids. They will discuss what recent approaches are helping researchers study organoid function in the brain.
Symposium – High-Resolution Electrophysiology: Experiment and Theory
2 pm – 4:30 pm, San Diego Convention Center, 6B
In this symposium, Dr. Timothy Harris of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute will discuss his research on Neuropixels and high-resolution electrophysiology. Dr. Harris will present data on mouse, rat, and macaque neurophysiological recordings.
External Satellite Events
Institute of Electrical Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Brain Discovery Neurotechnology Workshop: Brain, Mind, Body
Thursday November 10 from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm; Friday, November 11 from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, University of California San Diego San Diego Supercomputer Center
The IEEE Brain Technical Community will be hosting a two-day workshop that explores unobtrusive neurotechnology and medicine, with a particular focus on tools and techniques that help those with “invisible” disabilities. The program includes plenary talks, interactive poster presentations, live demonstrations, and panels on transitioning technology advances to global health outcomes.
Open Resources for Cell Types and Taxonomies with the Allen Brain Map
Friday, November 12 from 7:30 am – 10:30 am, Marriot Marquis San Diego in Pacific Ballroom 14-17
The Allen Institute for Brain Science is releasing open resources for the study of cell types, including single-cell transcriptomic, electrophysiology, morphology, and multimodal patch-seq data; corresponding analysis tools; and taxonomies and standards. For more information and to register, visit The Allen Institute for Brain Science’s website.
Tools, Tech & Theory: A BRAIN Initiative Alliance Social
Sunday, November 13 from 6:30 pm – 9 pm, Hilton San Diego Bayfront: Sapphire Ballrooms CD
The BRAIN Initiative Alliance is hosting an interactive social event where researchers are invited to come talk with leading toolmakers funded by the BRAIN Initiative. Come learn about the latest tools and techniques!
Dana Foundation Social: Interdisciplinary Training in Neuroscience
Monday, November 14, 2022 from 7 pm – 8:30 pm, Marriott Marquis: Rancho Santa Fe
Are you a student or postdoc interested in interdisciplinary training? Come learn about the Dana Foundation’s new focus on Neuroscience & Society, which includes neuroscience interfacing with fields beyond biomedicine, such as ethics, law, humanities, arts, and public engagement. We are interested in your experiences and ideas. Have you explored interdisciplinary training? If not, what would be on your wish list? Dana staff will be on hand to share the Foundation’s vision and meet you!
Developing an International Data Governance Framework to Accelerate Global Neuroscience Research
Monday, November 14 from 6:30 pm – 9 pm, Hilton San Diego Bayfront: Sapphire 400
The International Brain Initiative (IBI) is hosting talks with Working Group members and other speakers. The talks will discuss key components and factors to consider regarding data governance and sharing data across countries.
Be sure to stop by the NIH booths (3300, 3301, and 3311) to meet with NIH BRAIN programmatic staff and learn about BRAIN Initiative funding opportunities!
We hope to see you there!